The "sign problem" (SP) is the fundamental limitation to simulations of strongly correlated materials in condensed matter physics, solving quantum chromodynamics at finite baryon density, and computational studies of nuclear matter. It is often argued that the SP is not intrinsic to the physics of particular Hamiltonians, since the details of how it onsets, and its eventual occurrence, can be altered by the choice of algorithm or many-particle basis. Despite that, I plan to show in this talk that the SP in determinant quantum Monte Carlo (DQMC) is quantitatively linked to quantum critical behavior. This demonstration is done via simulations of a number of fundamental models of condensed matter physics, all of whose critical properties are relatively well understood.