The notion that our reality might be a computer simulation has garnered attention from various researchers and thinkers. Philosophers like Nick Bostrom and scientists such as James Gates and George Smoot have explored the idea that flaws in physical laws and the pixelated nature of the universe at a microscopic level could provide evidence for this hypothesis.
Within the uncertainty of living in a simulation, the one thing we can be sure of is the existence of our minds. As Réne Descartes said, "I think therefore I am", the act of our mind doubting itself makes its existence valid. We know that we exist in the simulation.
We do not know the "thing in and of itself", as Immanuel Kant stated.
Plato's analogy suggests that we live life like observing shadows projected on the cave wall. We do not know if there is more to this world, if this world is all we know. Therefore, we'll never know if we live in a computer simulation.
If our world is a simulation, the super-intelligent beings who created the simulation would have to be smarter than us, and have a similar, but more complex world relative to ours.
Gates speculates that the laws of physics are dictated by a computer simulation because the rules governing the behaviour of subatomic particles resemble code that corrects for errors in manipulating data in computers
James Gates: University of Maryland
Trying to look closer into the universe makes the image "fuzzy". Smoot suggests that it is a typical aspect to a simulation, as the resolution would seem pixelated as you zoom in.
Researchers believed that our universe is build on a "perfect" foundation of fundamental forces (e.g. structure of atoms) that it seems fake
Smoot believes it would make us arrogant to think that we are the most intelligent beings, given how widespread other planets can be
George Smoot: Astrophysicist, Nobel Laureate
Scientists are able to develop computer simulations that demonstrate how galaxies are formed or how animals behave
Our brains respond to simulated sensory inputs
Musk suggests that humans could be nothing more than strings of information manipulated in a giant computational program, given the potential complexity of advanced technology
Elon Musk: technology entrepreneur
An artificial Big Bang was created consisting of real matter and energy
Guth claims that the universe is a lab experiment conducted by super-intelligent biologists who bred colonies of micro-organisms
Alan Guth: Cosmetologist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US
The simulation we might live in is not similar to the matrix because we cannot escape from it, and it is our only way of living
The Matrix: a world made from artificial intelligence that the characters try to break out of
Intelligent civilizations reach the point of creating a simulation, but do not create it
Intelligent civilizations do not reach the point where they can make these simulations
We are living in a simulation
Nick Bostrom: Philosopher, University of Oxford, UK
Researchers believe that flaws in the system would give us evidence of there being a simulation (e.g. flaws in physics)
