Is the universe just one big simulation?

Question

If you think about scientific models and things like that, why is it not possible that conscious beings could arise out of a simulation? Is it not possible that the universe is a big simulation that someone somewhere tried to figure out what would happen if they took a bunch of concentrated energy and exploded it. Next thing you know he had a bunch of quarks, then subatomic particles, then atoms, then molecules, and so on right through the creation of living things then evolution and then us.

I know i'm not the first one to think of this, and I know that doesn't do much to explain where we came from as it doesn't explain anything about the one running the simulation and the universe he lives in, but it's still fun to think about. Also this differs from theism because i'm not talking about a loving god that micromanages his universe, just someone who is observing. My biggest problem with this is that a simulation is prone to failure and to crash, and the laws of the universe don't ever break down or malfunction.

What do you think, are we living in a simulation in a supercomputer somewhere or is reality real?

Answer 1

Yes it is 'possible'. All our sense boil down to mere bio-electrical activity and how hard would that be simulate? A Star Trek(THG) episode explored this possibility-It was a big scary to think how close we are to being able to create such an artificial universe, actually.

Richard: Please try and be a bit more open minded. Our current technological level would be unfathomable to the world of a mere 200 years ago. How unfathomable will the world be to us in another 200 years(if we survive!).

  Please stop with the Ockham's Razor, c**p, too. Ockham's Razor is not a universal law that is written in stone and can NEVER BE QUESTIONED. It is merely a general guideline. Don't base every major theory or hypothesis on it, paaleeeeease!

Answer 2

>Is the universe just one big simulation?

No one knows...right now about the most we can say on this subject is 'It could be.'

>My biggest problem with this is that a simulation is prone to failure and to crash, and the laws of the universe don't ever break down or malfunction.

It seems doubtful that anyone would make a programming error with a program as large as our entire universe! I don't think we have to worry about it crashing anytime soon.

However, if it DID crash...how would we know? We would simply cease to exist. Or, if there was a backup, it would be loaded and we would continue our lives from some particular point in the past, without ever noticing the difference.

Of course, that's assuming that the malfunction is of a sort that simply results in the termination of the program. Not all bugs are like that, and for all we know, the Universe might already contain the effects of some bugs. We might even have seen some of these effects and just not known them for what they are. For the matter of that, we ourselves might BE one of the effects!

>What do you think, are we living in a simulation in a supercomputer somewhere or is reality real?

I think reality is just as real whether or not we're living inside a computer simulation. If our world works in exactly the same way as it would if it were not a simulation, how can we say that it is any less real? Keep in mind that there is nothing- save a lack of resources and expertise- stopping us from building a giant computer and running our own simulation. The simulation would necessarily be smaller than our own universe, but could still be easily large enough to contain an Earth-like planet inhabited by conscious beings like ourselves. For the matter of that, we are already running simulations, every time we start up a computer game; the simulations are just much smaller than our own and follow different computational rules. Conversely, there is nothing to say, if we are being simulated, that our simulators are not THEMSELVES being simulated. Such a hierarchy could even be infinite in extent, with us very close to the 'bottom'. Given that the universe even right above ours could be vastly different from our own and contain things we can't even imagine, it is quite a philosophical challenge to imagine what the 'top' universe might be like!

The chances that we are in a simulation are very hard to determine, of course, because we know so little about it. Personally I think it more likely that our universe is merely a naturally occurring part of some larger universe. However, it is still possible that at some level there is a simulation being run, so that our universe is not so much a simulation on its own but rather one part of a larger simulation. Given how speculative the whole idea is, it is also possible that in higher universes with higher kinds of logic, the idea of a 'simulation' as we know it is no longer particularly meaningful, and the ways in which our universe fits into that system may be ways we can't comprehend with our limited kind of logic. Until we can find a way to break out of our universe and take a look at what's going on outside, we'll probably never know.

Here are some links on related subjects that might interest you:

http://www.simulation-argument.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulated_r...

http://www.wolframscience.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_...

Answer 3

This spiritual matrix is much older and stranger than you know:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic...

http://www.crystalinks.com/holographic.h...

Answer 4

The universe is exceedingly complex.  While perhaps a world could be simulated, you are suggesting that hundreds of billions of galaxies and their attendant suns and planets could be simulated as well.  This would require absurd computing power.  Generally when confronted with two hypotheses, the simpler of the two is usually the correct one.  This concept is called Occams Razor.  I think it applies to this question.  So I'm guessing the universe is real, not a simulation being run in a higher order universe.  

Answer 5

It would not need to be ridiculously complex computer at all. The laws which govern the structure and evolution of our universe appear to be very basic and simple. There would be no need for the computer to model every particle in every grain of sand, on every beach, on every planet, in every galaxy, in the universe. You need only set up a simple set of rules to govern the evolution of the universe, and let it run. Computer programmers do this all the time. The question that we really need to ask ourselves is, what would a simulated universe look like, and what would a real universe look like?

The simplicity of the underlying laws governing everything in the universe points to this being a simulation. The entire foundations of our universe seem to be deducible to a small number of mathematical formulae. This is what computer models are based upon, simple mathematical formulae. If this isn't a simulation, it sure looks like one.

Answer 6

Simulation, Study, Observe, Explore.

Endless.

With your World People Victory, Forever, Universe, by study Cosmology to implement your hopes

Answer 7

God spoke it all into existance, its held together by His Word.

Answer 8

it may not have started as a simulation but it seems it will end that way...

Answer 9

It would be difficult to tell.  But we do have Plank time, and Plank distances, which are minimums.  It's possible that a simulation might have such minimums.

If the Universe is a simulation, it's very bizarre.  And there's probably no way to know what rules the simulating computer runs by.  It could very well be flawless.

The Universe is clearly Turing Complete.  That is, it is possible for the Universe to execute the instructions of a Turing Machine.  It has already been done.  So, the Universe can already be considered a computer.

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