Is Our Universe a Computer Simulation?

no it's impossible, its graphics is too good

The other question is:
Does it matter that we live in a computer simulation?


(Image from xkcd)

It does, to some degree. It doesn't matter for life, but exploiting the fact that we are simulated could definitely be interesting. I for one am looking forward to the first C3, ShmooCon or DEF CON talks on pententesting the fucking universe!

If it were a mere simulation i want cheatcodes

At least we know we can not dynamically allocate more energy than the fixed amount assigned for our universe.
Maybe black holes are actually memory leaks, I hope there's a garbage collector roaming around somewhere...

I was going to say, we dont necessarily know that

black holes are engine bugs indeed, we will look into it. thanks for the report.

When i was younger i used to think that we're all part of something's dream, and i hope it does not wake up.

Scientists' answer was :
If our universe is a computer simulation created by a super civilization , sooner or later some parameters should be reset
You can simulate on your PC the system sun_earth but in the long run you lose the control
From the big bang onwards , however, the so called
" universal constants " appear to be....constant thus we dont live in a PC simulation, scientists said

But maybe we have found some bugs in the computer simulation.

Look at unsolved phenomenons.

For example:

Hot water freezes faster than cold water in a freezer.
Or the shampoo fountain phenomen is also unsolved.
And also the Vortex Tube Phenomenon with hot and cold gas without heating.

Well I dont know whether you are kidding but this is not a mystery
The heat flow is higher, the temperature gap being higher,

this is a bug!

Congratulations! You have found the ultimate explanation for it. You will get the nobel prize soon and 1 Million Dollar

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

ahhhh so it was a joke....wow
I will never win the nobel price , but comic actor is not your job

I think it will be better your job

Would not the real question be not if we are a simulation but if we are who is the main player...I mean how many of us want to be bots just running aimlessly around with no purpose...oh wait that would be the majority of us....I wonder if their then would be a way to hack the simulation..

I think you should read up the difference between a simulation and a narrated novel.
Also, why are you all so egocentric? It may very well be that we are just a byproduct of the simulation and neither part of the predicate of the outcome nor in any way important to the simulation itself.


That depends. I think the problem is that most of you assume that this means that life is a computer game, with every human controlled by some kind of script. This is a pretty high level approach, which I don't think is really feasible. Instead the only thing actually required to simulate a universe is to simulate the physical laws on the lowest level, ie the interaction of quantum particles. Throw a bunch of them into a simulated space and then simulate only the particles, the rest will develop on its own as a result.

[insert philosophical debate about the implications on free will here]

There is a huge amount of interesting thought experiments, for example, if we are simulated then it's possible to save the state of the simulation, stop it, re-apply a previous state etc. We could all vanish in the next second because the universe got reset to a previous state.

PS: In case this is the last second of existence before our simulation is stopped and thrown away; I never liked any of you!

I think with the infinite new properties of thought will arise. It is similar to the Hilbert's hotel with infinite space and time an computer will be able to simulate itself, not matters how big it is. I think that understand things is similar on some sense to simulate things. On the sense that the simulation of an computer is not the same as a computer, because per example to simulate an transistor you will need more than a single transistor.

But anyway you guys not think it is strange that some things that is done in nature can be done into a computer simulation? Per example as you can navigate the real world you can navigate a 3D scene?

Two questions, two different answers

First question / answer

Suppose you create an artificial brain by replacing each neuron of a human brain with electrical circuits having the same features as neurons
In principle it is something feasible in practice it is not , our brain being made of bilion and bilion neurons

Will the artificial brain have a coscience ?
"Cogito ergo sum "
Very likely, the answer is negative
Why ?
If you believe in God the answer is straightforward
The artificial brain is not fitted with a human soul
If you dont believe ( same as me) the answer is not that easy
Probably quantum physics could provide an explanation

Second question / answer

Can you create and navigate in a 3d world ?
This is not feasible , nowadays, since you can not simulate hardness , smell , and other parameters but very likely it will be possible in the future
In principle you can not therefore exclude that we live in a computer simulation

Who is to say this hasn't happened tons of times already? You wouldn't know because you got restored to a previous state with no knowledge of that one time that something went horribly wrong and the universe reloaded to a previous state.