Is Reality a Simulation?

Are we living in a simulated reality controlled by some unknown force? Some scientists believe this is the most logical explanation for life in our universe.

The idea that the reality we experience isn’t what we think it is goes back to ancient times. In Hinduism there is the concept of Maya which suggests that the world we experience is an illusion. It suggests that we are only able to experience our reality through our own senses which are not objective. We can never know for sure what is real and what is just our interpretation of it.

Simulated Reality Hypothesis is a theory that suggests what we perceive as reality is actually a simulation engineered by some outside force. It could be described as an extended hallucination or the result of a super complex computer program.

The theory has roots in Solipsism which explains that we can never really know what is happening outside of our own experience. All of the thing we experience are just signals interpreted by our brains and relayed to us.

We could not necessarily tell the difference between these signals being caused organically or being a part of some simulation. By its very nature being a part of a simulation would mean we are programmed to be unable to distinguish what is “real” from the simulated reality.

Our universe appears to be based on mathematical laws rather than physical ones. It operates in a way which is eerily similar to how computer programs and AI work.

The more we learn about the universe the stranger it becomes with concepts such as quantum mechanics and Einstein’s spooky motion at a distance.

There is so much we can’t understand and explain that could be explained as glitches in the simulation or simply as edge cases the programmers of our reality didn’t bother to iron out.

It almost seems more likely that we are all apart of some giant immersive video game than that we are just a small planet full of people inexplicably hurtling through space until the universe slows to a stop.

Philosopher Preston Greene suggested that it might be better not to know if we're living in a simulation since. If it were found to be true those running the simulation may cause it to end destroying us in the process.

If reality is a simulation the creators of it have made sure it is difficult for us to figure out what is happening. Logic follows that this may be something they don’t want us to figure out as it may sabotage whatever the simulation is trying to achieve. If the character in your computer game decided to stop playing and try to figure out who you are would you stop playing the game?