Red Pill or Blue?

All the world’s a stage. Or is it a simulation?

The idea that what we consider reality is actually a simulation was first proposed by scientist Nick Bostrom, and it is frequently addressed in fiction (e.g., “The Matrix” trilogy) and by innovators and educators such as Elon Musk, who brought up the topic at the 2016 Code Conference.

Those who believe that we live in a simulation often cite Bostrom’s argument regarding what he calls ancestor simulations. “One thing that later generations might do with their super-powerful computers is run detailed simulations of their forebears or of people like their forebears,” write Bostrom. “Because their computers would be so powerful, they could run a great many such simulations.”

That prediction is becoming more and more a possible reality. Today’s computers are powerful enough to simulate things that we never witnessed, such as the Big Bang or the creation of the planets. Currently, scientific simulations seem to be better, though, with large-scale situations.

But will we ever know for sure if we live in a simulation?

Cracking the Code

According to Fraser Cain from Universe Today, there is one way to find out, and that is to detect tricks that the simulation uses to approximate a reality that it can never copy exactly. A computer in a simulation will not have the same processing power as the computer that’s running the simulation, Cain explains, so there will be inconsistencies or tell-tale signs, perhaps glitches, that reveal the underlying grid on which our world or universe runs.

A team of scientists from the University of Washington, for example, believe that we can detect the resolution that our simulated world is running on by observing the energy limitations of ultra-high cosmic rays in the universe.

At this point, Cain argues, we can’t really tell, sort of like with the Kantian phenomenon/noumenon dichotomy. We’ll just have to “live our lives as if we’re real, until better evidence comes along, or our simulations get so good, their inhabitants start questioning their own existence,” says Cain.

Or maybe until someone offers you the red pill. If they did, would you take it?