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Scientist Suggests We Explore 'Universe is a VR Simulation' Theory

Posted by Zonk on from the what-would-we-do-if-he's-right dept.

holy_calamity writes "A New Zealand physicist has written a paper saying that physicists should seriously explore the possibility the universe is a giant virtual reality simulation. He says that the existence of quantum phenomena could be due to the underlying digital nature of the simulation and also claims his VR hypothesis can explain relativity, the big bang and more. It should be possible to perform experiments to prove the hypothesis too. He reasons that if reality was to do something that information processing cannot, then it cannot be virtual."

6 of 1,144 comments (clear)

  1. Re:there is a scientific explanation for this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Is that your opinion as a psychologist, or an idiot?

  2. Re:Brilliant! by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Apparently God-tot also likes World of Rape Children To Deathcraft and World of Live The Last Sixty Years Of Your Life As A Conscious Vegetable Trapped Inside Your Brain With No Sensory Input And No Motor Control Experiencing Horrific Pain And Unending Nightmarescraft.

    Which also applies if Yahweh is in charge.

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  3. Re: it's programmed to be this way by kestasjk · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    This is different from the ID crowd, who apparently feel that 'God did it' means you actively refuse to even think about the rules. Don't be stupid, plenty of scientists believe in God, me being one of them - though of course I'm primarily a Computer Scientist, but I find physics highly interesting. My uncle has a PhD in fluid dynamics and he's a Christian, and I know plenty of other Christians who defy your personal stereotype. He said "I.D. crowd", ie Creationists, not "Christians" (which don't really believe the Bible or only believe the nice parts).
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  4. Re:1637 called, they want their idea back. by ChronosWS · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    As I have stated, no such experiment disproving the system is possible unless the system wants us to know about it. Further, we are relying on "information theory" as we know it as well as a set of laws and rules of which we are aware. The VR simulation does not necessarily run on these rules, and the rules we would be subject to are necessarily a subset of the rules governing the VR simulation machine itself - it can choose to expose any subset of its own rules as desired.

  5. Re:1637 called, they want their idea back. by ChronosWS · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    This is taking an already implausible and unnecessary idea (that we are in a VR universe) and adding additional unnecessary hypotheses (that there are more than one of them and in some of them copies of ourselves know they are in a simulated reality.) How does this aid our ability to understand the universe other than to prove we have wild imaginations?

  6. Re:We assume we are what they intend to simulate? by ChronosWS · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    It's true, we can rule out certain simulations. Specifically, those simulations which would be unable to simulate us. Whatever simulation we are in specifically has thus far simulated our existence up to this point, or which have been started now and for which we have memories of events up to this point. See Last Thursdayism.

    What's worse is that just because you exist now and remember a "past" there is no guarantee that the future you are about to enter in to is part of the same simulation, or that the rules are necessarily the same, since any memories you will have then could similarly have been simulated. Getting the feeling of mental masturbation yet?