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Science & Technology

New experiments could prove that we live in a computer simulation

By T.K. Randall
July 29, 2024 · Comment icon 18 comments
Girl with VR headset
Is our reality a product of a futuristic computer ? Image Credit: Pixabay / Kyraxys
For years, scientists and philosophers have pondered over whether or not the real world isn't quite as real as we think.
What if we told you that the world you live in isn't real ?

It might sound like a concept straight out of the Keanu Reeves science fiction favorite The Matrix, but according to some of the world's top minds, the idea that we are living inside a computer simulation is not only possible, but perhaps even more likely than the idea that we are living in the real world.

But if that was true, how would we go about proving it ?

One man who thinks he may have a solution to this conundrum is former NASA physicist Thomas Campbell who has spent years working on experiments designed to do just that.

Now thanks to California State Polytechnic University (CalPoly), he will finally have an opportunity to put these to the test on his mission to obtain "strong scientific evidence that we live in a computer-simulated virtual reality."
One of Campbell's experiments concerns the double-slit experiment - a physics demonstration which shows how light and matter can behave as both waves and particles.

He argues that if the observer is removed from the experiment, then the recorded information never actually existed in the first place because if nobody is there to see it, then it never happened.

Like a video game, our reality may be purely 'participatory'.

Campbell hopes that his experiments will help to "challenge the conventional understanding of reality and uncover profound connections between consciousness and the cosmos."

Actually proving beyond doubt that our world is a simulation, however, will not be an easy task.

Source: Yahoo! News | Comments (18)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #9 Posted by OverSword 7 months ago
Think fractals.  All of that smaller stuff that makes up we and the universe may be observers on one level or another.  Presumably the cells that make up your body or the things you observed that changed are unable to observe the larger structure they are part of. Maybe we as observers will discover that we are simulated and then discover we are a small part of an even larger simulation that we are currently or permanently unable to observe.
Comment icon #10 Posted by Dan Homestead 7 months ago
So this seemingly very far-fetched idea is taken seriously by scientists, but the other, millenia old idea of souls and an aferlife, consciousness beyond the brain, so souls only experiencing life but tricked to identify themselves as merely their body, mind an personality, is not? And never was taken seriously? It's somewhat the same idea, the only difference is the techy explanation. Because this theory involves tech, it's being taken seriously. For me, it's always been quite clear consciousness cannot be created by a piece of meat, and AI will never be able to create it. I believe the brain... [More]
Comment icon #11 Posted by papageorge1 7 months ago
  Well, that resonates with me as Advaita Vedanta suggests the universe is a thought-form/play/drama of the One Consciousness. This contrasts with the materialist view that the universe is a hard-fixed reality than we can only observe (non-participatory).
Comment icon #12 Posted by MrAnderson 7 months ago
Really good point!
Comment icon #13 Posted by papageorge1 7 months ago
Great points. In my lifetime it seems science is slowly realizing how far they are from an understanding.. The discredited ideas.of the past religions and superstitions are making a more dignified show of themselves.
Comment icon #14 Posted by qxcontinuum 7 months ago
The theory is at least 15 years older and started with the geo 600 experiment  https://backreaction.blogspot.com/2009/03/holographic-noise.html  
Comment icon #15 Posted by simplybill 7 months ago
For those of you interested in the commonalities between Jewish philosophy and Physics, here’s a different perspective on Psalm 139:17 & 18: "How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand.... From "God According to God" by Rabbi/Physicist Gerald Schroeder: "The startling, totally counterintuitive, yet scientifically proven discoveries of physics reveal that our world, at it's deepest level, is not built of tangible discrete objects. Rather, when we look closely, we find that reality is as gos... [More]
Comment icon #16 Posted by E44 7 months ago
Viewer creates reality.  Manifestation. Quantum mechanics.  There is so much we don't know or understand.  As humans we are programmed so that our rational, logical mind overrides anything that challenges our educated and ingrained  belief systems.   Most science facts change, none are 100 percent certain, lots are based on 'theories" and even theories change.  The only thing I know for sure is that I know nothing at all.   
Comment icon #17 Posted by godnodog 7 months ago
here's a crazy thought, and this has been on my mind for several years. What if this answers the Fermi Paradox? What if discovering that we live in a simulation, makes the system delete/destroy the civilization that found it, as it can cause disruptions? or maybe the discovery can imply certain things that lead civilization to self destroy by accident or even willingly.
Comment icon #18 Posted by Freez1 7 months ago
I believe that someone even pondering on this subject is going to take allot of proof to even come close to explaining it being anything more than a pipe dream.


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