We Might Actually Be Living In The Real-Life Matrix, And Here's Why
"You take the red pill—you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes."
Neil deGrasse Tyson thinks it's quite possible our entire universe is one big simulation.
Here's something absolutely terrifying to think about: The possibility that reality as we know it is really just a computer program, just like in "The Matrix." Even worse, our simulation could be a simulation inside another simulation, which is inside another simulation, which is inside another simulation...are you dizzy yet?
According to some of the world's top scientists, it's not inconceivable for there to be an infinite number of simulations—with our simulation being just one of those. So, how exactly is this possible you ask?
The question of whether our reality is nothing more than a simulation was the centerpiece of the 2016 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate.
The debate (you can watch it above) was hosted by famed astrophysicist and cosmologist Neil deGrasse Tyson, and featured top scientists and philosophers James Gates, Lisa Randall, David Chalmers, Zohreh Davoudi and Max Tegmark. While it's a very interesting and thorough debate about the state of our reality, it's two hours long, and who has time for that?
Don't worry, I've got you covered. Here's the debate broken down for you in a somewhat digestible way.
First, we have to assume that time and space is infinite.
Whether time and the universe are finite or infinite is still a cause of much debate among scientists. So yes, you could say it's hard to use this as a basis for the argument that we exist in a simulation. But Stephen Hawking does make an interesting case for imaginary time.
Next, we have to assume that somehow, somewhere and at some point in the future, some species will have the ability to simulate the universe.
In this view, the Large Hadron Collider could assist humans in taking the first step toward creating our own simulated universe. Among other things, the LHC was built to test supersymmetric string theory—to see if there are extra dimensions.
Now imagine the species/inhabitants within that simulation then gain the ability to also accurately simulate the universe. Since we're working with an infinite timeline, this repeats itself an infinite number of times.
By this logic, that would mean there are an infinite number of simulations also in existence, and the simulated-to-real universes ratio would literally be "infinity to one." Therefore, the odds of us being the only real universe are infinity to one, and it would be insanely egotistical for us to assume we're the only real universe. But humans are pretty egotistical, so who knows.
Yes, there are a lot of holes in this thinking. But what do you think?
Overall, debating about the matter is pretty useless, because we won't know whether we're living in a situation until we, well, find out. Some day you may be offered a red pill or a blue pill, and the decision is up to you.