Inspired by user u/DawsonD43, the members of the r/AskReddit group started a lively discussion where they shared some of the top spooky indicators that we might be living inside a computer simulation. We’ve collected some of their most interesting ‘proof’ to share with you. Scroll down to check it out! And if you get an overwhelming feeling of déjà vu, don’t panic—an Agent will soon be with you.
We reached out to the author, u/DawsonD43, who was kind enough to share their thoughts on simulations and how our lives would change if we were actually in one. Be sure not to miss Bored Panda's interview with them!
#1
We absolutely love the idea in fiction that the reality surrounding us might be just an illusion. Throw in some psychological thriller elements to elevate these modern retellings of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and we’re even happier. Aside from ‘The Matrix’ trilogy (let’s ignore that the trainwreck of a fourth film even exists…), we can heartily recommend ‘Dark City’ and ‘The Thirteenth Floor.’
There’s something about meticulously peeling back the layers of ‘reality’ to get to the Truth (capital ‘T’) of how the universe actually works that is entrancing. After all, we can’t always trust our senses. Even our memories can be faulty.
The idea that there’s something much deeper going on with the world is easy to believe if you’ve ever read about quantum physics, even superficially. Quantum entanglement, tunneling, and wave-particle duality, anyone?
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The idea that we’re potentially living in a simulation isn’t something that just sci-fi fans have embraced. Well-respected researchers and philosophers are seriously considering the idea. Earth.com explains that the Simulation Hypothesis is, in fact, a real theory. It’s the idea that our world and the entire universe are an artificial simulation created by an advanced civilization.
According to philosopher Nick Bostrom’s 2003 paper ‘Are You Living in a Computer Simulation,’ there’s a significant chance that we exist in a simulation if advanced civilizations are capable of creating complex simulations inhabited by simulated conscious beings. Of course, we would have to assume that those advanced civilizations are even interested in running realistic simulations at all.
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Meanwhile, the brain in a vat experiment supposes that a brain connected to a powerful computer that feeds it a simulated virtual reality would have no idea that it is, in fact, a brain in a vat.
For it, the world that it’s seeing, including its perception of its body, would be ‘real.’ Some philosophers claim that there’s no surefire way of knowing that we aren’t brains in vats if the simulation is good enough. That suggests, rather uncomfortably, that we'd never be able to find out what Reality (with a capital 'R') truly is.
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The author of the viral thread opened up to us about the inspiration behind the unusual topic. They said that the question popped into their head while working one day. “I work from home as a software developer, so sometimes, my mind tends to wander throughout the day. This was right around the time that 'The Gateway Process' was kind of trendy to talk about on TikTok, and I had been seeing a lot about it on my feed," u/DawsonD43 told Bored Panda.
According to them, the topic resonated with so many people because there are so many unexplainable strange things that happen to us. "There’s just so many people who have probably experienced (the same) weird things happen to them, and for people to be able to share on that Reddit thread and see that they’re not the only ones who’ve experienced it—it was probably quite a relief!"
However, from the author’s perspective, everyone who saw or participated in the discussion might not necessarily enjoy the idea that we might live in a simulation so much as the fact that it’s an interesting topic to think about. "It becomes quite philosophical the more you think about it. And the more you think about it, the more you go down the rabbit hole. If I’m inside a simulation, well, what’s outside the simulation?" they mused.
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Bored Panda asked u/DawsonD43 how people's lives would actually change if it were conclusively proven that we all do, in fact, exist inside of a simulation. "I don’t think we will ever know for sure if we are living in a simulation. I just don’t think the general population would be able to digest the fact that we, and our entire reality, are not real," they shared their take.
"It would cause everything as we know it to change: religion, politics, relationships, etc. I don’t think it would be a good thing for the public to know about, honestly. It would probably cause a lot of chaos. People likely would question whether or not anything they do even matters," u/DawsonD43 said.
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"In the end, it’s a fun (and kind of scary) thought experiment. But, the truth of it is, we’ll never know! Maybe a very select few of us will know, but it will never become a known fact that we’re living in a simulation. People don’t like to feel controlled, and I guarantee if they found out they were just a program written, things would get ugly."
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What do you think of these theories, dear Pandas? Do you think that we might be living in a simulation? Why (not)? What movies similar to ‘The Matrix’ would you recommend to all the other readers here?
Feel free to tell us all about it in the comments… and if you get an overwhelming feeling of déjà vu, don’t panic—an Agent will soon be with you.
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