Are we living in a simulation?

What makes this fascinating

• The simulation argument — Nick Bostrom's reasoning: if civilizations can run ancestor-simulations, we are probably in one.

• Could we tell? — People hunt for “glitches” or computational limits in physics — none found conclusively.

• Old question, new clothes — It's Descartes' demon and the brain-in-a-vat rebooted for the computer age.

Frequently asked questions

Could we be living in a simulation?

It is a serious philosophical question. Nick Bostrom's simulation argument contends that if advanced civilizations could run ancestor simulations, simulated minds might vastly outnumber real ones.

Can we test whether reality is a simulation?

No conclusive test exists. People have looked for computational 'glitches' or limits in physics, but nothing found so far distinguishes a simulation from base reality.

Is the simulation hypothesis science or philosophy?

Mostly philosophy for now — a modern version of Descartes' demon and the brain-in-a-vat — though some propose physical signatures that could one day make parts of it testable.

More summits in Foundations & Philosophy

• Do we have free will?

  Are your choices truly yours, or the inevitable output of physics and neurons firing?

• Why is there something rather than nothing?

  The deepest question of all — why does a universe exist at all, instead of nothing?

• The limits of proof

  Gödel showed some true statements can never be proven. What does that mean for certainty itself?