Is our universe FAKE? Physicists claim we could all be the playthings of an advanced civilisation

Physicists say there is a possibility that our world is merely a simulation
They claim there may be evidence of this if only we know where to look
For instance, some of the laws of physics may not quite add up, they say

By Ellie Zolfagharifard For Dailymail.com

Published: 13:46 EST, 4 August 2015 | Updated: 16:56 EST, 4 August 2015

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The year is 2050 and super-intelligent robots have taken over the planet.

Except you have no idea, because you're living in a computer simulation, depicting what life was like in 2015.

Everything you see and touch right now has been created by robotic overlords who are using humanity as playthings in their virtual game.

That's the radical theory put forward by a number of scientists over the years, who claim there is a possibility that our world as we know it is fake.

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The universe and everything you see in it is fake. That's the radical theory put forward by a number of scientists, who claim there is a possibility that our world is merely a computer simulation - and there may be evidence of this if we know where to look

It may sound ridiculous, but this 'simulation argument' is being taken seriously by physicists who say they could find evidence that confirms it

Robert Lawrence Kuhn, writer and host of 'Closer to Truth,' recently explored this theory in an in-depth report featured on Space.com.

He notes that, according to Oxford University philosopher Nick Bostrom, the scenario played out in the film, The Matrix, could be a reality.

But 'instead of having brains in vats that are fed by sensory inputs from a simulator, the brains themselves would also be part of the simulation,' said Bostrom.

According to Oxford University philosopher Nick Bostrom, the scenario played out in the film, The Matrix, could be a reality. But 'instead of having brains in vats that are fed by sensory inputs from a simulator, the brains themselves would also be part of the simulation,' said Bostrom

Could the scenario played out in The Matrix be real?

IS REALITY MERELY AN ILLUSION?

The question of whether we are actually aware of the real world is one which has been continually asked by philosophers.

The earliest mentions of the debate can be found in Plato's Republic, where the Allegory of the Cave describes the illusory existence led by most unthinking people.

Plato suggested that the only way to come to a realisation of the real world was an in-depth study of maths and geometry, which would give students an undestanding of the real nature of the world.

French philosopher Rene Descartes raised the problem as a thought experiment to lead readers to a position of radical doubt.

His philosophy was built on the idea that nothing that is perceived or sensed is necessarily true.

The only thing that is true that there is a mind or consciousness doing the doubting and believing its perceptions. This lead to the famous saying 'I think, therefore I am.'

Critics of his work, however, say that just because there are thoughts, there is no guarantee there is really a thinker.

'It would be one big computer program simulating everything, including human brains down to neurons and synapses.'

Kuhn also points out how physical laws are sets of computational processes, with patterns in nature revealing an inherent, intentional model.

Marvin Minsky, a founder of artificial intelligence, told Kuhn it would be very difficult to distinguish that you're in a computer simulation.

That is, he says, 'unless the programmer has made some slips — if you notice that some laws of physics aren't quite right, [or] f you find rounding-off errors.'

Several years ago, Silas Beane of the University of Bonn suggested, like Minsky, that there may be signs that we are living in a simulation.

All we have to do to identify what these constraints would be, he said, is to build our own simulation of the universe, which is close to what many researchers are trying to do on an incredibly miniscule scale.

He believed that simulating physics on this fundamental level is equivalent, more or less, to simulating the workings of the universe itself.

In such a simulation, the law of physics have to be superimposed onto a discrete three-dimensional lattice which advances in time.

Professor Beane and his colleagues found that lattice spacing imposes a limit on the energy that particles can have, because nothing can exist that is smaller than the lattice itself.

This means that if the universe as we know it is actually a computer simulation, there ought to be a cut off in the spectrum of high energy particles.

And it just happens that there is exactly this kind of cut off in the energy of cosmic rays, a limit known as the Greisen–Zatsepin–Kuzmin (GZK) cut off.

This cut off is well-studied and happens because high energy particles interacting with the cosmic microwave background lose energy as they travel across long distances.

The researchers calculate that the lattice spacing forces otherfeatures on the spectrum, most strikingly that the cosmic rays would prefer to travel along the axes of the lattice.

Proving this is the case would be the acid test that the researchers are searching for - an indication that all is not at it seems with the universe.