Speaking at the 2016 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate recently held at the American Museum of Natural History, Neil deGrasse Tyson says we shouldn’t dismiss the idea that our universe is merely a fancy simulation created by an alien civilization far more advanced than we. He said personally he would find that easy to imagine and he added that the chances were, in fact, pretty high.
Tyson was among a panel of experts, including MIT cosmologist Max Tegmark and Lisa Randall, a physicist at Harvard, posed with the leading question, “Is the universe a simulation.”
Mankind today already uses computer programs to simulate alternative realities, via computer games and virtual reality.
Would it not be possible that a far more advanced alien civilization has done the same, albeit in a far more extensive way?
Humans as entertainment for a more advanced civilization?
Are we merely the entertainment for a bunch of aliens, living in our own simulated universe and artificial world?
According to the International Business Times, Astronomer Royal Martin Rees, who was not present at the debate, did once say it isn’t crazy to believe that in the far future there will be computers advanced enough to simulate a large portion of a world.
Randall, however, stated the chances of the universe not being real are pretty much close to zero. She theorized if that was the case, everything would be in the form of software, which would mean there would be error codes we could recognize and uncover.
Stating our universe is stable, she said in a universe where errors could spread, there would have been a break down at some stage.
#space The good thing about science is that it's true wether you believe it or not. - Neil DeGrasse Tyson 🚀
— Hemeroteca Misterio (@wikiDelMisterio) April 25, 2016
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Tyson would not be surprised in the least
However Tyson disagreed with Randall, saying he would not be in the least surprised in our universe had been created by a much more intelligent life form than us mere humans.
He questioned what we would look like to those aliens, asking would we appear as “drooling, blithering idiots” in their presence.
He continued by saying it is easy for him to imagine that everything revolving around our lives is merely the creation of a more advanced entity for their entertainment, adding that the day we learn this is the case, he will be the only one in the room saying he is not surprised.
Readers can enjoy the full debate -- including comments from other members of the team -- in the video included below.
