THERE’S a 50% chance we’re living in a computer simulation, according to new analysis.
A scientist from Columbia University in the US claims it’s not too far-fetched to suggest our reality is a computer simulation created by a highly advanced civilisation.
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This may sound like the plot of the The Matrix or even The Sims video game but it’s actually based on work from researchers from renowned universities.
Astronomer David Kipping from Columbia University came to the 50/50 conclusion after re-evaluating a 2003 paper by University of Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom.
In that paper, aptly named ‘Are We Living in a Computer Simulation?’, Bostrom theorised that it’s likely we are living in one.
He also suggested that civilisations usually go extinct before they become developed enough to create their own reality or just don’t have an interest in creating one.
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Kipping looked into these three concepts, which are known as Bostrom’s ‘trilemma’.
He turned the trilemma into a dilemma by collapsing the last two points into one.
He then theorised that we are either living in a simulation or we aren’t so the chances are 50/50.
However, the scientist thinks if humans ever create advanced simulation tech then the chances of us living in a simulation ourselves will be higher.
Kipping told Scientific American: “Then you are only left with the simulation hypothesis.
“The day we invent that technology, it flips the odds from a little bit better than 50-50 that we are real to almost certainly we are not real, according to these calculations.”
Other scientists have argued that the right computer tech could spot a ‘glitch in the Matrix’ and confirm the theory within decades.
Kipping does still have doubt and concerns over people trying to prove that we’re just characters in a computer simulated world.
He told Scientific American: “It’s arguably not testable as to whether we live in a simulation or not.
“If it’s not falsifiable, then how can you claim it’s really science?”
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
