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Wait, Maybe We Are Living In A Simulation

By Adam Frank

Published December 23, 2012 at 4:08 PM EST

A month or so ago, I wrote a post asking if everything we experience is nothing more than the result of a giant simulation run by super-advanced aliens.

"That's crazy!", some folks responded. "What are you smoking?"

Now a team of physicists at the University of Washington have announced research that might just be able to answer the simulation question (well, maybe get a start on answering that question).

The key is looking for constraints on the physics we experience that might come from it being nothing more than a program.

Who knows? Maybe a simulated universe with a simulated Santa might even be possible.

Here is the link to a story on the research. Enjoy, my fellow self-aware programs!

Adam Frank

Adam Frank was a contributor to the NPR blog 13.7: Cosmos & Culture. A professor at the University of Rochester, Frank is a theoretical/computational astrophysicist and currently heads a research group developing supercomputer code to study the formation and death of stars. Frank's research has also explored the evolution of newly born planets and the structure of clouds in the interstellar medium. Recently, he has begun work in the fields of astrobiology and network theory/data science. Frank also holds a joint appointment at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, a Department of Energy fusion lab.

See stories by Adam Frank