Does the universe actually exist? We might all be living in one big computer game, scientists say
We always talk about the robots replacing humans, but what if we actually are robots, with brains that are programmed just like computers to think in a certain way?
Our universe behaves suspiciously similarly to a simulated computer, obeying a series of mathematical formulas that all link up together, and according to some physicists this means the world as we know it may be one big lie.
Just as a computer is unaware of humans' superior existence, we might be unaware of a higher technological force controlling all that goes on in the universe, including our thoughts and actions.
Technology expert Ray Kurzweil told Space.com: "maybe our whole universe is a science experiment of some junior high school student in another universe."
Oxford University philosophy professor Nick Bostrom has a similar view, and compares human life to being in The Matrix:
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.It would be one big computer program simulating everything, including human brains down to neurons and synapses.
Unfortunately, the questions of what we are and where we come from are going to remain unanswered for the time being, as we currently have no way of finding out whether the universe is definitely real.