Physicists Devise Test For Whether the Universe Is a Simulation

olsmeister writes "Ever wonder if the universe is really a simulation? Well, physicists do too. Recently, a group of physicists have devised a way that could conceivably figure out one way or the other whether that is the case. There is a paper describing their work on arXiv. Some other physicists propose that the universe is actually a giant hologram with all the action actually occurring on a two-dimensional boundary region."

What if they are right?

[drwho]

What will we do then? When will Zaphod eat the cake?

I hate those types of physicists

[hack slash]

They never pass the joint around :(

Re:What if they are right?

[Dyinobal]

What do you do with unruly programs? The answer to that question is your answer.

In other news

[wonkey_monkey]

Recently, a group of physicists have devised a way that could conceivably figure out one way or the other whether that is the case.

In other news, the group of higher-dimensional physicists who are running this universe a simulation figured out a way to falsify the results of the test.

That explains why...

[ixtapolapoquetl]

When I ran into a wall yesterday, I thought I briefly saw a black wall with yellow lines...

Re:I hate those types of physicists

[93 Escort Wagon]

I suspect they're too busy with their D&D game to think about sharing.

Re:What if they are right?

[malacandrian]

Declare them too expensive to replace, and build entire corporations that rely on them?

Re:this universe is nothing but fractal

[Noughmad]

No, we'll see turtles.

Re:What if they are right?

[fahrbot-bot]

Declare them too expensive to replace, and build entire corporations that rely on them?

Oh My God. The Universe is written in COBOL.

Re:What if they are right?

[Anonymous Coward]

Its actually Practical Existence with Recursion Language.
          -- Your God

Re:What if they are right?

[menno_h]

http://xkcd.com/224/ [xkcd.com]
I really should start posting my own words and not some other guy's cartoons.

Re:What if they are right?

[Em Adespoton]

Can we just check to see if the virtual machine drivers are already installed in this universe?

I find that having a good understanding of computers and technology really helps when trying to understanding the universe. There's a lot of comparisons to be made and metaphors to facilitate understanding.

For instance, say the universe was was a car...

That's ridiculous... everyone knows the universe is a cdr....

Re:The Evolution of Ducks

[Black Parrot]

Perhaps you're unaware that homosexuality has been observed in other mammals too.

But to bring this back on topic, we could speculate on whether you're a troll or a simulated troll, and devise clever methods to test our speculations.

I'm Sure...

[Greyfox]

It's probably just a 4th dimensional grad student's simulation designed to demonstrate how to create plutonium from hydrogen. Just code in a few state transitions, a few simple rules, cut some corners on how it handles too much mass in one place, slap a hard limit on speed in the simulation and let it run for a few billion years.

Re:What if they are right?

[SuperMooCow]

I was drinking iced tea while watching The 13th Floor, does that count?

Re:What if they are right?

[Dragonslicer]

For instance, say the universe was was a car...

Okay...

The universe was was a car.

Re:I hate those types of physicists

[Jeremi]

The many-words interpretation of quantum mechanics

tl;dr