Do we actually exist? Or are we in the Matrix?

New mind-blowing evidence from the University of Bonn in Germany suggests that the world we live in could simply be a simulation, like in the Matrix. So do we actually exist?

---

What’s all this about new ‘mind-blowing’ scientific research?

This new research, from physicists in Germany (so you know it's efficient research), will have you pondering the wonders of the universe for hours and it may even make you pinch yourself just to see if you’re really there. That’s because the evidence suggests we’re all living in a simulation. Think Sim City the computer game, but on a massive scale.

So hang on… we’re living in a simulation? How did all this come about?

Well it’s actually been a long proposed theory that has been put forward by both philosophers and pop-culturists over the years. Some believe that any civilisation that was big enough and intelligent enough would eventually try to create a simulation of its own universe, if such a thing were possible. Basically, our universe could be a simulation of someone else's universe.

Oh right, so how does that mean we’re living in a simulation? Surely we’d be the ones to create the simulation in the first place?

Well here’s one of the many tricky scientific bits comes into play. Apparently, if we did create a simulation of the universe then the civilisations that we’d inadvertently create would then create their own simulations and so on. So what we would get would be simulations within simulations within simulations.

That’s where the second bit of tricky science comes in. The theory states that there’s a greater chance that our world is artificial than real seeing as there could be endless simulations taking place all at the same time. Chances are we're one of the many simulations and not of the 'original universe'.

Okay, so let’s assume there are loads of simulations taking place. What makes our universe such a good contender for a simulation and not the original one?

It’s all in the paper ‘Constraints on the Universe as a Numerical Simulation’, which was published by the team of researchers from the University of Bonn in Germany, led by Silas Beane. It basically suggests that we could be a simulation of another universe seeing as there are constraints on our universe.

One example of that would be the speed of light. Nothing – that we know of – can go faster than the speed of light. But why? Was it a constraint put on our universe by whoever created the simulation? There are loads of other good examples of our universe having ‘limits’ (albeit very scientific ones) and it’s these limits that have many wondering is our universe just a simulation.

Right, I’m going to go pinch my arm for a while.

Don’t worry, you’re not alone… or are you?