Are We Living in a Simulation? Analyzing Free Will, Determinism, and Quantum Reality

According to an ancient Greek legend, one day in the present-day Egyptian city of Thebes, King Laius received a prophecy that his son, Oedipus, would one day become the king of Thebes, kill his father, and marry his mother. Fearing this prophecy, Oedipus’s father abandoned him in the jungle to have him killed. However, a couple found and adopted him.  

When Oedipus grew up, he somehow learned about the prophecy. To prevent it from coming true, he left his home, unaware that he was adopted and that the prophecy referred to his biological parents. In a fit of anger, he got into a small argument with a passerby and killed him. Later, he married the man's wife.  

Now, can you guess the rest of the story? Yes, the man he killed was actually his real father, Laius, and the woman he married was his own mother. In the end, the prophecy he was running from came true. This raises a profound question: can we escape our fate? Are our lives pre-programmed like a simulation?  

In the 3rd century, a philosopher named Zhuang Zhou had a dream that he was a butterfly. But upon waking up, he faced two questions: Was he really Zhuang Zhou dreaming of a butterfly? Or was he actually a butterfly dreaming that he was Zhuang Zhou?  

This dilemma highlights the conflict between reality and simulation. Do we truly have free will, or is everything predetermined?  

Free will means we make choices on our own. For example, if I decide to pick up my phone, I do so of my own free will. But think about it—there must be a reason behind picking up my phone. A past event must have influenced my decision. This concept is called **determinism**, which suggests that all events occur due to past causes.   

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Imagine a ball rolling in front of you. It didn’t move on its own—someone must have hit it. Now, was it their free will to hit the ball? That person may have hit the ball because of a match, which was organized for a reason. This forms a **chain of cause and effect**, implying that hitting the ball was already predetermined.  

Our brain works similarly. As soon as an event happens, our brain state changes, and since brain states are biological (and biological states are physical), they follow deterministic laws. This means **we are also deterministic**—our actions are not in our hands; we only experience them.  

Some scientists believe this suggests we are living in a simulation. Even Plato, the ancient Greek philosopher, proposed that what we perceive as reality is actually a **projected reality**. He illustrated this with his famous theory, **The Allegory of the Cave**.  

Plato described a cave where prisoners were tied in such a way that they could only see the wall in front of them. Behind them was a fire, and between the fire and the prisoners was a pathway. Objects passing in front of the fire cast shadows on the wall, and the prisoners, never having seen the real world, believed these shadows were reality.  

Plato argued that we, too, experience only a shadow of reality—our senses deceive us. Because this was a philosophical idea with no scientific proof, many dismissed it. However, some researchers continued to explore the concept mathematically. 

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British mathematician **John Conway** created a game called **The Game of Life** to demonstrate this concept. The game starts with an initial pattern that evolves on its own, creating new patterns. Over time, the original pattern disappears, but its influence remains.  

Conway suggested that this might be how our reality works—atoms multiply and form patterns, one of which is us. While intriguing, he had no solid proof. This is where **quantum mechanics** entered the discussion.  

Quantum mechanics provided experimental evidence that reality might not be as deterministic as it seems. One such experiment is the **double-slit experiment**.  

In this experiment, when light passes through two slits, it creates an **interference pattern**—a pattern of bright and dark spots. This behavior is expected for waves. However, if light is sent through the slits one photon at a time, the same interference pattern still appears, even though each photon should behave like a particle.  

But here’s where it gets weird: when scientists **observe** the photons (by placing detectors), the interference pattern collapses, and the photons start behaving like particles instead of waves.  

This suggests that **future events affect past events**—an observation breaks the interference pattern. In simple terms, **the past is dependent on the future**, which contradicts classical cause and effect.  

To understand this, let’s compare it to **GTA V**. In the game, the entire map is not rendered at once—only the part visible to the player is rendered, while the rest remains unrendered. But as the player moves, new areas render instantly.  

This is **exactly what happens in the double-slit experiment**—light behaves like a wave until we observe it, at which point it "renders" into a particle. This similarity raises the question: are we in a simulation?  

Computers have a limited information transfer speed, which we call the **clock speed** of the CPU. Similarly, the universe has a speed limit: **the speed of light**. Could this mean our universe functions like a **massive computational system**?  

However, there is a counterargument. **Simulating even a single quantum particle’s spin requires 50 GB of RAM**. Simulating a few hundred spins would require as much memory as the number of atoms in the universe. This suggests that **a full-scale simulation of reality is computationally impossible**.  

 

The **simulation hypothesis** assumes that an advanced civilization must exist long enough to develop such a simulation. However, the **Great Filter Hypothesis** suggests that advanced civilizations tend to destroy themselves before reaching such a stage—through war, resource depletion, or self-destruction.  

The **Silurian Hypothesis** further supports this, arguing that even if an advanced civilization existed, it would likely not survive long enough to create a perfect simulation.  

So, are we living in a simulation? There are interesting arguments on both sides, but no definitive proof.  

If you enjoyed this discussion, be sure to follow **Science Fact Blog** for more mind-bending contents. See you in the next post! As always, **stay curious, keep learning, and keep growing**.

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