Mathematician Edward Frenkel on whether the universe is a simulation

David Pescovitz 9:06 am Mon Feb 24, 2014

Sluggo dreaming

Regular BB readers know one of my favorite head trips is the idea that we're living in a simulation or control system of some kind. Decades before The Matrix, folks like Jacques Vallee, John Keel, Stephen Wolfram, Rudy Rucker, Hans Moravec, and Ed Fredkin explored this notion. And of course it's also been the subject of countless science fiction novels. In recent years, Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom developed a mathematical argument to support the mind-bending theory. A week ago, UC Berkeley mathematician Edward Frankel, author of Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality, summed up the Simulation Argument in the New York Times Sunday Review and asked whether we can test the hypothesis.

Is the Universe a Simulation? (Thanks, Marina Gorbis!)

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