'What may have started as a science fiction speculation - that perhaps the universe as we know it is a computer simulation - has become a serious line of theoretical and experimental investigation among physicists, astrophysicists, and philosophers.
'Neil deGrasse Tyson, Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium, hosts and moderates a panel of experts in a lively discussion about the merits and shortcomings of this provocative and revolutionary idea. The 17th annual Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate took place at The American Museum of Natural History on April 5, 2016.'
Note: It's amusing to watch scientists try and grapple with the simulation hypothesis. Consciousness rarely comes into their argument and they never question their assumption that there is an external reality in the first place (simulated or otherwise). A computational universe does not require the whole to be simulated continuously, but rather it is only the observed parts that need to be simulated. For example: if I look at a tree, the simulation of what is going on inside the tree is not required, until I chop down the tree and observe what's inside the tree. Then that part of the tree can be simulated for the consciousness observing it. Equally, if I don't observe the cells within the tree, then it doesn't need to be simulated until I pick up a microscope and see what is happening at the cellular level. In short, the computational nature of the universe does not need to be infinitely complex, it only needs to be as complex as the scope of what is being observed. Think 'procedurally generated universe' like the game No Man's Sky.
media-underground.net