8 Theories About Reality That Make You Question Everything

8. The Universe Is A Simulation

Woah there Keanu, the idea that reality is an illusion is way older than The Matrix. Plato wondered a similar thing, although his ideas were a little more allegorical.

Anyway, there are some out there who think that we could all really be part of some great computer programme. These aren't just odd types in tinfoil hats either, physicists at the University of Washington in Seattle are actually figuring out a way to test this hypothesis (although, granted, their tinfoil hat status is unconfirmed).

One thing that has aroused physicist's suspicions about the nature of reality (don't you hate it when that happens?), is that we've so far been unable to figure out why universal laws are so, well, universal.

Could it be that 2+2=4, what goes up must come down, and nothing travels faster than the speed of light, simply because that's the way the programme was coded?

Astonishingly, there may be a way to find out and, rather excitingly, this is by looking for glitches in the matrix.

If the universal computer is programme is based on a 3D grid model, like most computers, then the motions of certain high energy particles, such as cosmic rays, might reveal anomalies in the grid, allow us to peer through the grid and into the structure beneath.

There is also an idea that the universe is pretty much indistinguishable from a quantum computer, and the fact the the universe is made up of quantum bits could well be the indicator that we're just part of the programme.

In which case, who programmed it?