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Post by Maxx on Apr 26, 2016 9:44:03 GMT -8
We trust the scientists around us to have the best grasp on how the world actually works.
So at this year's 2016 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate at the American Museum of Natural History, which addressed the question of whether or not the universe is a simulation, the answers from some panelists may be more comforting than the responses of others.
Physicist Lisa Randall, for example, said she thought the odds that the universe isn't "real" are so low as to be "effectively zero."
A satisfying answer for those who don't want to sit there puzzling out what it would mean for the universe not to be real, to be sure.
But on the other hand, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who was hosting the debate, said that he thinks the likelihood of the universe being a simulation "may be very high."
Uh oh?
The question of whether or not we know that our universe is real has vexed thinkers going far back into history, long before Descartes made his famous "I think therefore I am" statement. The same question has been explored in modern science fiction films like "The Matrix" and David Cronenberg's "eXistenZ."
finance.yahoo.com/news/neil-degrasse-tyson-thinks-theres-130300649.html
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