Simulated reality searches

Could our existence be confined to a simulated reality rather than the physical universe we’ve come to believe in? This fascinating theory was seen in the 1999 blockbuster “The Matrix,” and now it’s about to be tested experimentally.

Campbell designed a series of experiments, outlined in a 2017 paper in the International Journal of Quantum Fundamentals, that aimed to explore whether our world works like a video game. Scientists at California State Polytechnic University (CalPoly) have begun the first of these experiments to test Campbell’s provocative hypothesis.

To support these efforts, Campbell founded the nonprofit Center for the Unification of Science and Consciousness (CUSAC). According to a press release from CUSAC, the experiments are expected to “provide compelling scientific evidence that we are living in a computer-simulated virtual reality.”

Simulation hypothesis

At the heart of Campbell’s experiments is a new take on the double-slit experiment, a classic physical demonstration of how light can behave as both a wave and a particle.

Campbell believes that if the observer were removed from these experiments, the information recorded might never have existed at all, challenging the modern quantum physics concept of entanglement, which involves communication between distant particles.

Essentially, Campbell’s theory states that, like a video game, the universe would not exist without the player. According to him, this would show that the universe is completely “participatory.”

If Campbell’s experiments prove that humanity is trapped in virtual reality, they could fundamentally change our understanding of the universe. Campbell believes that these experiments could “challenge traditional understandings of reality and reveal deep connections between consciousness and the universe.”

Not completely forgotten and not that old

The simulation hypothesis is not a new concept. In 2003, Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom published an article titled “Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?”

Bostrom suggested that if humanity were to advance technologically, we would eventually be able to create simulations of our ancestors. Over time, these simulated beings would be able to create simulations of themselves, leading to a reality in which most minds exist in simulations.

Campbell’s hypothesis differs from Bostrom’s “ancestor simulation” by suggesting that “our consciousness is not a product of simulation but underlies reality.”