A few scientists and philosophers have put it forward as a hypothesis or conjecture - I wouldn't go so far as to say the "scientific society is starting to believe" there's a 50:50 chance of it being the case.

(Great post, though - you certainly got a discussion going!)

I'd like to speak to the developer of this simulation I have some suggestions

We're not real. We are probably a Science Fair experiment for some alien kid from another star system.

I have pondered that idea, but since I have no real way of knowing, I just giggle about it and go on about living.

"Scientific society is starting to believe there is only 50-50 chance of this world to be real."

This just isn't true. Scientific society (whatever that is) says it is very likely impossible. I read physics journals every day. They're not buying it.

The only prominent scientist spouting that is NdG. Physicists say "no way" as a community.

Well ... I guess it's a possibility, but I would be very surprised indeed if it is considered likely by as much as 50% of the scientific community.

We can only deal with the reality we perceive, real or not, until proven otherwise.

Cogito ergo sum -- René Descartes

I think therefore I am; for me, that's all that is important about the big existential question. Suppose we exist in a simulation, is life any better or worse? No! We are tiny compared to the Universe, and ignorant of Why anything. Maybe we know a little history, and can predict a few things the future will bring. But, many questions go unanswered, and the nature of reality is just one.

As long as I am having a good time, who cares?

Mularky!

If that is the case I'd like them to fix my brains electrical faults (epilepsy). I am not a bug.

It's a fun thing to think about. No doubt inspired by The Matrix movies, especially the first one. Then after thinking about those sort of unlikely possibilities , we just get on with our (mostly) mundane lives.

It would make no difference, we are what we are, and if we ever found out we are different to what we thought, still no change. What would be really cool though, would be to crack that computer.

Whether reality exists as we suspect it does or it is a giant simulation, we are conscious either way. Just enjoy it as much as you can.

Nonsense. I think the arguments related to this are seriously flawed and entirely based on assuming a lot of things of which we do not know if they are even possible.
It is pure conjecture, not unlike the little party game: "what if there was a god that created everything".

Where do I enter the cheat codes? This grinding thing is getting really old.

Is this that Holographic Universe Theory? I read about that a while ago. It's interesting, but as products of a simulation, embedded inside a simulation, knowledge about that or lack thereof would make no difference. That simulation would represent our universe, and we'd be limited to the rules of that universe.

The likelihood of this being a simulation is about as good as my winning the lottery on a day when there is no drawing and I have no ticket. I'd also like to know what part of the scientific community has arrived at those odds because it sure isn't the part in which I wander.

If you're talking about remarks made by Tyson, Musk, Kaku, etc. those are all based on what-if speculations. I do that a lot in my writing too, but it does not mean I place much credence in it. You know, like, what if Earth is somebody's petri dish and we are part of the spawn?

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Neil deGrasse Tyson thinks there's a 'very high' chance the universe is just a simulation
Business Insider
Kevin Loria
Dec. 23, 2016, 5:00 PM 6,332
neil degrasse tyson on space survival
Business Insider
As we approach the end of 2016, a number of people might be wondering whether there's some chance that the past year was just some sort of weird dream.

It turns out that if you ask the scientists whose job it is to probe the nature of reality, the answer is actually: Maybe.

Maybe everything that's happening is just a simulation being run on a computer by some smarter, higher order being (with a weird sense of humor).

Earlier this year, at the 2016 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate at the American Museum of Natural History, which addressed the question of whether the universe is a simulation, the esteemed panelists took a stab at explaining how we know about that question. Depending on whether you want reality to be real or not, the answers from some panelists may be more comforting than the responses from others.

Physicist Lisa Randall, for example, said that 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 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."

But most physicists and philosophers agree that it's impossible to prove definitively that we don't live in a simulation and that the universe is real.

Tyson agrees, but says that he wouldn't be surprised if we were to find out somehow that someone else is responsible for our universe.

matrix code
Flickr/David.Asch
One of the main arguments that physicists use to talk about what's known as the "simulation hypothesis" is that if we can prove that it's possible to simulate a universe - if we can figure out all the laws that govern how everything works, which physicists are trying to do - that makes it much more likely that it is actually simulated. If we know that it's possible to do something, it's much easier to think that thing is being done.

We haven't been able to figure out how to simulate a universe - yet. But it's not too hard to imagine that some other creature out there is far smarter than us.

Tyson points out that we humans have always defined ourselves as the smartest beings alive, orders of magnitude more intelligent than species like chimpanzees that share close to 99% of our DNA. We can create symphonies and do trigonometry and astrophysics - some of us, anyway.

But Tyson uses a thought experiment to imagine a life-form that's as much smarter than us as we are than dogs, chimps, or other terrestrial mammals.

"What would we look like to them? We would be drooling, blithering idiots in their presence," he says.

Whatever that being is, it very well might be able to create a simulation of a universe.

"And if that's the case, it is easy for me to imagine that everything in our lives is just the creation of some other entity for their entertainment," Tyson says. "I'm saying, the day we learn that it is true, I will be the only one in the room saying, 'I'm not surprised.'"

And maybe that means there's some chance of doing a reset at some point.

The world is real even if it were simulated. We should line up any scientists who'd assert this, kick all males in the balls, give all the female's purple nurples and ask them if what they felt was real or simulated.

Where do you get the 50 50 ?Anything is possible we could be a dream of a higher power there is no evidence for a simulation, Just speculation and conjecture like religion. without evidence it is just musings

Where is a superhero when you need one?

It does not matter because only the phenomenal is real, to suggest a hidden reality lurking behind the phenomenal is a form of occultism.

A simulation of what?

What I experience is real to me and follows set rules. So realistically, I don't care if it is a simulation.

I'd still like to see where you get your evidence for the statement though.

I live in this world and, I wouldn't be able to distinguish between a real world from a simulated world, so until I have reason to believe this is a simulation I'm going to continue to accept that this is a real world. I'm fine saying it's possible that it's not real, but to say it's a flip of a coin would require evidence that would suggest that it's that would describe a mechanism that would allow for a simulation.

It's not hard to believe if you could live forever that you might play a game that lasted a "lifetime"