This simulation currently needs an antivirus update...

If we go faster than light we just see LOADING TERRAIN...

4:45 the problem I have with this solution is that it doesnt factor in the possibility that there is more than one simulation running. What if complete simulations just become integrated into programming class and we're some random kid's final project. My point is, it's more likely for the chain of simulations to be a tree, with several branching paths, rather than a boring straight line.

I love how excited Neil gets at the thought of a possible new theory at 1:46. He really does just have a huge passion for the unknown. And that’s what makes him a great scientist. He’s a brilliant man. But he’s also humble and understands just how little we know. But he approaches the new frontiers with wonder and excitement and logic.

"Maybe that's why we can't travel faster than the speed of light" That one really blew my mind.

The Scientist watching over this simulation: *Hmmmm* interesting

Neil as much I can relate to this theory, one thing I think must be considered is that a simulation capable of simulating other realities, can also simulate a thousand different models of simulations. One of which could be at our stage of evolution. They could simulate different worlds, different eras, different lifeforms.

Awesome lively chats Neil - thank you so much for your channel 😊

1:37 I respect chuck for coming up with this one, that speed of light idea...

I love how Neil is having an existential crisis and Chuck is just enjoying the simulation 😂😂😂

Definitely entertaining. I love his thought processes

Imagine being able to come with something so unique it blow Neil's mind😳 that speed of light limit theory is wild

The programmer must be sweating nervously after watching them do this.

“The Universe is a dream dreamed by a single dreamer where all the dream characters dream too.” - Arthur Schopenhauer

@Startalk, I love this thought experiment. I was just discussing this with a friend of mine who is a professor of AI over at the Univerity of Depaul in Chicago and I discovered a deeper level to this. You mention that since we do not yet have the computing power to completely simulate our world so that it is indistinguishable from "the real world" that there exists a 50% percent probability that we either exist in the first "real universe" or that we are the last simulation in the chain of simulations. This is mostly true except for the fact that if you look at this chain of simulations as a family tree of interconnected simulations rather than a linear "chain" it becomes intuitively evident and probable that "sibling simulations" can be created within the same "universe" that would then be running simultaneously alongside the other simulations beside them. In one simulation, they may develop the computing power to simulate themselves while in the sibling simulation, they cannot. This would then mean that at any given time, there are an infinite amount of simulations in which they cannot yet simulate themselves... and we might exist in one of those. So that brings us back to the fact that we statistically most likely exist in a simulation. 🤯

Isn't there a chance that these simulations start at the beginning if time with very slight variations to see how differently life would develop? Meaning that it is very probable that we are in a simulation.

The odds only go to 50/50 if each simulation only runs one simulation. If at ANY level they run more than one simulation the odds move in favor of us being in a simulation.

Imagine the creator of this simulation looking at this and laughing

Cool segment.

What if our reality was created as an AI simulation, and we were given the purpose of not only discovering that we are living in a simulation, but also to find the tools necessary to break out of the simulation, and meet our creators? To go one step further, what if reality is a series of nested simulations, possibly infinitely deep, where each level is progressively more complex than the last one?

In The Sims, the Sims can play a Sims game on their computer. It's already begun! 🤯

The "big bang" was simply the software being executed and all the variables being initialized

The simulation started when Harambe got shot.

I have to come back and listen to this every year or two.

Don’t know why someone would want to watch me eat chips and drink soda on my couch

The 'Programmer' watching this and having a existential crisis

We need more scientists like Neil to contest Neil man!

Interesting talk!

If we are living in a simulation. The person who is controling my life needs to do better job

I always like making the joke that we're a simulation made by dinosaurs wondering how life would have evolved if they were wiped out

I want to have this conversation 10 years from now. I been watching since 1984

If we're a simulation I'm really disappointed we didn't get the one that lets me get Superpowers.

this is why deja'vu lasts only seconds because the simulation corrects itself when we begin to realize we are in a simulation loop

I love the passion!!!

OMG THIS IS HILARIOUS.. AND AWSOME AND EYE OPENING

Imagine traveling at near speed of light and then suddenly getting trapped in a loading screen. Haha

1:46 i love how neil gets excited like a little child when he hears something that he has never thought of before , it shows how much he loves science and astronomy

It never ceases to amaze me.

2:00 Waw, i just saw the recent Why Files video about the simulation and he also talked about the Speed of light being a limiter. That's where he got it from, from this video. I never thought of that, good point!!

Maybe we're just making power for someone's car battery.

This reminds me of the Rick and Morty episode when Rick created a battery for his space ship and it was wolrds within world's powering up eachother 😆

Everyone on this Earth creates their own reality while joining other realities who are creating multiple realities. Knowledge to create new ideas is the key to the next level

Honestly the way 2020 is going it really wouldn’t surprise me if this was a simulation

Chuck: 1:40 The Simulator: *He's catching on* .

This vessel is a pretty awesome simulation. This vessel has the capability of “being”. With being, comes the capability of” feeling.” Even pain is good sometimes because it is apart of being, but, pain shouldn’t be constant in the state of being.

♥ Chuck. He's the perfect McMahon to the NdGT Carson. I'm always bothered by the argument that: we can't perfectly simulate ourselves -- so -- we can't possibly convince characters we've created in a world that we've created for them with a set of rules we have created, that their reality is real. What seems like imperfection to us, is all they know and "perfect".

The speed of light determined our render distance.

I wish I'd had a teacher like Neil when I was in School

Very nice 👍

In the first few minutes of the video itself, they went from someone creating a simulation to us being in a simulation...and that too flawlessly

Unfortunately, Neil's "chain" argument assumes a linear progression: one simulation creating another. What if one simulation created multiple simulations at the same time? Then we're back to the fact that statistically, we are in a simulation.

Another idea: how do you know that your memories are real? For all you know, the experiences you remember could have been fabricated from the moment you woke up today and you just began your simulation this morning

It's no big deal that we can imagine building a world of any kind anywhere at anytime as specific and perfect as is reality and then imagining we are really in that world.

In the movie Alien Covenant when David the robot says to the human over the billiards table "why did humans make him (David the robot)? The humans answer was "because we could"!. David's response was a classic. He replied "how disappointing would humans feel if they learnt that's why the engineer's made humans". But David is right. Maybe human engineers made us because they just could.

The simulators after watching: **nervous sweating** they’re becoming aware

Breaking the speed of light and traveling to the other sections is DLC, behind a paywall. 😅

That was really fun 😊

I love this theory so much Neil, but one thing I've been waiting to hear from you and many others is this one... Why has no one brought up the level of computer processing technology that would allow this? I know it's been *brought up* but to go layers deep in the thousands would mean base reality would have the be at a level we can't even imagine currently to continue running it *all* (as in the layers below up to the thousands or god forbid millions to run theirs below base reality...) Futurama did this in their recent season finale on Hulu! I'd love to see you two do a video, or a podcast discussing this further! Please do! Love your work, and thanks for the amazing content and education!

"Of course you're a character in a book, Harry. That doesn't mean it's not real." - Dumbledore

One simple question : to be at the end or at the beginning of the simulation chain, we have to assume that one civilization simulates only one simulation. What if one simulation is running multiple simulations , so rather than being a liner flow it's more like a root branching out. So dart when thrown can hit a simulation without further simulation and odds change from 50/50 to way higher.

Of all tools invented and builded, I think that computing as we have now days is the most powerful one, and think that we are only in the beginning of it is surreal, just like Da Vince in the past we are painting with codes, and the potential of it is stunishing.

Interesting I'm testing this in the future using only a "antique" reel to reel camera and a infinitely long index card for all my thoughts and dreams or "the script".🤯

Everybody gangsta until we find a duplication glitch Edit: this was supposed to make you chuckle, not make you fall on the floor.

1:45 My reaction when my best friend thinks exactly like me at the same time.

Wow...the speed of light is totally the processors limitation/speed.

Reminds me of that Rick & Morty episode "The Ricks Must Be Crazy" with a whole universe inside of Rick's car battery (and Stephen Colbert voices Rick's nemesis) :) Evocative and wild.

This is why I love science; all the crazy yet plausible theories are fun to explore

So basically, the day we have enough computing power to completely simulate our world accurately, is the day we know that we are overwhelmingly likely to be living in a simulation ?

I think 2019 was a glitch in the simulation! Love these two!

"There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened." - Douglas Adams.

Niel de Grasse Tyson at 1:46 Awoo! Awoo! I love the reaction

There could be multiple simulations in a single simulation.

I just want to be in a simulation without heartache.

Love it!

I love watching rational scientists work on problems like these. I imagine that ancient peoples had much the same conversations as they tried to work out the motivations and objectives and moralities of their gods.

Wait a minute this isn't related to coronavirus, thanks for that 🤗☺️

Love this conversation! However, I reject the assumption that a simulation must have the ability to recreate itself 1:1. Think of it in TV tech terms: the simulation above us could be 4k, we’re 1440p, and we create the 1080p equivalent simulation.

Strong hints that we live in video games or the matrix or simulation 1. Everythings on nature are based on math, algorithm and constant. Striking intention so it can be run on some kind of computer device 2. Everythings on fundamental level are quantized, other means of digitized. Striking intention so it can be run on specific kind of computer device, which is digital computer 3. It has distinct smallest unit of measures, not indefinately smaller. Similar to pixel in digital computer. 4. It has efficient rendering technique. Which is only render things when it being observed by the player. Once player is not observing, it going back to code and algorithm without need to be materialized 5. It has universal 'server tick' to synchronize everything and to avoid inconsistency around the simulated world. which is speed of light. 6. Since space and time are the output of algorithm, Anything unrelated to wolrd rendering algorithm, are not bound with space and time and can communicate instantly since it run outside the rendering algorithm. Such as quantum entanglement 7. Since almost everything is centered around the player, and almost everything is being rendered as per the player pbservation, not only future, but also any past time event is still on a form of code, and being rendered once the player is observing it. Thus, quantum delayed choice was happened 8. When the player dies, it could goes to spectator mode. Since the player viewport is not necessarily hard coded to the rendered body. 9. The player could go to different realm or mini games during sleep 10. There are millions of account and eyewitness, testimoning about them being experiencing some kind of glitches in the matrix 11. There are literal source code of higher level programming language, written and stored in every living things. That when compiled and run, it will create chemical nano machine that run autonomously based on previously written code. 12. Religious text that literally said "surely, this worldy life is just a game play, and the hereafter is better for the piety, dont they think it?"

There is a rick and morty episode called “the ricks must be crazy” about this exact same topic. Where rick created a world then the smartest guy in that world created a world and it kept going.

Neil: "What do all those simulations have in common?" Chuck: "That they are all simulations?" BOOM!!! Chuck ain't wrong...

I have had this same confusion a while ago and I just feels really strange

Great fun! Thank you!

Statistically, wouldn't that mean each sub universe would have less computing power to simulate? So eventually we won't be able to simulate as much?

What if people who can control their lucid dream are hackers

That just sounds like slavery with extra steps

This reminds me of the show 'Upload'.

if i was chatting i would use entropy as an argument to boost that chain-like thinking in hypothesis if we're in a simulation. Just as the speed of light looks like a fun limit when droodling some consequences of the hypothesis, i believe that entropy is a way to hold back simulation making when a universe is "created". Thinking of entropy really gets you back to classical big bang arguments that there could be no such thing as a simulation, but hey that is thermodynamics in our universe so I can't quite use that right? Well then the speed of light can neither be used. Guess we still don't know but i like the statistical way of approaching it

As someone who plays a lot of games, I always think of the speed of light being the render distance of our universe as a joke, hearing someone else say the same thing put a smile on my face! :D

Drinking game: take a shot every time Neil touches chuck’s hand

I love how excited he got about chuck’s theory

As someone who has witnessed many miracles and events and as an engineer and applying scientific/engineering thought to them, the only reasonable conclusion I can come to is that we are indeed living in a simulation. The events that I have experienced would be statistically so impossible that everyone who I tell my stories to conclude the same thing, either that or every action of us all is the work of some devine creator.

The next question is: does it make a difference to us whether we are in a simulation or not, and how?

4:13 the look of disappointment 😂😂

When ever I hear this “are we living in a simulation thing” I always think of the twilight episode “A matter of minutes “. Where beings create each minute and tear down previous minutes to keep the world going. This couple gets caught between minutes and freaks out. Or how about the movie 13th Floor? Excellent simulation movie!

Almost there Neil.... very good theory. 👍

I love how exciting they are when talk😂

When your Sims character realizes it’s in a video game 🎮

The "Side project" is actually a really deep consideration. Imagine we are all saying this and then there are other beings which there have to be and they are contemplating the same exact things..

Neil is an absolute superhero...love his enthusiasm ❤

There's also the assumpption that the universe simulated has to 1:1 mimic the original one, when there's no need for that to be the case. In fact, if the universe were smaller and less complex than the original it would still work as a simulation and the power needed to maintain it would dramatically decrease.