Chances of Universe Being Computer Simulation 'May Be Very High': Says Neil deGrasse Tyson

We should not lay off the idea that our universe could be a simulation assembled by a far more advanced alien civilization, says Neil Degrasse Tyson. Tyson said he would find such a condition easy to visualize, adding the odds of the universe really being a simulation "may be very high". 

The astrophysicist said this in a discussion at the 2016 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate, held at the American Museum of Natural History. Tyson was also accompanied by a panel of experts, counting Harvard physicist Lisa Randall and MIT cosmologist Max Tegmark.

The very notion of a simulated universe comprises an advanced civilization generating an artificial universe for their own entertaining purposes. Humans are already use computer programs to generate alternative realities, twith the help of virtual reality and computer gaming - so if a far more technically advanced civilization did the same, it is realistic to consider that their simulation would be wide-ranging.

Astronomer Royal Martin Rees (who was not present at the discussion) once said that: "It's not crazy to believe that sometime in the far future, there could be computers which could simulate a fairly large fraction of a world."

At the discussion, Randall said the odds of universe being not real are close to zero. One of the opinions for a simulated universe is that if we exist in a computer programme, everything would be software so there has to be some sort of error codes that we could find. But, Randall also said that universes where errors could extent would ultimately break down – not like our own, seemingly stable universe.

But Neil Degrasse Tyson disagreed. According to him, he would not be amazed if our universe was made by a far more intelligent civilization than ourselves. He said "What would we look like to them?.We would be drooling, blithering idiots in their presence?

“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. 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'."