Simulated reality is the hypotheses that we leave in a computer simulation, that is, this universe is a program. It can be a stand-alone self-conscious program or a program with a creator (God). There is an hypotheses that scientists have not been able to test. Some think that the uncertainty principle and the quantum quality of the universe could be the "rules" or constraints the program imposes. It also has some constants, like the speed of light.
Simulated reality in fiction[]
There are very few written novels about this important topic. We usually find it at movies like The Matrix or The Thirteenth Floor. The second movie is about a program simulating a city in the US, at the beginnings of XX century. There are AI units and people who connect to that system, basically the programmers and the director of the project. We find basic ideas in this movie, like the use of "avatars" (the identity of people inside the system), artificial intelligence units (people who appear to be self-conscious) and mind downloading. This concept is key to connecting to the system. It can be as "simple" as controlling our avatar directly with our brain, by means of special sensors (like in The Matrix) or downloading one's mind to the target simulated brain (13th floor).
The 13th floor movie also adds the implicit question that our universe can be a simulation too. The movie is about a simulation created inside our world. But at the end, we see this world is a program too, similar to The Matrix movie.
Up to the moment, I know no science fiction novels about that topic. Feel free to add one if you find it.
Stories at Fiction Wikia[]
- add your own
Simulated reality in philosophy[]
>The philosopher Nick Bostrom investigated the possibility that we may be living in a simulation. A simplified version of his argument proceeds as such:
1. It is possible that a civilization could create a computer simulation which contains individuals with artificial intelligence.
2. Such a civilization would likely run many—say billions—of these simulations (just for fun; for research, etc.)
3. A simulated individual inside the simulation wouldn’t necessarily know that it’s inside a simulation—it’s just going about its daily business in what it considers to be the "real world."
>A decisive refutation of any claim that our reality is computer-simulated would be the discovery of some uncomputable physics, because if reality is doing something no computer can do, it cannot be a computer simulation. In fact, known physics is held to be computable.
So far, nobody has been able to prove whether we are inside a program or no.
There is also the Dream argument. It says that dreams can completely fool our mind into thinking they are real. So, we can be dreaming in 'real' life too. And it is also related to Brain in a vat hypotheses.
Some content taken from wikipedia, while the author finds more information.