Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Break Down The Obvious Clues That We Might Be Living In A Simulation

Are we living in a computer simulation? That's a question that has fascinated many scientists for some time now. You can thank the philosopher Nick Bostrom for that, by the way.

He's the one who proposed in the Philosophical Quarterly that the universe and everything in it might be a simulation, a claim that has challenged humanity's perception of reality.

Not everyone is convinced, of course. Those who've pushed back against the suggestion think the claim is little more than a fantastical thought experiment.

But suppose we were. There'd be bound to be proof all around us!

People shared their thoughts with us after one Redditor asked the online community,

"If it ever turns out we’re living inside a simulation, what would’ve been an obvious clue in hindsight?"

"When random objects..."

"When random objects go missing and you could've sworn you had it with you, and then you never find it ever again."

PolarParadise

Or they are sitting in plain sight three days later and you know you checked that area like a hundred times!

"Seeing people you know..."

"Seeing people you know pop up in really random places where you wouldn’t expect to see those people. Like the simulation started reusing assets."

[deleted]

It's just a coincidence!

Or is it?

Who can say?

"My phone..."

"My phone reading my thoughts and sending me ads for things I don't even talk about or search for online."

nebulaniac

Nahhh... it's just using all of your data.

"Not finding..."

"Not finding obvious signs of life in the observable universe."

OffMyMedsToday

I don’t see how this would be an obvious sign. The universe has been around for billions of years. We’ve existed for a small fraction of that time. The chance of us existing at the same exact time as other intelligent life seems incredibly rare.

"Our memories..."

"Our memories do not feel more real than our dreams."

MysticalJoy

Uhhh... this hit me hard.

"The lazy physics..."

"The lazy physics where one model has been applied everywhere without distinction - such as the gravitational model for the planets. Take one basic idea and copy and paste it everywhere."

GoodAndBluts

I mean that’s just the basic coding in the game engine. I think maybe you’re thinking of how different civilizations with no contact came up with the same stuff, like pyramids.

"That one time..."

"That one time when I got so wildly stressed in grad school and had a severe derealization situation and was convinced we were living in a simulation."

[deleted]

Sounds about right.

Pack it all up, everyone. We've figured it out.

"The fact that..."

"The fact that truth is stranger than fiction."

read-it-on-reddit

We expect fiction to make sense. Reality has no such constraint.

"When you learn..."

"When you learn something new and it starts appearing everywhere."

Chemical-somewhere-six

That's just frequency illusion, a cognitive bias in which, after noticing something for the first time, there is a tendency to notice it more often, leading someone to believe that it has a high frequency of occurrence.

"Inconsistent dreams. I've had dreams about the same fandoms that have completely different alterations, and the only dreams I have that have a consistent universe are completely identical."

[deleted]

Or maybe people experiencing the exact same flavours differently. It could be some kind of bug.

We haven't even covered the fact that time slows down near black holes or the uncertainty, the fact that certain phenomena behave differently depending on whether they are observed or not! Much to think about.

Have some thoughts of your own? Tell us more in the comments below!

Want to "know" more?

Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Signal app logo; J.D. Vance
Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Signal's Founder Epically Roasts Vance Over The Disastrous Group Chat Debacle

Signal founder Matthew Rosenfeld, better known by the pseudonym Moxie Marlinspike, mocked Vice President J.D. Vance after the app found itself at the center of the Trump administration's group text scandal.

Rosenfeld's post came amid revelations that Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg was invited into a Signal chat with high-level Trump administration officials, particularly Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, discussing military strategy surrounding war strikes in Yemen.

Keep ReadingShow less
MTG, Martha Kelner
C-SPAN

MTG Blasted For Her Unhinged Reaction To A UK Reporter Asking Her A Question

Far right Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene was bashed for viciously shutting down a British reporter who had a question about the Signal group chat scandal, AKA "Signalgate."

Republican President Donald Trump's administration continues to downplay concerns after The Atlantic'seditor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was mistakenly added to the Signal messaging app's group chat in which U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared with top intelligence officials the specific weapons programs regarding the U.S. war strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Rachel Maddow
MSNBC

Rachel Maddow Gives Trump A Blistering Reality Check After His 'Perfect' Presidency Claims

MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow criticized President Donald Trump after he claimed "we've had two perfect months" to start out his presidency—conveniently downplaying "Signalgate" and ignoring all the scandals that have thus far struck his administration.

You can see his comments to reporters in the video below:

Keep ReadingShow less
train crossing in small town
craig kerwien on Unsplash

People Share Their Most Embarrassing Small Town Stories

I lived most of my life in a very small town in Northern Maine. There were about 200 kids in my high school and there were 56 kids in my graduating class—we were tied with the class of 1961 for the largest class ever.

When the primary employer in town—Pinkham Lumber Mill—shut down, the town got even smaller. Now the senior class is considered large if it reaches double digits.

Keep ReadingShow less
A post-it with "I Quit" written on it over a computer keypad
a yellow notepad on a keyboard
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

People Reveal Why They Quit Their Job On The First Day

As much as anyone may want to quit a job, at the end of the day it's easier said than done.

For one thing, even if people are working soul-sucking jobs that barely cover expenses, they still can't afford to lose the paycheck, until something better comes along.

Keep ReadingShow less