I'm familiar with that argument, and it makes some sense, but here's the problem I have with it: would a simulation of a conscious being actually be conscious? It's not at all clear to me that it would. We're conscious, so to me that argues for a "real" universe.
That would be a dead giveaway, if we had any idea what consciousness was or how it happens. However if we are simulated pieces of code who think we have consciousness and behave in exactly the same way that conscious beings do (based off of studies done in the future real universe on actual conscious beings, or potentially simulated conscious beings) then we'd really have no reason to believe our consciousness is not real, based on the fact that we've never seen or experienced anything outside of it.
Presumably consciousness is some part of the human brain, and so only really a complex electro-chemical process, based on laws and rules that could be simulated in a computer environment.
OTOH, there's an XKCD comic on this subject (of course) which points out that a simulated universe would probably have some features designed to make computation easier. For example, a minimum temperature, a maximum speed, discrete chunks of light and energy ...
I believe that is one of the main ideas behind trying to test the hypothesis. Analyse the universe for limitations that would be inherit in a computer simulation. Although the computer running the simulation could quite possibly be so powerful that no such limitations are really in place, there would have to be some point where it cuts corners however. Unless of course we are programmed to be incapable of noticing said limitations, in which case they could be right in front of us.
Then again, the computer itself could be a self conscious entity within its own right (and essentially some sort of universal consciousness, in our universe that is), capable of growing in size and power and altering the universe to remove said limitations as the computer itself becomes capable of using its own resources more efficiently. This would lend an explanation to an ever expanding universe.
It's always amazing when imagination like this is put forth and carried along.....LMFAO. Is the act of understanding human existance become so far beyond the intellect of todays society that everything has to be a regurgitation of old science fiction stories?
I think it's more a case of science fiction regurgitation hundred year old philosophical thinking. Quite reminiscent of Zhuangzi's "butterfly dream" from around 400 BCE
In Buddhist philosophy, the world we see and experience is "Maya", an illusion we are born into.
The thinking has been applied to computers for as long as they have existed to my knowledge.
I'm not sure random acts would be possible.
As far as we can tell, they're not. The universe is based on a set of concrete rules so that things always occur in the same predictable way. Things like choice and free will are really unexplained phenomena, and I'd say I'm a supporter of the idea that they're an illusion within the human mind.
