# So it turns out reality really is a simulation \[hypothetical\] **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 13, 2017, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-it-turns-out-reality-really-is-a-simulation-hypothetical/782048 "2017-03-13T00:33:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-it-turns-out-reality-really-is-a-simulation-hypothetical/782048/1 "2017-03-13T00:33:19Z")
OK so this is a silly one but I thought it might be fun and interesting. Scenario is that in the near future there is an incontestable revelation experienced at the same time by everyone in the world, it turns out that our reality really is a computer simulation and the beings running it have learned all they want to know. Not being jerks they say that they’re going to leave it running indefinitely but are giving all the simulated sentients _(ie: us)_ access to the code. They don’t really explain any more than this and don’t answer any questions, for everyone in the world the main effect seems to be that they can at will pull up a ‘user menu’ that appears as an understandable list of options hanging in the air in front of them, visible to the person using it but not to anyone else. The options on the list depend on what the person accessing it wants to see, no-one is quite sure what is or is not possible but what is clear that everyone is now capable of directly manipulating themselves, others, and the physical environment around them. How would society adapt, and what would you try out to see if you can do it or not? ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-it-turns-out-reality-really-is-a-simulation-hypothetical/782048/2 "2017-03-13T00:50:40Z")
exit program “are you sure you want to exit? All life will be lost?” yes. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-it-turns-out-reality-really-is-a-simulation-hypothetical/782048/3 "2017-03-13T00:54:52Z")
Man oh man, I am so reprogramming the kobayashi maru so we can win the scenario. ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-it-turns-out-reality-really-is-a-simulation-hypothetical/782048/4 "2017-03-13T01:02:47Z")
Enable god/debug mode. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-it-turns-out-reality-really-is-a-simulation-hypothetical/782048/5 "2017-03-13T11:38:28Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > exit program > > “are you sure you want to exit? All life will be lost?” > > yes. I’d like to think there would be at least some restrictions to prevent people doing that. > [@Trancephalic](#): > > Enable god/debug mode. What happens when other people do the same? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-it-turns-out-reality-really-is-a-simulation-hypothetical/782048/6 "2017-03-13T12:10:37Z")
System crash, and the non-existant afterlife commences until someone reboots the sim. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-it-turns-out-reality-really-is-a-simulation-hypothetical/782048/7 "2017-03-13T13:01:44Z")
> [@Atomic\_Alex](#): > > …The options on the list depend on what the person accessing it wants to see, no-one is quite sure what is or is not possible but what is clear that everyone is now capable of directly manipulating themselves, others, and the physical environment around them. > > How would society adapt, and what would you try out to see if you can do it or not? If everyone has the ability to manipulate the world, it’s likely to fuck up in fairly short order - because all it takes is one person with suicide bomber mentality to trash the whole thing. If people are only capable of directly manipulating themselves and their immediate environs, then I guess we’ll see a bunch of people trying to turn themselves into gods, supermen, tycoons, Casanovas and Einsteins, with an unknown proportion of those going horribly wrong. I guess a lot of it depends on the level at which the simulation is actually operating. If it’s simulating fundamental particles, then we’re in more or less the same position as now, just with additional tools - I still can’t make myself sprout antlers unless I can figure out the biology. If, on the other hand, the simulation is operating at a high level (and the underlying chemistry/particle physics is being filled in as a fiction when we bother to look - which is consistent with quantum uncertainty etc), then the possibilities are a bit broader. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-it-turns-out-reality-really-is-a-simulation-hypothetical/782048/8 "2017-03-13T16:16:58Z")
> [@Trancephalic](#): > > Enable god/debug mode. I don’t want to be God, but de-bug mode sounds cool. Get rid of all those damn mosquitoes! ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-it-turns-out-reality-really-is-a-simulation-hypothetical/782048/9 "2017-03-13T16:30:48Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > If people are only capable of directly manipulating themselves and their immediate environs, then I guess we’ll see a bunch of people trying to turn themselves into gods, supermen, tycoons, Casanovas and Einsteins, with an unknown proportion of those going horribly wrong. “Genie, I want my dick to reach the floor!” And the genie chopped off his legs. ---
**Author:** ![toofs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@toofs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toofs)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-it-turns-out-reality-really-is-a-simulation-hypothetical/782048/10 "2017-03-13T22:58:48Z")
Everyone would grant themselves admin rights. Nasty chaos to follow. ALT + F4 ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-it-turns-out-reality-really-is-a-simulation-hypothetical/782048/11 "2017-03-13T23:01:28Z")
End of the world, in short order. There are people who’d do that, just because they can. (Have you ever seen experiments involving unanimity? It virtually does not exist. There is almost nothing that all persons can agree on.) ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-it-turns-out-reality-really-is-a-simulation-hypothetical/782048/12 "2017-03-14T01:10:47Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > If everyone has the ability to manipulate the world, it’s likely to fuck up in fairly short order - because all it takes is one person with suicide bomber mentality to trash the whole thing. > > If people are only capable of directly manipulating themselves and their immediate environs, then I guess we’ll see a bunch of people trying to turn themselves into gods, supermen, tycoons, Casanovas and Einsteins, with an unknown proportion of those going horribly wrong. > > I guess a lot of it depends on the level at which the simulation is actually operating. If it’s simulating fundamental particles, then we’re in more or less the same position as now, just with additional tools - I still can’t make myself sprout antlers unless I can figure out the biology. > > If, on the other hand, the simulation is operating at a high level (and the underlying chemistry/particle physics is being filled in as a fiction when we bother to look - which is consistent with quantum uncertainty etc), then the possibilities are a bit broader. Many Worlds Theory could work in conjunction with the above-the madman manipulates himself into one timeline-yeah everybody else, in that timeline, goes whoosh right with him, but the other 99.9999999+% of the timelines are unaffected. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-it-turns-out-reality-really-is-a-simulation-hypothetical/782048/13 "2017-03-14T01:13:16Z")
F5 (quicksave) /noclip ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-it-turns-out-reality-really-is-a-simulation-hypothetical/782048/14 "2017-03-14T23:26:08Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Many Worlds Theory could work in conjunction with the above-the madman manipulates himself into one timeline-yeah everybody else, in that timeline, goes whoosh right with him, but the other 99.9999999+% of the timelines are unaffected. “The Ultimate Anthropic Principle,” which, if taken to an extreme, suggests that you are immortal. You will exist in any universe in which you can exist. “You” (generic; every one of us) will be downloaded, or be involved in some other kind of event, preserving your consciousness. Forever. (Hey, if you can’t take a philosophical thought-experiment to its extreme, what fun is it?) ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-it-turns-out-reality-really-is-a-simulation-hypothetical/782048/15 "2017-03-15T01:23:41Z")
Ah, the [Quantum Immortality](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_suicide_and_immortality) scenario. Funny thing is, only the guy with the gun would know for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-it-turns-out-reality-really-is-a-simulation-hypothetical/782048/16 "2017-03-15T08:18:18Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > “The Ultimate Anthropic Principle,” which, if taken to an extreme, suggests that you are immortal. You will exist in any universe in which you can exist. > > “You” (generic; every one of us) will be downloaded, or be involved in some other kind of event, preserving your consciousness. Forever. > > (Hey, if you can’t take a philosophical thought-experiment to its extreme, what fun is it?) As I think we agreed in another thread, nothing about that idea implies you’ll be _comfortable_. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-it-turns-out-reality-really-is-a-simulation-hypothetical/782048/17 "2017-03-15T10:38:08Z")
To quote Roger Waters: “Give any on species too much rope and they’ll fuck it up.”