Simulation hypothesis

The proposal that reality, including the universe and its inhabitants, is generated by a computer simulation run by a more advanced civilization.

Bostrom's simulation argument: A probabilistic argument that at least one of three claims about advanced civilizations and simulated ancestors is true. It formalizes the hypothesis as a trilemma about technological capacity, civilization survival, and simulated observers.
Anthropic principle: The principle that observations of the universe are conditioned by the existence of observers able to make them. Observer selection effects shape how simulated and nonsimulated observers should be counted.
Brain in a vat: A skeptical thought experiment in which a brain receives artificial sensory inputs that mimic ordinary experience. It questions access to external reality without requiring a simulated universe or civilization.
Falsifiability: The property of a claim whose possible observations could show it to be false. The hypothesis is disputed partly because proposed tests may not rule out every possible simulation.
Computational universe: The view that physical reality can be described or understood as computation. It offers a framework for asking whether simulated laws could generate the observed universe.
Self-sampling assumption: A principle for treating oneself as a random sample from a specified reference class of observers. It underlies the probability estimates used in versions of the simulation argument.
Dream argument: A skeptical argument that sensory experience cannot by itself establish that one is awake rather than dreaming. It challenges certainty about experience but does not posit computational creators.
Digital cosmology: The study of whether computational or discrete structures can explain features of the cosmos. It explores whether physical measurements could reveal signatures of a computational substrate.
Digital physics: The family of proposals that physical reality is fundamentally discrete or computational. Discrete physical structure could make a computational account of reality more conceivable.
Consciousness: The condition of having subjective experience or awareness. Whether a computation can produce experience affects whether simulated people count as observers.

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