Are we living in a simulation? Mathematical proof debunks the idea that the universe is the ultimate computer

Daily Mail ^ | 10/31/25 | William Hunter

[week 71]

A mathematical proof has finally debunked the idea that we live in a simulation, according to a group of international researchers.

The theory that the universe could be a computer programme has been championed by Elon Musk and formed the basis for sci-fi classics like The Matrix.

But scientists now say that this is not just unlikely, but mathematically impossible.

This is because the fundamental nature of reality operates in a way that can never be replicated by pure computation.

Thanks to the strangeness of quantum physics, no computer, however powerful, would ever be able to generate what the researchers call 'non-algorithmic understanding'.

[week 71]

“Welcome to the real world”

[ClearCase_guy]

[aynrandfreak]

If we were living in a simulation, this is exactly the kind of story they’d put out to assure everyone it’s not true!

[Tell It Right]

[AndyTheBear]

Uhm...if we are a simulation then we have no clue how physics works in the real world that the computer or simulator is running in right? Does the physics of a video game have to match real life physics??

[KrisKrinkle]

That’s what it wants us to think.

[dfwgator]

Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle
Hobbes was fond of his dram

And Rene Descartes was a drunken fart
“I drink, therefore I am.”

[antidemoncrat]

” Are we living in a simulation? Mathematical proof debunks the idea that the universe is the ultimate computer”

HUH?

[HombreSecreto]

LOL

[TalBlack]

Ahhhh, mental masturbation, what can’t it do.

[Lovely-Day-For-A-Guinness]

Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle

Mentioning Aristotle and bottle together reminds me of a convoluted Cockney rhyming slang for calling someone an aris meaning an ass.

Aris is short for Aristotle which rhymes with bottle, a bottle is made of glass which rhymes with ass.

[pfflier]

Why is it necessary to debunk a theory that is absolute garbage?

[telescope115]

When I was a kid I thought that once people were out of sight from me that they ceased to exist, until they reappeared. I thought that when I was a kid…….

Growing up in an Italian (Sicilian) family, my mom and dad spoke Italian to my grandparents. I didn’t know there were different languages. I thought that was how old people talked- “Old People Language”. When I was a kid…………

[RightOnTheBorder]

Uhm...if we are a simulation then we have no clue how physics works in the real world that the computer or simulator is running in right? Does the physics of a video game have to match real life physics??

That higher order simulation would be different than humanity’s concept of a simulation, one might call it creation. I think what this proof says is no matter how powerful and knowledgeable we become we are not able to re-create ourselves.

This mirrors wisdom given to us thousands of years ago in the Old Testament.

[AndyTheBear]

From Natural Theological proofs like those of Descartes and may others, even if we were in a simulation ultimately there would have to be God as the final perfect thing with aseity et al.

But putting aside revelation, and just going on Natural proofs, we have no idea how many intermediate steps there might be between us and God. And something that might be closer to be described as a simulation than to anything else that lends itself metaphorically might be the first step.

[Vaduz]

Check lol

[suasponte137]

Thank God...I was almost not going to work today because I was thinking everything was fake.

[fwdude]

We ARE living in a delusion of sorts. So, the metaphor is apt.

[PeterPrinciple]

‘non-algorithmic understanding’.

---

otherwise known as creation.