2012-10-13 – Been traveling to La Crosse for work a lot. Been traveling to Iowa for family. Been working hard at my new job. Been writing this blog. Been not sleeping well.

So along come researchers in Bonn, Germany who are trying to figure out whether this universe of ours is real or a simulation on some cosmic supercomputer. Here’s a link to a story about it at SciTech Daily. These researchers apparently believe that it might be possible to detect the mechanism of the simulator, if it indeed exists. At this point in their research, all they can say is that it is possible that we could catch a glimpse of it, but only in limited circumstances. Their research isn’t able to “see” every type of simulation, so a negative result  would not necessarily be meaningful. But a positive result would . . .

Well, let’s think about it. If it turns out that our universe is a simulation, could I stop going to La Crosse? Maybe my division headquarters isn’t really in La Crosse. Maybe it’s in Schaumburg. I could handle Schaumburg much better. It’s only an hour drive. But why stop with Schaumburg?

And maybe my car isn’t really a 2002 Honda Civic. Maybe in the real universe it’s a 2006 Civic! And maybe Grinnell College isn’t in Iowa. Maybe it’s in Ohio, though that isn’t much better. And maybe I’m not 61. Maybe I’m 51. I always liked being 51. When I was 51, I told people I wasn’t playing with a full deck. Get it? What can you say about being 61? And what does it matter if your age is only a simulated 61?

SciTech Daily has many interesting articles like this. Another story on the site talks about the discovery that the Chinese soft-shelled turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis) pisses out of its mouth. But maybe this is only a simulation.