Is the universe real? Or are all the stars and planets (including Earth and everything and everyone on it) just simulations in some colossal video game? What sounds like a silly question is actually one that some scientists have begun to take seriously.
It’s hard to come up with a way to tell for sure whether we’re simulated beings living in a simulated universe. But the ancient story of the king and the chessboard may shed some light on the matter.
In the story, a craftsman requests payment from the king in grain, starting with but a single piece placed on one square of the chessboard, and for twice as much grain each day until all the squares are filled. Day two has two grains, day three has four, day four has eight…and then 16, 32, 64, 128 to finish the first row. To the king’s dismay, the payment on the 64th and final square amounted to more than 18 quintillion grains. That’s enough to make a pile of grain extending up past Proxima Centauri, the nearest star outside our solar system.
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