The laws of nature are so neatly organised, they feel almost programmed. Why should the universe behave so perfectly unless it’s following a script?

You wake up in the morning, reach for your phone, and the screen lights up before you even touch it. Coincidence? Maybe. Or maybe the simulation you’re living in is lagging by a few milliseconds. Sounds absurd? Maybe not. In recent years, a strange idea has quietly crept out of science fiction and into the minds of some of the world’s smartest people—from physicists and computer scientists to philosophers and tech billionaires—which is: what if our entire universe, from the galaxies above to the vada pav on your plate, is nothing more than a computer simulation? 

Who started this crazy thought? It might surprise you, but the idea doesn’t come from conspiracy theorists. It comes from serious scientists. In 2003, Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom proposed a now-famous argument: If civilisations become advanced enough to run realistic simulations of the universe, and if they have the interest to do so, then chances are we are already inside one of those simulations. Why? Because once such simulations are possible, they could run millions of versions of “Earth” with virtual humans. Statistically speaking, we are more likely to be one of the simulations than the original. Think of it like Netflix. If you have one real event but a million shows based on it, which one are you most likely to be watching? Probably one of the shows. Now imagine we are inside that show.

Physics Is Acting Digital: At first, this sounds like pure fantasy. But here’s where it gets strange—physics itself is starting to look digital. We used to think the universe was continuous like a smooth canvas. But quantum mechanics suggests the opposite: everything comes in chunks. Matter is made of atoms. Light comes in photons. Even time and space might be quantised, made of tiny, indivisible units. Like pixels on a screen. Physicists have even found that the laws of nature—gravity, electromagnetism, and nuclear forces—are so neatly organised, they feel almost programmed. The equations are elegant, consistent, and strangely clean. Why should the universe behave so perfectly unless it’s following a script? 

The Quantum Clue: One of the strangest features of quantum physics is that particles don’t exist in a fixed state until they are measured. A particle like an electron doesn’t sit quietly in a corner waiting for you to find it. Instead, it exists as a cloud of probabilities—and only decides its location the moment you look. This is called the observer effect. Think of it like a video game. The landscape only renders when the player enters a new area—to save memory and processing power. Could the universe be doing the same? It’s a wild thought but not an impossible one.

And maybe this isn’t such a new idea after all. Pop culture has long been fascinated by this possibility; The Matrix made us question whether reality itself is just a sophisticated illusion; in Inception, dream worlds folded into each other until even waking life felt uncertain, etc. Even in video games like The Sims, Minecraft, or No Man’s Sky, we create entire worlds—sandbox simulations with coded rules and evolving behaviours. But this isn’t just a Hollywood obsession. Indian philosophy has hinted at it for centuries. The ancient concept of maya in Vedanta describes the world as an illusion—not in the sense that it doesn’t exist, but that it’s not the ultimate reality. The Bhagavad Gita speaks of leela, a divine play through which consciousness expresses itself. Maybe what we call a “simulation” is just science catching up with something our ancestors intuited long ago.

What About AI? Here’s where things get even more interesting. Today’s artificial intelligence can already simulate human conversations, write poetry, create art, and generate entire virtual worlds. We are using AI to build tiny, convincing simulations all the time. If our generation can do this in 2025, imagine what a civilisation a million years ahead of us could build. Maybe we are inside their project. A science experiment. A simulation of how early 21st-century humans behaved during climate change, the AI revolution, and geopolitical chaos. Perhaps somewhere out there, a 16-year-old alien coder is watching you right now, writing notes like, “Subject #493A feels sad on Sundays. Recommending more street food in the algorithm.”

Evidence? There’s no “proof” yet that we are in a simulation. But there are some weird hints: 

-Pixelated Space: Some physicists think the smallest possible length, the Planck length, could be the resolution of the universe. Below it, nothing makes sense. That’s like a minimum pixel size. 

-Speed Limit: The speed of light is the fastest anything can travel. Is this a cosmic speed cap—like bandwidth limits in a network? 

-Cosmic Coincidences: The laws of physics seem just right for life to exist. If the universe were slightly different, we wouldn’t be here. 

-Glitches: People often report déjà vu, strange synchronicities, or repeating patterns. Are these software bugs? Maybe. 

If It’s a Simulation Who’s Running It? Ah, the big question. If our world is a simulation, who created it? Some say it could be an advanced alien species—a kind of cosmic coder civilisation curious about their ancestors. Others say it could be a post-human AI—a superintelligence that evolved beyond humanity and now simulates its past for study. A few go further and suggest we may be just one layer in an endless chain of simulations. Our simulators are also simulated. And so on. And there’s always the wild card: maybe God is the programmer. Maybe ancient Indian sages were right all along when they said the world is maya.

Should We Be Worried? Actually, this idea isn’t depressing. It can be strangely inspiring. If you are in a simulation, and yet you’re aware enough to ask, “Am I real?” that already makes you special. You are self-aware code. A thinking, feeling consciousness that questions its reality. That’s a rare and beautiful thing, simulated or not. So go on. Enjoy your tea. Laugh with your friends. Fall in love. Do science. Make art. Because even if the universe is a simulation, the feelings you have inside it are as real as anything. And who knows—maybe the one running the server is watching and smiling.