[Wowfunhappy]

https://xkcd.com/505/

You can replicate the entire universe with pen and paper (or a bunch of rocks). It would take an unimaginably long time, and we haven't discovered all the calculations you'd need to do yet, but presumably they exist and this could be done.

Does that actually make a universe? I don't know!

The comic is meant to be a joke, I think, but I find myself thinking about it all the time!!!

[frozenlettuce]

Even worse, as we are part of the universe, we would need to simulate ourselves and the very simulation that we are creating. You would also need to replicate the simulation of the simulation, leading to an eternal loop that would demand infinite matter and time (and would still not be enough!). Probably, you can't simulate something while being part of it.

[Wowfunhappy]

It doesn’t need to be our universe, just a universe.

The question is, are the people in the simulated universe real people? Do they think and feel like we do—are they conscious? Either answer seems like it can’t possibly be right!