| Imagine for a minute that everything you see | | | | noted by his famous words, "I think, therefore I |
| around you is not actually there. It is just for lack | | | | am." Then in the last century, Bertrand Russell |
| of a better phrase, a figment of your imagination. | | | | propounded that humans might be just "brains in a |
| Could it be? | | | | jar" that were being activated by chemicals or |
| The world's top scientists now think that it could. | | | | electrical currents. |
| In the Sunday Times from Britain, Prof. Sir Martin | | | | Next month, Prof. Rees will present his ideas in a |
| Rees suggested that life in the universe and | | | | television documentary called "What We Still Don't |
| everything in it may be nothing more than a giant | | | | Know." He is expected to emphasize that today's |
| computer simulation. The Royal Society professor | | | | top physicists and cosmologists are seriously |
| at Cambridge University says humans may simply | | | | considering this theory. One of them, |
| be bits of software. In other words, we program | | | | mathematical science Prof. John Barrow also of |
| our world the way we want it. We create our | | | | Cambridge University, will discuss the fine-tuned |
| own world, just like computers create a virtual | | | | nature of our world and how event the slightest |
| world. | | | | alteration in such things as gravity would have |
| Prof. Rees says that over the past few decades, | | | | devastating affects. This, he believes, proves that |
| computers have created a virtual world with | | | | intelligent design is at work. |
| extensive detail. | | | | There are, however, those who do not believe in |
| "If that trend were to continue, then we can | | | | intelligent design and say the universe is far too |
| imagine computers, which will be able to simulate | | | | complex to be a simulation. Quantum mechanical |
| worlds perhaps even as complicated as the one | | | | engineering Prof. Seth Lloyd of the Massachusetts |
| we think we're living in." | | | | Institute of Technology says he could begin to |
| He adds that this fact raised the question: "could | | | | imagine a computer large enough to simulate a |
| we ourselves be in such a simulation and could | | | | whole universe. |
| what we think is the universe be some sort of | | | | What are your thoughts on Prof. Rees' theory? |
| vault of heaven rather than the real thing. In a | | | | **** |
| sense, we could be ourselves, the creations within | | | | STORIES NEEDED: |
| this simulation." | | | | If you have had a paranormal experience or |
| Though this idea has already been snatched up by | | | | know someone who has please contact me, as I |
| Hollywood in such films as The Matrix, Vanilla Sky | | | | would love to hear about it and perhaps feature |
| and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, back in | | | | the story in an upcoming issue of my monthly |
| ancient Greece the philosophers of the day did | | | | newsletter entitled Glimpses of the Paranormal. |
| not find the notion so far fetched. Even as far | | | | Please write to: Aside from ghosts and hauntings, |
| back as 2,000 years, the Chinese philosopher, | | | | I also accept stories on related subjects such as |
| Chuang Tzu wondered if his whole life had been | | | | witches, UFOs and crypto zoology, ESP, angels, |
| nothing more than a dream. And in the 1600s, | | | | past lives and reincarnation. Please put "Story for |
| Rene Descartes wondered the same thing as | | | | Newsletter" in the subject line. |