What if none of this is real? What if everything we see, hear, touch, taste, smell, and perceive is part of a gigantic simulation designed to keep us contained? And what if the beings who built this simulation are part of a highly advanced alien species that created the simulation so they could study us and keep us under control.
This is the essence of the "Zoo Hypothesis," which is a proposed resolution to the Fermi Paradox. It is also sometimes referred to as the "Planetarium Hypothesis" as a way of clarifying that the intention of the big simulation is not to protect but to control. Moreover, the zookeepers in this scenario have designed the simulation so that humanity won't suspect they are living in a cage.
While it may sound like science fiction (it actually is), the idea has been explored as part of the larger debate over the https://interestingengineering.com/if-the-universe-is-a-simulation-should-you-care">Simulation Hypothesis. To date, multiple theoretical studies have been conducted to determine if the laws of physics could be used to prove we're in a false reality. But if we are living in a simulation, then the physics themselves are part of it, aren't they?
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