The Mathematical Guide to Simulation

Lori Li, Jericho Senior High School 
​7/6/2026

Are we living in a simulation? With current technological advancements, if we were able to build a video game that perfectly replicated reality then humans are mathematically able to prove we are living in a simulation. If a game was exactly like reality, it would mean that in that game would be humans actively trying to build a video game that perfectly replicates reality, so on and so forth. Take for instance, we name a world V₀ and call it the “original” or “base world.” Humans in V₀ would build a virtual world and in that world (called V₁) would be humans trying to build a virtual world, V₂.      

Some people would counter this theory, asking if we would ever be able to properly replicate this world. There would be in infinite number of worlds being created because each replication entails a world that is trying to perfectly replicate itself, meaning the chance that this theory is false would 0/∞, which equates to a 0% chance that this is false and a 100% chance that this is true (although this binary logic could be contested and is yet to be addressed).

Either way, there would be two options that could possibly answer what world we are living in: either V₀ or VX, where x is the name of the world in this infinite sequence. We very much could be living in the “base world,” or V₀, that is actively trying to create a game that perfectly replicates this world. Even if there isn’t someone in our lifetime that is attempting to, the future of humanity could be infinite, meaning unless the world were to end in the next few centuries of millennials, we are technically guaranteed to have SOMEONE be the person to create that replica of reality. The other possibility runs on a similar logic but proposes that we are living VX and that we are in a society that hasn’t reached that advanced level of technology to replicate our world, which would create VX+1.     

​Speaking of simulations and reality crises, this makes me think strongly about theories of hyperreality, where artificial representations of our world creep so close to our real world that it becomes more influential. These “simulacra,” or copies of the world, become so far from reality that it creates its own. Baudrillard’s high theory questions whether the paper you are reading right now is a 414 world long piece of yap or a simulacrum of a cheeseburger.