We Are Almost Certainly Living in a Simulation — And It Changes Everything

For years, my associate editor Ben and his partner Beth have been saying it with calm conviction: We live in a simulation. At first, it sounded like classic late-night office talk. Then Beth’s dreams started proving eerily accurate. Then the physics kept lining up. And now, after watching Tom Bilyeu’s powerful series on the topic, it’s hard to look at reality the same way again. (See vids below) Don’t dismiss this without checking it out, please. Take the red pill. You will not regret it.

If you’re over 50 or 60 — like many of us who come to Whatfinger for unfiltered truth — you’ve already lived through enough to know the world doesn’t always make sense. But what if the reason it feels “off” sometimes is because it literally is rendered on demand?

The Double-Slit Experiment: The Glitch Hiding in Plain Sight

It starts with one of the simplest yet most mind-bending experiments in physics: the double-slit. Fire particles (like electrons) at a barrier with two slits. If unobserved, they behave like waves — creating an interference pattern as if they went through both slits at once. But the moment you observe or measure which slit they go through? They snap into behaving like solid particles again. Two neat piles. No interference.  Here is a simple cartoon we have used for years to explain this in simplest terms.

Reality literally changes based on whether it’s being observed. YOU are made of these same elements. Everything is.  Get it yet?

This isn’t philosophy. It’s repeatable lab science. And in 2022, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Alain Aspect, John Clauser, and Anton Zeilinger for experiments proving the universe is not locally real. Objects don’t have definite properties until measured. Einstein called it “spooky action at a distance” and spent decades fighting it. The Nobel-winning work showed he was wrong.

As Tom Bilyeu explains in his eye-opening series, this is exactly how a video game works: nothing is fully rendered until the player looks at it. Why waste computing power on parts of the map no one is currently seeing? See his first vid on it right here…

The Fermi Paradox, Free Will, and Other Clues

Tom’s videos go even deeper and more unsettling. The universe should be teeming with life according to the Drake Equation — yet it’s eerily silent (the Fermi Paradox). Self-replicating probes should have filled the galaxy long ago. Why haven’t they?

Because the simulation only renders what it needs to.

Neuroscience adds another layer: experiments show your brain often decides what you’ll do seconds before “you” consciously think you chose it. Free will starts to look like an illusion — exactly what you’d expect in an efficient simulation running on limited resources.

For those of us in our 50s, 60s, and beyond, this isn’t depressing. It’s liberating. If we’re in a simulation, the rules can be hacked with better observation, better thoughts, and better choices. That’s where ancient wisdom comes in.

Enter The Book of Ben

Ben — our resident philosopher at Whatfinger — has been connecting these dots for years. Beth’s dreams cracked the door open. The double-slit experiment kicked it wide. And the five great sages (Marcus Aurelius, Lao Tzu, Buddha, Confucius, and Krishna) gave us the operating manual.

In The Book of Ben: Ancient Wisdom for a Glitchy Simulation, you’ll discover:

• How the double-slit experiment proves reality renders when observed
• Practical ways to use Stoic discipline, Taoist flow, Buddhist mindfulness, Confucian harmony, and Gita detachment in real 2026 life
• Why this realization is especially powerful as we age and seek deeper meaning

It’s short, funny, grounded in our actual newsroom conversations, and full of the kind of wisdom that helps you navigate traffic, family, headlines, and the second half of life with more peace and purpose.

Available now on Amazon: The Book of Ben: Ancient Wisdom for a Glitchy Simulation

And if you enjoy the characters and ideas in The Book of Ben, you’ll love seeing Ben and Beth’s story woven into the larger Medieval Future series (starting with Time’s Orphans), where the simulation theme runs deep.

Here’s one more vid you need to see. This one will truly freak you out as Tom shows how every decision you do has now been shown to happen 10 or 11 seconds BEFORE you think it – yes BEFORE.  This got me hard…. and had me embrace Ben and Beth and write about it all…  The first 2 minutes will shock you, and hook you if you still do not agree with the premise.

Sources & Further Watching (Tom Bilyeu’s Eye-Opening Series)

• The PROOF We’re In A Simulation Is Hiding In Plain Sight (Part 3) — Deep dive on free will, neuroscience, and why this might be the best news ever.
• Nobel Prize Just Given for Proving the Universe Isn’t Real — Double-slit, Nobel-winning physics, and why locality and realism are broken.
• More Evidence You’re an NPC in a Video Game (Part 2) — Fermi Paradox, fine-tuning, and the math of simulation.

The simulation may be glitchy. But with the right wisdom, it can also be beautiful. Embrace it. Love it and learn to love life now.

What do you think — are we in base reality, or is this the most sophisticated game ever created? Drop your thoughts below, and consider picking up The Book of Ben. It might just help you play the next level better.

By Michael Anthony, Editor at Whatfinger.com