How Much Computing Power Would a Simulated Universe Need?

The episode unpacks the astronomical computational requirements to run a universe at full fidelity, looking at physical limits from Bekenstein and Landauer bounds, as well as practical shortcuts like coarse‑grained physics or brain emulation. It weighs whether such optimisations could make simulation feasible and explores the philosophical implications of resource constraints on the likelihood of large‑scale ancestor simulations. Finally it reflects on how these engineering questions tie back to Bostrom’s trilemma and what they mean for the debate about our own reality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices