{"id":38907,"date":"2019-01-18T11:18:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-18T11:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/astrophysicist-asks-is-universe-simulation-by-higher-specie\/"},"modified":"2019-01-18T11:18:00","modified_gmt":"2019-01-18T11:18:00","slug":"astrophysicist-asks-is-universe-simulation-by-higher-specie","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/astrophysicist-asks-is-universe-simulation-by-higher-specie\/","title":{"rendered":"Astrophysicist asks, \u2018Is the Universe a Simulation by a Higher Species?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At the 2016 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate at the American Museum of Natural History, the question of whether or not the universe is a simulation was addressed.<\/p>\n\n<p>Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who was hosting the debate, said that he thinks the likelihood of the universe being a simulation &ldquo;may be very high.&rdquo; But says he wouldn&rsquo;t be surprised if we were to find out somehow that someone else is responsible for our universe.<\/p>\n\n<p>Tyson uses a thought experiment to imagine a life form that&rsquo;s as much smarter than us as we are than dogs, chimps, or other terrestrial mammals. &ldquo;What would we look like to them? We would be drooling, blithering idiots in their presence,&rdquo; he says. Whatever that being is, it very well might be able to create a simulation of a universe.<\/p>\n\n<p>Tyson goes on to say, &ldquo;And if that&rsquo;s the case, it is easy for me to imagine that everything in our lives is just the creation of some other entity for their entertainment,&rdquo; Tyson says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m saying, the day we learn that it is true, I will be the only one in the room saying, I&rsquo;m not surprised.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p>Albert Mohler, commenting on this article states, &ldquo;So a man who denies the very possibility of the divine creation of the cosmos is here willing to entertain in public the idea that some higher species has merely created the entire cosmos as a simulation for that being&rsquo;s own entertainment.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\"> <\/h2>","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[409,411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3424,3450,3711,3713,3915,4215,4233,4369,4510,4525,4526,4752,4891,5037,5129,5303],"tax_ctp_topics":[384,397],"class_list":["post-38907","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-apologetics","tax_ctp_tags-atheism","tax_ctp_tags-creation","tax_ctp_tags-creator","tax_ctp_tags-existence-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-imagination","tax_ctp_tags-inconsistency","tax_ctp_tags-life","tax_ctp_tags-mystery","tax_ctp_tags-naturalism","tax_ctp_tags-nature","tax_ctp_tags-questions","tax_ctp_tags-science","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-blindness","tax_ctp_tags-technology","tax_ctp_tags-worldview"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Astrophysicist asks, \u2018Is the Universe a Simulation by a Higher Species? - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/astrophysicist-asks-is-universe-simulation-by-higher-specie\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Astrophysicist asks, \u2018Is the Universe a Simulation by a Higher Species? - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At the 2016 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate at the American Museum of Natural History, the question of whether or not the universe is a simulation was addressed. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who was hosting the debate, said that he thinks the likelihood of the universe being a simulation &ldquo;may be very high.&rdquo; But says he Read more...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/astrophysicist-asks-is-universe-simulation-by-higher-specie\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/astrophysicist-asks-is-universe-simulation-by-higher-specie\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/astrophysicist-asks-is-universe-simulation-by-higher-specie\/\",\"name\":\"Astrophysicist asks, \u2018Is the Universe a Simulation by a Higher Species? - CT Pastors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-18T11:18:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-01-18T11:18:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/astrophysicist-asks-is-universe-simulation-by-higher-specie\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/astrophysicist-asks-is-universe-simulation-by-higher-specie\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/astrophysicist-asks-is-universe-simulation-by-higher-specie\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Astrophysicist asks, \u2018Is the Universe a Simulation by a Higher Species?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"description\":\"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Christianity Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"caption\":\"Christianity Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Astrophysicist asks, \u2018Is the Universe a Simulation by a Higher Species? - CT Pastors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/astrophysicist-asks-is-universe-simulation-by-higher-specie\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Astrophysicist asks, \u2018Is the Universe a Simulation by a Higher Species? - CT Pastors","og_description":"At the 2016 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate at the American Museum of Natural History, the question of whether or not the universe is a simulation was addressed. 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