How to Design a Universe

An exploration of the simulation hypothesis through the lens of modern physics, questioning whether our reality is real or a sophisticated digital illusion.

Could we be living inside a computer simulation?

Sent on a mission by her son to answer this existential question, Catherine Heymans throws all the physics she knows at the question. As the Astronomer Royal for Scotland she is used to creating giant maps of the universe, but what if all the ancient light that she has spent her career collecting is just a series of computer impulses in an elaborate simulation?

Assembling the facts, How to Design a Universe takes us on a journey to understand how one day we might simulate our own lives. Along the way it explores how the fundamentals of light and electricity underpin the world we see, how technological advances mean physicists can already create their own simulated worlds and how AI is a reaching a point where we can't always tell what is real. Offering an engaging guide to the simulation hypothesis, Heymans shows how modern physics and technology combine to challenge our most basic assumption: that reality is real.