“Mum, do you think we could be inside a computer game?” My kids love delaying bedtime by asking me tricky questions, and this particular existential crisis left me utterly lost for words. To try and find an answer, I’ve been throwing all the physics I know at the problem. As the Astronomer Royal for Scotland, I’m used to creating giant maps of the Universe that transport us 10 billion years back in time. But what if all the ancient light that I’ve spent my entire career collecting is just a series of computer impulses in an elaborate simulation of my own reality? I know how to simulate an entire Universe of galaxies: have I been naive to think a future scientist couldn’t create a complete virtual world much closer home?

Prof Catherine Heymans will share the journey she has taken to understand how one day we might simulate our own lives. We’ll look at the laws of physics that govern the Universe and delve into the inner workings of your computer and artificial intelligence, and ask why philosophers feel so challenged by the concept of living in a predetermined virtual world, when it’s clear that interactions on the smallest and largest scales in our Universe can be mathematically defined. By exploring the intersections of physics, astronomy, and philosophy, we’ll be invited to reconsider what is ‘real’.

Professor Catherine Heymans is the 11th Astronomer Royal for Scotland, appointed by Her Majesty the Queen in 2021, the first woman to hold this title in its two-hundred year history. In 2022 she became the youngest person to receive the Royal Astronomical Society’s prestigious William Herschel medal for outstanding merit in observational astrophysics. She is a fellow of both the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the Leopoldina, the National Academies of Scotland and Germany. Catherine is a regular contributor to BBC Radio and TV, providing expert comment for a wide range of physics and space stories.