Adult (not YA) sci-fi short story about simulating the universe.

[[deleted user]]

I read this short story about 5-10 years ago. I don't know for certain when it was written, but I think it can't be much more than ten years old. I believe it was in a collection of science-fiction short stories.

However, I have searched through my sci-fi shelf, and I can't find it in any of the collections I've read. I didn't have my Nook at the time, so it must have been a paper book.

In the story, two scientists--a male and a female I think--are working with some kind of supercomputer in an attempt to simulate the universe, which leads to unexpected results. I don't think it's possible to say more without spoiling so:

(view spoiler)[They succeed, and when they look into the simulation, they find themselves looking into another simulation and so on ad infinitum. It occurs to one of them (the guy I think) that the chances of them being in the original universe where the simulation began are vanishingly small. He turns around and sees something like a window with copies of himself and the other scientist looking at them and realizes they are living in a simulation themselves. (hide spoiler)]

The only other thing I remember is that it was a very short story. Any help is appreciated.

[Justanotherbiblophile]

An aside, this is formulated in this paper:

http://www.simulation-argument.com/si...

[Isabel (kittiwake)]

I have a feeling that I have heard this story read on a podcast. If so, it would have been on either Escape Pod or StarShipSofa. Both podcasts have websites with forums where you may be able to track it down.

[Andy]

This could be David Brin's "Stones of Significance"

The basic idea has been used a lot in science fiction - here's a link to a list of some of them https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulat...

[Kris]

Stones of Significance by David Brin for Andy's suggestion.

[[deleted user]]

Thanks for the suggestions. The Brin book isn't it, but I've added it to my to-read list. I've read some of Brin's stuff and liked it in the past.

[[deleted user]]

This is a bit embarrassing. I found the story, and it was not a paper book after all. It was an online story by a guy named Sam Hughes, who is a Goodreads author. I wasn't able to make the author link work for him, perhaps because he isn't a major author.

(I don't want to give the impression that I'm shilling for the guy. The story wasn't as good as I remembered it, although it was okay.)

[Andy]

Glad you found it!

[Amy (Other Amy)]

It was a nice illustration of the concept, anyway :-)