Visitors use mobile phones as they walk past a billboard advertising a virtual reality headset at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, India, on Feb. 17, 2026. A 2025 Anthropic report testing 16 large language models found all showed high-risk behavior in simulated environments. Arun Sankar/AFP via Getty Images
Elon Musk thinks we could be living in a simulated universe. Douglas Adams once wrote about something uncannily similar. In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: the mighty computer “Deep Thought” is built to answer the ultimate question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
After 7.5 million years, it returns with 42, then points out that the answer is useless because nobody properly knew the question.
Nicole James
Author
Nicole James is a freelance journalist for The Epoch Times based in Australia. She is an award-winning short story writer, journalist, columnist, and editor. Her work has appeared in newspapers including The Sydney Morning Herald, Sun-Herald, The Australian, the Sunday Times, and the Sunday Telegraph. She holds a BA Communications majoring in journalism and two post graduate degrees, one in creative writing.
