Living in the Matrix

This article in the (I know, dreaded) NY Times suggests that we are all simulated inhabitants of a virtual world created by some future human (or posthuman), and in fact gives it a better than 20% chance that this is the case. And for some reason, I find this idea incredibly disturbing. I never had this much of a problem thinking about some god-like being creating the world (though I no longer think of that as a probable reason for our and this universe's existence). To believe in a god, omnipotent, omniscient, is one thing. But to think that we are all inhabitants of a computer simulation bothers me. Perhaps it is because the second, unlike the first, means that the reality that we experience isn't reality at all. As a geologist, and as a scientist, I find it disturbing to think that we're not experiencing reality, and that the world and earth that I study could be nothing more than some computer geek's idea of something fun to give his simulated population to play with. And even more disturbing, to me, would be that even if we are living in a simulated reality, there would be no way to get outside of the simulation and see the REAL reality.

Maybe I'm not making much sense, so I should probably finish my coffee and go on living my possibly simulated existence.