Would an alien civilization that evolved within a perfect computer simulation be any less interesting to us than a ‘real’ alien civilization discovered in outer space? This is the fundamental question raised by John Smart’s STEM compression hypothesis, which suggests that humanity and indeed every intelligent species in the universe...

It feels strange when a milestone that has always seemed far off in the future passes without you noticing. That happened to me this week when I found out that a supercomputer with the same performance as a human brain was built… back in 2008. There is something a little bit creepy about the fact that the world’s largest supercomputers...