(0) THE hypothesis that reality could (1) ............ fact be a computer simulation is one that, when it was first published by Hans Moravek, was received by the global scientific community (2) ............ scepticism and a certain amount of ridicule. Now, (3) ............, with the apparent exponential growth of computer processing speeds and capabilities, combined with an increased understanding of the fundamental particles that comprise life and everything around us, many physicists agree that it is (4) ............ just a likely realisation but a probable one. The theory was expanded upon by Nick Bostrum, of Oxford University, whose argument claims that at (5) ............ one of the following statements is true: Human civilisation is unlikely to reach a level of technological ability capable of creating simulated reality programmes and will become extinct before it (6) ............; a comparable civilisation that can reach this level will choose instead not to create such simulations; and, finally, that we are almost (7) ............ already living in a computer-simulated reality. 'Simulation Theory' supports other arguments concerning artificial intelligence and the concern that we humans will (8) ............ day be outnumbered and outsmarted by the machines we create.