---
title: "Infinite regress · Library · Simulation Hypothesis"
url: https://simulation-hypothesis.com/library/infinite-regress
description: "Infinite regress is the problem that if our reality is simulated, the reality running it might be too, with no natural place to stop."
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
credit: "Ross Allan Dahl, Simulation Hypothesis (simulation-hypothesis.com)"
---

## Simulation hypothesis

# Infinite regress

Definition

Infinite regress is the problem that if our reality is simulated, the reality running it might be too, with no natural place to stop.

On this site

The Regress window. Each layer has to run the one nested inside it, so the computing available sets a maximum depth.

Role in the model

A simulation inside a simulation isn’t free. Each layer has to run the one inside it. The Regress window does the division. For most builds the stack is shallow. For the biggest ones it has depth zero, because the outer universe can’t run even one copy.

Related

[Base reality](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/library/base-reality)[Lloyd’s bound](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/library/lloyd-bound)

## The people behind the terms

14 short pages, one per thinker, each with its matching dial. See also the [reading list](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/reading).

[Plato’s cave](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/plato)[Zhuangzi’s butterfly](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/zhuangzi)[Vasubandhu’s dream](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/vasubandhu)[Shankara’s māyā](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/shankara)[al-Ghazali’s doubt](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/ghazali)[Ibn Arabi’s imagination](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/ibn-arabi)[Calderón’s life is a dream](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/calderon)[Descartes’ demon](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/descartes)[Berkeley’s perceiver](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/berkeley)[Borges’ circular ruins](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/borges)[Nozick’s experience machine](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/nozick)[Putnam’s brain in a vat](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/putnam)[Bostrom’s trilemma](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/bostrom)[Chalmers: virtual worlds are real](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/chalmers)