Scientists Speculate Universe May Be Simulation After ‘Trial Version Expired’ Appears Across Sky

COLLEGE PARK, MD—In what is being hailed as the first empirical evidence in support of a hypothesis that has gained popularity in recent years, top scientists speculated Friday that the universe may indeed be a simulation controlled by an unseen entity after the words “trial version expired” appeared in the sky. “When we can look overhead and see what appears to be an error message from a computer operating system, it certainly lends new credence to the argument that we’re living in an artificial reality,” said University of Maryland physicist Harold M. Cramer, adding that from what he and his colleagues could glean from the airborne phenomenon, human consciousness would be terminated in five days if no further action was taken. “Though it’s possible we are witnessing an optical illusion caused by some kind of atmospheric distortion, the request for a verification code that keeps popping up suggests that our reality may indeed have a specific, singular subscriber, and that this entity must upgrade to a premium subscription in order to avoid any interruption to our experience of consciousness. We can only hope this cosmic account holder can guide us though the two-factor authentication process so that our simulacrum of life remains operational.” At press time, a team of leading cosmologists announced it had successfully renewed the free trial period for another 14 billion years by simply signing up again with a different email address.