I used to be a bit perturbed by the thought of living in an ancestor simulation, but then I figured if that's my reality, then I suppose it is what it is. It s

I used to be a bit perturbed by the thought of living in an ancestor simulation, but then I figured if that's my reality, then I suppose it is what it is. It seems like a long time since there have been any really game-changing breakthroughs in theoretical physics. I'd be a fool to say that that means that there aren't any more to be had, but it does seem more like we're just sort of fiddling around with a few refinements and there might not be anything huge left. As you say, maybe a greater intelligence than what we've got can figure it out, but that does go back to Fermi - if they could do amazing things like enclose a star or travel interstellar distances, then why haven't we seen them? What if it's all just protons, neutrons, and electrons (and some other less important particles presumably) plus a bunch of energy out there? Would a super-intelligence really be interested in seeing more of them?