The simulated universe theory implies that our universe, with all its galaxies, planets and life forms, is a meticulously programmed computer simulation. In this scenario, the physical laws governing our reality are simply algorithms. The experiences we have are generated by the computational processes of an immensely advanced system.
While inherently speculative, the simulated universe theory has gained attention from scientists and philosophers due to its intriguing implications. The idea has made its mark in popular culture, across movies, TV shows and books—including the 1999 film "The Matrix."
The earliest records of the concept that reality is an illusion are from ancient Greece. There, the question "What is the nature of our reality?" posed by Plato (427 BC) and others, gave birth to idealism. Idealist ancient thinkers such as Plato considered mind and spirit as the abiding reality. Matter, they argued, was just a manifestation or illusion.
Fast forward to modern times, and idealism has morphed into a new philosophy. This is the idea that both the material world and consciousness are part of a simulated reality. This is simply a modern extension of idealism, driven by recent technological advancements in computing and digital technologies. In both cases, the true nature of reality transcends the physical.
Within the scientific community, the concept of a simulated universe has sparked both fascination and skepticism. Some scientists suggest that if our reality is a simulation, there may be glitches or patterns within the fabric of the universe that betray its simulated nature.
However, the search for such anomalies remains a challenge. Our understanding of the laws of physics is still evolving. Ultimately, we lack a definitive framework to distinguish between simulated and non-simulated reality.
Depends on how you view it I guess? The actual physical phenomenon behind a law can't be proposed, but it's not like a law of gravity as a concept existed before Newton, you know, proposed it. And on top of that, eg. Newton's law of universal gravitation wasn't the end-all, be-all of gravitational laws, because later thanks to people like Maxwell and Einstein and Lorentz etc it turned out that spacetime is a thing, and having enough mass in one place does really fucky things to it. Newton's law was only an approximation of this fuckyness, but Good Enough™ for most cases.
Note that special and general relativity are also only approximations: all of our "laws" of physics are, since they're simply mathematical models. Some are pretty fantastically accurate, but that doesn't change the fact they're only models. "The map is not the territory", and in the same way a physical law isn't the physical phenomenon.
So I'd say laws of physics are definitely proposed. The phenomenona behind the laws stay the same, but our understanding of them changes.