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Here's my final thoughts on the topic:
1. Life, and the universe, at their core can be rather simply described with just a few core properties/equations, which only create complexity with massive amounts of evolution and interaction (time). Basically, all the stuff you see is a result of simple equations and algorithms, so setting up a "virtual world" is in essence stunningly simple.
2. Such a system can be run on almost any machine, with the only constraints the world has being the power of the machine and how much of "reality" needs to be observable at any one moment
3. 'Lo and Behold, humans have just the type of machine that can model this world in all it's excruciating detail and understand the underlying equations. An electro-chemical machine. It's called the brain.
I'm not saying that's what it is, but it is what it is.