I think a good philosopher or physicist could spend a full lifetime just pursuing the topics suggested by this thread. I know a science fiction author could. If you are a science fiction fan I highly recommend Stephen Baxter's Xeelee Timeline Sequence. Major plot points revolve around rebuilding the universe to be more friendly to one or another form of life (there is even a form of life made from dark matter called "photino birds"), and we discover that rebuilding has already occurred in that universe. Or his Manifold series, which makes it an even more central plot point. The Xeelee books are just better though. Great thread, I like healthy speculation, and it doesn't get much farther out there than this while maintaining a grasp of scientific principles. You are aware that speculation about whether the universe is real or a computer simulation created by our future descendants has had serious scientific papers written about it aren't you? I believe it was physicist S. James Gates that was very vocal about it a decade or so ago now. He claimed to have found software error checking codes embedded into the physical laws of our universe. Pretty cool ideas.