If life was a video game… wait, what if it is? Below, we have some very intense evidence that points to the fact that our reality is full of weird, unexplainable glitches.
Quite like Blade Runner, GTA V, and even The Sims, what if Elon Musk was right and it’s one hell of a simulation? Well, let’s not just jump to conclusions before scrolling through this entertaining compilation of photos with things that look like rendering errors. Think of blurs, pixels, stuff being out of focus, you name it.
Upvote your favorite pics and be sure to check out our previous post with real-life photos that look like screenshots of a video game or a movie set.
#1 8-Bit Pupper
Image credits: ClassicDimension
#2 Entrance Of An Underwater Observatory In Lake Zug (Switzerland). I Took The Photo At The Weekend, Reminds Me Of The Truman Show
Image credits: DIY_Maxwell
It seems like the internet’s fascination with real-life bad renderings captured on camera is anything but new. Similar cases can be found at “The place for puzzling perspectives, confusing angles, and missing context,” aka the r/confusing_perspective Reddit page, which is home to 1.3M members. Make sure to check out our previous post with the compilation from the subreddit right here.
#3 I Think There's A Glitch In The Matrix
Image credits: LadyTogruta
#4 When The Sun Is Directly Overhead In Hawaii, It Looks Like A Bad Video Game Render
Image credits: staryu
#5 The Apple's Skin I Cut Looks Like From A Low-Poly Game
Image credits: universe-atom
Similarly, there’s a whole website, ‘RealTime Rendering,’ that shares a bunch of 'Real Artifacts' spotted outside CGI. Here, the creators provide an illuminating explanation of the internet’s beloved phenomena: “Rendering is hard, partly because the real world doesn't look as good as we think it does. We find real phenomena that resemble computer graphics artifacts amusing. Here are some real photographs that look like rendered images, sometimes because the photographer was trying to make it look synthetic, and sometimes because life can imitate the 'art' of computer graphics.”
#6 This Is Flat Farmland In Eastern Colorado With Windblown/Melted Patches Of Snow Creating A Crazy 3D Illusion
Image credits: hoerr
#7 The Way The Leaves Grow On This Tree Make It Look Blurry
Image credits: PrizeFighter23
#8 Drive Past This Building Every Morning, Finally Enough Traffic Today To Safely Take A Picture
Image credits: Luke_7
Also known as visual examples of “IRL glitch in the matrix,” the interest in such visually confusing photos has to do with another greater trend. Those who believe in the theory of simulation, Elon Musk included, find such pictures not just entertaining, but illustrative of the fact that no reality is objective and perfect. Ours included.
#9 A Friend On Social Media Spotted This One Pixel Glitch In The Matrix
Image credits: ssigea
#10 This Picture Of A Car Bumper Taken After A Car Crash Looks Like It Belongs To A Car Coming From Another Dimension
Image credits: Vatramint
#11 Floating Truck Canopy
Image credits: superslomotion
And while for some, this is purely a subject of debate to elaborate on with friends over a bar counter, some truly believe that our universe is a simulation run by a higher-order technological civilization. So in order to find what exactly that means and how it changes our perspective of reality, we reached out to Gunnar De Winter, the science communication specialist at the Flanders Institute of Biotechnology.
#12 Poorly Rendered Trees, Just A Transparent Texture
Image credits: AthensFinest
#13 Not A Glitch In The Photo, Jama Masjid, Ahmedabad
Image credits: jatadharius
#14 This Building Looks Like It Had A Rendering Error
Image credits: zcrc
“Basically, the simulation hypothesis is the idea that our lives, our universe is a simulation run by some higher-order technological civilization,” Gunnar said and continued: “This rests on the assumption that at some point a civilization will have the computational resources to run such a civilization.”
“If they then run several of such simulations, we could additionally assume that, if we are a random sample, we're more likely to be one of the simulations rather than one of the rare 'real' civilizations,” he explained.
#15 Gotta Turn Up Render Distance
#16 A Black House In Germany
Image credits: Erik Sturm and Simon Jung
#17 When The Trees Don't Render
Image credits: beef_in_the_dark
Gunnar explained further: “Let's say that we are indeed living in a simulation, what would that mean for us as individuals? For your daily life, probably not much. Could you hack the simulation or find cheat codes? Even if possible, that would be risky. We are part of the simulation, so if you break it or have the beings who do the simulating turn it off, it would effectively erase our universe.”
#18 The Furniture In This Room Made The Photo I Took Look Like A Render
Image credits: 1st_page_of_google
#19 Part Of The Cloud Is In Low Resolution
Image credits: iamfromprague
#20 This Mosque In Istanbul Looks Like It Was Rendered On The Lowest Settings Possible
Image credits: aI03owolkY
On the other hand, Gunnar added that you could argue that living in a simulation is an encouragement to live life to the fullest. “After all, the more interesting you make it for whoever is running the simulation, the lower the chance that they would flick the off button.”
“Finally, living in a simulation—and being aware of it—would bring a whole host of interesting philosophical questions to the forefront, as well as consideration on religion, and so on,” he explained.
#21 Sky.exe Failed To Load Some Pixels
Image credits: US Air Force
#22 My Buddy's Cup Before Our Final Exam Looked Quite Weird On The Table
Image credits: spoonwitz97
#23 This Tree I Saw Today Looks Like It Didn’t Render Correctly
Image credits: WizerdBoy
#24 Eastern Redbud Looks Out Of Focus
Image credits: gigsa0
When asked whether there’s a possible way to prove or disprove that we live in a simulation, Gunnar said that there are a few ideas, “but as for whether those are actually technically possible—that's way beyond my expertise.”
He continued: “Most of these ideas are about either zooming in or out. We could try to look at the smallest bits of reality, the resolution of the simulation. If we find a certain 'pixel size' that doesn't fit with our current physical theories, that might be a clue.”
#25 This Building Looks Like It's Just One Wall Of Windows
Image credits: JelaniKazu
#26 My Peeler Gives Pixelated Looking Peels
Image credits: blueskiesarepretty
#27 This Apple Has A Blurry Streak That Looks Like The Texture Hasn't Loaded All The Way
Image credits: SilentKnightOwl
#28 The Fog During My Flight Makes Illinois Seem Like It Hasn’t Rendered
Image credits: OBEYTHOVENN
“On the other hand, we might look at some of the largest representations of the universe we have. If there are unexpected patterns in the cosmic background radiation, that could be a clue as well. Clues, of course, are not evidence. As Carl Sagan said: 'extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,'" the science expert concluded.
#29 Someone Hasn’t Completed The World Of Light Map
Image credits: _njhiker
#30 This Floating Ice Effect Caused By A Flood
Image credits: Willyyz
#31 My Unmounted Sheet Metal Roof Looks Fake
Image credits: Pittbullbaby
#32 This Grass Brick Combo
Image credits: Jens Willebrand
#33 Just The Tide Line, Church Bay, NZ
Image credits: kstakka
#34 My Job Is To Build Walls Not Move Screens
Image credits: Sobek188
#35 The Carts Sign Letters Appear To Float In The Air
Image credits: JetFalco
#36 The Clouds Are Glitching In Phoenix, AZ
Image credits: YamchasSidePiece
#37 This Shadow From Two Different Trees In My Parking Lot
Image credits: UnholyFire23
#38 Flying Into Or Out Of A Partially Loaded City
Image credits: somecallme_doc
#39 Downloading Windows - 90% Complete
Image credits: stoin29
#40 This Diseased Leaf That Looks Pixelated
Image credits: Kraynix
#41 Textures On The Church Hasn't Loaded Yet
#42 This Tree Looks Like A Graphics Glitch
Image credits: HembraunAirginator
#43 Real Life Video Game Glitches
Image credits: Uzmintid
#44 "Lahaina Noon" Is When The Sun Is Positioned Directly Overhead, And It Causes Some Objects To Look Photoshopped Into The World
Image credits: adzierba
#45 Just A Guy Wearing A Hoodie
Image credits: zaferemre
#46 This Fence Looks Like The Boundaries Of A Game's Playable Area
Image credits: moyako
#47 When You Can Only Afford A 10x10 Shadow Map
#48 Half-Rendered Building
Image credits: Kooterpounder
#49 Skin Texture Failed To Load
Image credits: JabrenThompson
#50 Car Failed To Render Completely
#51 This Bizarre Brickwork On My Neighboring Building
Image credits: claireicalerror
#52 This Parking Deck Looks Like It Has Poor Anti-Aliasing
Image credits: PeppahJackk
#53 Looks Like Part Of The Building Is Just Windows
Image credits: FluffyMaMMoth
#54 This Pattern Makes It Look Like The Floor Suddenly Drops Off
Image credits: starlinguk
#55 A Glitch In The Matrix
Image credits: NoahBurghardt
#56 Buildings Look Like They Haven't Fully Rendered In
Image credits: Baitrix
#57 This Building That Looks Like It Glitched During The Rendering
Image credits: JKMC4
#58 Was In An Airplane When I Noticed How Far My Rendering Distance Actually Is
Image credits: Kaplet
#59 The Clouds Failed To Render
Image credits: HopefulSwine2
#60 Rendering Error
Image credits: BurstYourBubbles
#61 Help, My Bike Spawned In A Wall
Image credits: tomasek1a
#62 A Building That Seems To Be Flat
Image credits: vincentnzt
#63 This Building Looks Like A Movie Prop
Image credits: CtenoCatcher
#64 This House In My Neighborhood Looks Like The "Untextured" Version Of Others
Image credits: 123123123-NameHere
#65 2D Building
Image credits: AsgerMJ
#66 This Boat Looks Like A GPU Rendering Error
Image credits: vardx
#67 The Screens Make These Trees Look Poorly Rendered
Image credits: The_Real_Anthony
#68 These Vases Look Like They Haven't Rendered In Yet
Image credits: UV-FiveSeven
#69 The Shadows Aren't Rendering Properly
Image credits: PVTZzzz
#70 Mirage On Lake Ontario Makes Boat Look Like It's Flying
Image credits: sleppyjess
#71 Photo I Took Of The Charles River Looks Like Two Different Pictures
Image credits: _jackkk
#72 This Is In Focus
Image credits: chris_jenn
#73 This Tunnel Photo I Took Looks Like A 3D Render
Image credits: NoahTheAttacker
#74 My Phone Glitched While Taking A Picture Of The Sunset And This Happened
Image credits: Ardellia
#75 The Way The Shadows Look Between My Coffee Mugs
Image credits: Shitstorm21
#76 The Shadow Of This Tree Looks Like It Was Poorly Rendered
Image credits: devbang
#77 The Paint On This Building Is The Same Shade As The Sky
Image credits: pachew96
#78 The Reflections In This Building Make It Look Like A Bad Render
Image credits: DBaLA
#79 Textures: Ultra, Shader: Ultra, Water: Ultra, Shadows: Low
Image credits: HueLord3000
#80 This Tree Started To Render Itself Differently Halfway
Image credits: AnalUkelele
#81 Damage From Beechie Creek Fire In Gates Oregon
Image credits: ReadItSteveO
#82 When Your Textures Haven’t Fully Loaded Yet
Image credits: Trainlover129
#83 Building Not Rendered
Image credits: BrigadierBearThe3rd
#84 This Cut In Half Truck That Looks Like It's Coming Out The Floor
Image credits: Digital_Phantoms
#85 The Grid Patterned LED Street Lamps Makes The Leaves' Shadow Look Like It Was Rendered On Low Settings
Image credits: BeevyD
#86 The Background Of My Friends Picture Looks Like A Rendering
Image credits: jeansonnejordan
#87 This Floor Looks Like It's Glitching Out
Image credits: auto_orchestra
#88 The Reflection Off A Skyscraper Looks Like The Sky
Image credits: Wolfcubware
#89 The Shine On This Filing Cabinet Makes It Look Like It's Fading Away
Image credits: raevae
#90 These Sea Barrier Rocks Look Like A Poor Computer Generation
Image credits: TVK777
#91 Somebody Made A Trailer With The Same Car That He Pulls The Trailer With
Image credits: HmmmWellOk
#92 Phone Died As I Was Taking This Picture At My Job At A Vet's Office. Result Was This Glitched Photo Of Thomas The Bengal Cat
Image credits: Mik3Tayl0r
#93 These Tables Look Like A 3D Rendering
Image credits: Metroplexico
#94 The Back Of This Traffic Signal Looks Like It Hasn’t Rendered Correctly
Image credits: Tarkus96
#95 Didn't Have Enough Batter Left For A Full Waffle. Looks Like It Didn't Finish Rendering
Image credits: reluctantrolemodel
#96 This Bush In My Front Yard Looks Like A Video Game Render
Image credits: grabembythepopcorn
#97 This Cool Pattern Cast On The Snow By Our Street Light
Image credits: mrLiamFa
#98 I Cut A Pack Of Bacon In Half
Image credits: evilpig
#99 The Shadow Of This Bench Looks Like Pixels In This Picture I Took
Image credits: cool_enough
#100 A Tower In San Francisco Had Its Material Set To Be Semi-Transparent. Or The Napa Fires Caused A Haze In Front Of The Building, Illuminated By The Sun
#101 These Pates That Look Like A Low-Resolution Texture From A Videogame
Image credits: MeaningfulThoughts
#102 The Way The Snow Melted In My University's Courtyard Makes The Floor Look Like A Video Game
Image credits: dougieman97
#103 Dead Pixel In Google Earth
Image credits: ghostofanimus
#104 The Construction Next Door Doesn’t Look Real - It Looks Like A Painted Backdrop
Image credits: Einfinitez
#105 Ladder Glitch
