>>1when I was child and learning C and Pascal I really though that creating programs was in some way creating universes. I remember that I used to philosophy if every system with a set of rules was a universe, and that would include maths and other formal languages, but in those cases we would be simulating universes in our brain (not sure how I reached that conclusion).
I also was intrigued about how was possible that a small part of the universe was conscious of itself, and if the structure of our brains had an important role on that or if I could create a conscious program ("would that be simulated or real?").