The first line of Bohemian Rhapsody proposes an idea- is our life just a fantasy? Does it really matter if it is?
What if everything that you have loved and hated and all the laughs and joys mixed with cries and miseries were just not real. Every place that you stepped foot on, everyone you met, everything that you have ever experienced, was just part of a simulation.
Um, excuse me, what??
I mean, what explains the precisely ordered nature of mathematics, unexplainable coincidences, random and unpredictable events that all make up the glitches in a matrix? Was absolutely everything we know, ranging from the smallest atom to the expansive universe, just some kind of science project bored aliens had stored in their hard drive?
With the lack of understanding of “life” many different questions formed, including what was actually going on, who we were, and most importantly, why we are here. These questions opened up new philosophical discussions that still carry on to today.
Only recently with the advancement and wider view of technology were we able to see its high potential as it continues to progress. The potential increases chances that we are, in fact, living in a simulation.
Our broader understandings in VR/AR, robotics and AI with the increasing ability to mimic human behavior and intelligence led to the theory of a simulated reality. Basically, it’s the idea that our reality is an artificial simulation, likely created by a supercomputer in a much more advanced civilization.
“If you assume any rate of improvement at all, games will eventually be indistinguishable from reality”
-Elon Musk
Currently with virtual reality, we are still able to distinguish between a false environment and actual reality even with an “immersive experience” filled with realistic images and sensations. However, with technological progress at this rate, our eventual perception between what is real and what will start to blur. Lines of code can eventually determine barriers of what we can do and how we should feel. Both of these influence our actions and adds to our subjective reality.
If this kind of technology advancement progresses, we may eventually be able to simulate an entire universe. But how do we know this didn’t already happen, that a more advanced civilization somewhere in the universe made us as their creations?
Dreaming Hypothesis
This kind of simulated reality based thinking wasn’t a completely new idea. It stretched way back to the 4th century BC when Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi questioned the distinction between reality and dreams.
Zhuangzi phrased this question in his work of The Butterfly Dream.
“Once upon a time, I, Zhuangzi, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly…Soon I awaked, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly or whether I am no a butterfly, dreaming I am a man.”
Here, Zhuangzi seems to say that there are no clear divisions between clear wakefulness and sleep. He may still be dreaming right now and all his current perceptions are false.
The dream hypothesis then develops into two forms. 1) Zhuangzi is currently dreaming and all his current as well as previous thoughts of the world are incorrect. 2) Zhuangzi has always been dreaming and that what he perceives exist but are only held in his imagination.
Even with these two different forms, one question still persists. What is the difference between dreaming and reality if they both seem so real? In other words, when are we truly awake? For all we know, we could be in a simulation living in a simulation, living in another simulation…
The Simulation Argument
Over 2000 years later a new hypothesis formed. This new hypothesis was Nick Bostrom and The Simulation Argument.
The Simulation Argument proposes that at least one of these theories are true:
- The human species is unlikely to reach a “posthuman stage” with the technological maturity of creating simulated realities
- Any posthuman civilization or comparable civilization of the human species is unlikely to produce a significant numberof simulations
- We are most certainly living in a computer simulation if other civilizations have the ability to simulate ancestor civilizations and choose to do so
The argument basically proposes that everything inside of the universe is a computer simulation. It is so technologically advanced that the inhabitants living inside believe that the simulation is real.
The simulation hypothesis is “better than 50–50 odds…I wish I could summon a strong argument against it, but I can find none”
- Neil deGrasse Tyson
If the third theory is correct, what would happen is that simulations would be run on the ancestors of that advanced civilization with huge computing power. The number of simulations being run would be so high that most “minds” being run would likely turn out to be artificial rather than the original, ancestral ones.
Therefore, if this theory is correct, it is likely that you are one among the many minds being simulated. In this case, anything is possible and nothing can really be determined.
Plato’s Cave
The Allegory of the Cave proposes that the flight of mind in understanding the world is what forms beyond the world we are currently in. This ties in to the idea that all knowledge gained from sensory experience and human perception are formed only by opinions and assumptions.
According to Plato, a higher realm is present, which can only be accessed by philosophical reasoning.
Imagine this scenario:
- A few prisoners are tied up in a cave
- They cannot move since their legs and head are bound
- The only thing they can really do is look at the wall in front of them
- Behind the prisoners is a fire and set of stairs
- Other people walk up and down the stairs while carrying different objects
- Shadows are cast onto the wall from the fire and are displayed in front of the prisoners
The prisoners, unable to turn around and never seeing the “real objects” before would believe that the shadows of the objects are real. They believe that it is the shadow itself that is moving, talking, breathing.
Pretty soon the prisoners will be able to accurately guess the repeating shadows and familiarize themselves with them. These shadows are what form the only parts of their memory and experiences. This is similar to us, assuming that if we look outside, we’ll see our driveway, neighbor’s house and front yard even if we’re not directly observing them.
In the very few cases where a prisoners do “escape” from the secluded cave, they would feel shocked and overwhelmed upon entering the “real world.” The prisoners would voluntarily choose to return back to the cave for their own relief and comfort.
What if the allegory can applied to our world? Earth and our understanding of it represents the cave, and we are merely just the prisoners seeing the shadow of truth. What is displayed on the wall is what we think is real despite the many actions that happen behind us which we are not aware of. The only knowledge we have is empirical evidence within a cave of misunderstanding.
Digital Physics and Computationalism
Digital physics is what mostly supports Bostrom’s theory of the Simulation Argument. In digital physics, reality is a game.
Digital physics is the philosophical concept that all of physical reality is rendered by a digital computer and is simply just information. In other words, every part of our universe is composed of bits and all physical processes are computational.
Everything that we see and know from our universe and world, including the forming of black holes, the deaths of stars, heavy snowstorms and annoying hurricanes can all be expressed in a computer program. All items and objects, various actions committed by each person, and the outcomes following it originated from lines of code.
This particular theory is similar to games we play every day on a computer or using virtual reality simulations. The idea that the universe itself was a result of a computer program running on a supercomputer is not much different.
Digital physics is composed of the intersection of physics and computer science which are both connected with mathematical principles. After all, mathematics is what operates the universe.
Physicists want to draw on the fact that these mathematical principles are related to the defyingly different behaviors of matter and particles inthe very small quantum level. With computers now being able to take input information and run programs with “step-by-step” instructions based on mathematical concepts, computer scientists believe in the creation of a very vast natural world. Combining these two with the appliance of digital physics is what would create that ultimate computer.
Digital Physics includes these various Postulates:
- Digitalism: all of the physical world is digital
- Pancomputationalism: the world and all the physical processes in it are able to be computed. It is composed of a network of computational processes that are able to develop into its next state over time
- Konrad Zuse’s Thesis: the physical world is an ultimate computer
These ideas are expressed in both Turing Machines and cellular automaton.
The Church-Turing thesis states that any computation from the real world or anything that a human can calculate is equal to the computation with a powerful Turing Machine. Computations included in this thesis include those in register machines, substitution systems and cellular automaton.
Cellular Automaton
Cellular Automaton is a model composed of cells on a grid. Each cell can be “filled” or “unfilled” which can change over time and evolve to form different patterns. This method of programming is composed of simple rules and laws which over time can develop into very complex forms. Behavior changes also occur, an individual cell’s behavior influenced by the interaction of entire blocks of cells. The interaction based on the input rules either guides a continuous replication or eventual termination of these patterns.
John Conway applied the idea of cellular automaton with The Game of Life. Conditions and rules are inputted here, the initial state of the grid positioning determining the next step when evolving. Requiring no further input, the game seems to run by itself.
The two main and simple steps are:
- Put in conditions/rules
- Observe
When the program runs, because no further input is required, the game seems to run by itself, producing patterns that can last for a few generations or go on forever.
If a simulation with such small and simple inputs or variables that can result into something huge and complex, can we apply and scale this to the universe? The complex universe, for all we know, could’ve started as a string of simple instructions, like the grid of cells dependent on a small set of rules. Over time through replication, it eventually evolved into what we see today.
Click on this link if you want to try out a simple version of John Conway’s Game of Life: https://playgameoflife.com
Does it matter?
Ok, but does it really matter? Will anything in our ways of living change if suddenly you get sent a message from the creator saying that you are indeed in a simulation? Yes, but also no.
It matters in the way that the simulation hypothesis can help answer scientific problems of the universe. For a while now we have debated on whether or not there are actually other civilizations in the universe. With other Earth-like planets we are aware of, why is it that none of them were able to communicate with us or travel extremely long distances? If the simulation hypothesis is true, we can conclude that aliens are just simply not part of the program. Confirming the simulation hypothesis may also help with answering other “big” questions, including where we came from and why we’re here.
Views on religion may also be affected if the simulation hypothesis is accurate. The existence of God is real and that God is the controller of all of us, except in a digital way.
You can even go to the point that we can communicate with our programmer and somehow get “help” and granted root access. You could consult the programmer and ask “why” to all your questions or just hack into the system to provide infinite resources on Earth as well as curing cancer. Absolutely ridiculous but also a solution to ending all the problems in our world.
The point is that there is uncertainty in the simulation hypothesis and even if it is true, we probably won’t live to see it. There is however, complete certainty that time is limited and there will never be enough of it. There is a reason why there is life and that reason is simply to live. Even if we are in a simulation, no one is preventing you from achieving your ambitions. Do what makes you happy, be free, and do good. Live life at the fullest.
In the end…
Proving all these theoretical ideas as us living in a simulated reality based on the dream and simulation hypothesis, Plato’s philosophy of the cave and digital physics probably wouldn’t happen in a long, long, long time. That is, if the human species lives long enough to even have the opportunity to prove it. We may never know if there is an “original civilization” that created all these simulated realities. We also may never know if “now” is actually millions of years later where aliens came upon Earth and used the remains to observe the once-great human civilization. For now, all we can do is go along and play the game.
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