Understanding Simulation Hypothesis
The Simulation Hypothesis proposes that what we are aware of as reality, i.e. our social environment, the world that we live in, and the universe we know of is not a base reality. It is rather a simulated reality, a reality whose inhabitants (us humans in this case) are not aware of its simulated nature as it seems realistic enough to convince them that it is the reality.
For better understanding, we can be compared to Truman Burbank (played by Jim Carrey) in the 1998 film The Truman Show. Our world can be compared to Seahaven Island (Truman’s Simulated World) and the superior intelligence that created this simulation can be compared to Christof (played by Ed Harris). The ones who have not watched The Truman Show, for them our predicament, presuming the Simulation Hypothesis holds true, is that we are living in the Matrix referring to the 1999 film The Matrix. For the ones still drawing a blank as they have not watched either film, I suggest you watch them both.
Fortunately though, as researchers believe, unlike both the films provided as examples, we are not being manipulated by the ones who have created our simulated world, i.e. the ones who created our world are not playing God. They have just created the environment along with all the natural forces and eventually our world has emerged as the simulation played on without interference.
“There’s a one in billions chance we’re in base reality”
-Elon Musk, CEO, Tesla Motors and SpaceX.
Elon Musk takes on the Simulation Hypothesis at the Code Conference 2016.
This hypothesis was first proposed by Nick Bostrom in his 2003 publication Are You Living in a Computer Simulation? Over the years, the hypothesis has gathered some powerful believers including the CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, Elon Musk and our very own Truman, Jim Carrey. At the Code Conference 2016, Elon Musk supported the Simulation Hypothesis stating that “There’s a one in billions chance we’re in base reality”. Jim Carrey however chose a slightly different event, namely the 2017 New York Fashion Week Red Carpet, to vent his feelings on the Simulation Hypothesis.
“Here’s the thing, its not our world”
-Jim Carrey, Actor, Truman Show.
Jim Carrey questions existence at the NYFW 2017 Red Carpet.
My take on the Simulation Hypothesis
I find the hypothesis rather intriguing as it has the potential to be as true as the reality we now believe in. The origin of life is still uncertain; Applying the simulation argument to it, solves ‘where do we come from?’ to one point and then raises further questions as to what actually exists in the base reality. Though in our case, getting a whiff of our base reality wouldn’t be as easy as Neo popping a red pill (The Matrix, 1999).
Presently, scientists have undertaken ventures to try and prove or disprove the simulation hypothesis. One such venture includes the measurement of cosmic ray particles that may divulge data related to the edge of the universe. Yes, if our Universe is simulated then it should have an edge, i.e. it has to be finite. The reason being the fact that finite resources could only simulate a finite amount of space. To simulate an infinite space, there has to be infinite resources or, there will exist repetition or algorithmic patterns. These repetitions will be a tell-tale sign of the fact that our universe is indeed simulated. Think of it as Truman Burbank in The Truman Show waiting in his car to look at the same people going round and round the block as if on a loop which arose his suspicions of his world being simulated.
As for me, I am happy to subscribe to the simulation hypothesis but I’ll never close my mind to the other available probabilities. If we can play immersive Virtual Reality video games in today’s world then in another 10 millennia or even less, who’s to stop us from replacing VR headsets with technology that would help project directly to the retina and make the simulation indistinguishable from reality. Would it not create a hyperreal experience similar to ours? And around the same time, can technology not develop enough to simulate whole human minds after all that’s all that there is to simulate, as perception of what we call our world is in our minds. If our minds can be tricked into perceiving 3D spaces using Virtual Reality, then I believe it is not impossible for the mind to be tricked to perceive our temporal environments using technology that has not even been thought of yet and resolutions that at this point in time we cannot think to achieve.
For a moment let us suppose that the Simulation Hypothesis holds true. Where does it leave us? What happens to God and Religion? Technological advancements of superior beings answer all that is missing from science of today. But then the technology of the future and their developers become our new God and Science becomes our new religion – the unknown force that can do things unexplainable with today’s knowledge base.
Going by the simulation argument, we have to exist in a growing block universe where the present is the top of the stack and it is in this moment that we create our future. And thus, a very advanced human race which can simulate its past is yet non-existent and the simulated people of the future do not exist in our world. In simpler words, advanced human race simulating the past creates a huge mess with time. Unless, we see the base reality and our world differently, i.e. the base reality is a universe different from ours and in our world the future may be different. It doesn’t necessarily have to lead to the future that created us given that it’s an independent simulation that has been initiated and is growing by itself.
The quest to find reality is still very much alive. The probability that we are living in a base reality is as much as of that we don’t. Whatever it is, simulation or reality, mankind’s curiosity can never be fully satisfied and thus technology will continue to grow and maybe one day, we can simulate the real story of how it all began – A Big Bang or a piece of code?
Do comment your views on the topic. Opinions are always welcome.
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Relevant Links:
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/universe-computer-simulation
https://www.cnet.com/news/are-we-in-the-matrix-science-looks-for-signs-were-not-real/
https://futurism.com/are-we-living-in-a-computer-simulation-elon-musk-thinks-so/
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/11/simulated-world-elon-musk-the-matrix
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/yp3b7w/we-dont-live-in-a-simulation
Sagnik Mallick
The Digital Philosophy 
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