The Simulation Hypothesis or theory proposes that the world is not real but in fact an artificial setup or habitat, probably as a part of an experiment. It proposes that the entire universe, including the earth, the galaxies, and the planets, aren’t real.
The simulation may have been created to perform an experiment or a mutation or change any aspect of human beings. Sounds like The Divergent or The Matrix, well it is exactly that. These movies are based on these grounds and present an idea that could, by coincidence, be true.
This theory proposes that we live in a simulated reality, and presents various arguments and thesis to support this.
Arguments:
- Many scientists and technologists believe that enormous amounts of computing power will be available in the future. If this kind of super technology becomes available, one of the things a man would do is to run a detailed simulation of their predecessors. This could be for various reasons, from as complex to removing genetic deficiencies to as simple as proving for video games for the children.
- Dr. Bostrom of NASA claims that we are ‘digitally imprisoned’ by far evolved descendants. They could be using virtual reality to study how our ancestors lived like. Right now, NASA computers are cranking away at double the speed of the human brain. If you make a simple calculation using Moore’s law, you will find that these supercomputers will have the ability to virtually create a reality in a matter of 80 years. Also, in quantum mechanics, particles do not have a definite state until they are being observed. Thus it is possible that they are under a simulation. This idea that Universe is a fiction solves many doubts and mysteries about the cosmos.
- Astrophysicist, cosmologist and Nobel prize winner George Smoot has produced convincing arguments in this regard. He says that the progress of video games is proof that humans can produce virtual realities. Also, he argues how brains could one day be downloaded into computers. He also gives the reference of meta-universe to explain this.
- Another theory suggests that we do not live alone in this universe, but share the universe with more civilized and advanced creatures. The Fermi paradox, proposed by physicist Enrico Fermi, highlights the contradiction between the high possibility of extra-terrestrials in our ever-expanding universe and our inability to contact any. Maybe we are put in an illusion by them so that they can observe and benefit from our way of life, maybe the air we breathe is drugged by them so that we cannot interrupt their study.
- Another theory by Nick Bostrom proposes that one of the following statements is true. The first one is that almost all civilizations at our level of development become extinct before becoming technologically mature. Also, the ‘posthuman’ stage is unlikely to run a simulation of their evolutionary history. Hence, we are already living inside a computer simulation.
Thus it can be concluded that we would either go extinct very soon, as we are advancing fast enough to recreate reality or that we are already living inside one such creation. Which of the following is to be believed to be true, is left to one’s own judgment.
Conclusion
The fact that establishes a strong foundation for the above arguments is the that somewhere down the line, all explanations and theories about human civilization have been questionable.
How and why did man develop to this extent that he is now a prodigy, while all other animals remain below this level? How did he discover the tiniest things and basics of life? Was it really possible for a random creature to discover the wonders of developing so many languages, to understand various methods of cooking, way of controlling things without anyone teaching or “feeding information” into him? Why is it that there is no explanation about how man “emerged” but many theories about how he “developed”?
Some people argue that there is no evidence to prove this theory, but do you really expect that the super minds that created us would be foolish enough to leave around evidences? Even if they did, wouldn’t they have the power to erase or reset a part of our memory? Most humans believe in God, the simulation theory does the same, but in a different light. And if sense has to be seen, going beyond the limitations of human logic, there is a high probability of this theory being true.
