Four Convincing Reasons We Might Be Living in a Computerized Simulation

If it were true, we would not bleed. But we do, and if we lose too much we die.

If it were true, we would not bleed. But we do, and if we lose too much we die.

Frozen lake and trees and wolves out side. Must be just you.

Yes, the Universe is a simulation, but no, it isn't a technological thing.

This simulation runs on consciousness, not computer hardware.

I make digital photorealistic lakes with trees like the one outside for fun.

Op's point is that if we do it just for kicks, the likelihood that this isn't a simulation is slim to moot.

If it’s a game/simulation....I WANT CHEAT CODES !

Yes, the Universe is a simulation, but no, it isn't a technological thing.

This simulation runs on consciousness, not computer hardware.

The Simulation Theory is... confusing.

"I can clearly feel everything, and everything feels so real, so what the fuck are you even talking about?"

The whole idea of it is rather silly, right? It isn't even worth entertaining, because it can't be true, and even if it is, who really cares? Right?

I started doing some research once I heard high intellectuals, the likes of Elon Musk and Neil deGrasse Tyson, speaking about it publicly, confidently stating we are most certainly in a simulation. In fact, deGrasse Tyson held a 2 hour conference about it.
[link to www.extremetech.com (secure)]

Why would these people believe that? Are they saying life is a video game? I've come to believe what they are saying makes a ton of sense.

The most convincing reasons we might be living in a computerized simulation can be outlined as follows:

1. The 3 possibilities theory first made public by philosopher Nick Bostrom
[link to web.stanford.edu (secure)]

2. The double slit experiment
[link to micro.magnet.fsu.edu (secure)]

3. Advancements in technology (especially AI, augmented/virtual realities, and photo realistic, interactive video games)

4. Our natural drive to want to experience simulations





#1: 3 Possibilities theory by Nick Bostrom.

The three possibilities theory takes a look at three potential possibilities surrounding mankind creating super realistic virtual realities that will be indistinguishable from civilization, referred to as ancestor simulations. Anytime I say "ancestor simulation", just picture a super realistic virtual reality with super realistic people in them.

Ancestor simulations are hyper-realistic simulations that a "player" can experience. Imagine a friend came over and said, "Hey, do you want to know exactly what the Las Vegas shooter saw and felt during the attack but not actually hurt anybody? Put on these goggles, bro." Disturbing yet tempting.

You agree, put the goggles on, and then you enter an extremely detailed virtual reality, that is connected to your brain in a way that allows you to feel everything as if it was real.

In this reality are conscious non-player characters who are running for their lives at your virtual character's massacre. They are conscious in that they are making contact with their environment with their simulated 5 senses, like you are with your virtual reality machine. These characters have free will and can move about the universe as they please, and are programmed exactly like humans.

Afterwards, you take off the goggles, smoke a doobie and talk about other shit you could simulate. He tells you there are billions of these video game consoles across the planet, and people play this shit every day. "You can fuck bitches, bro," your loser friend tells you.

If we take all the realities that are being simulated on each console by billions of players, and all are so complex and detailed that the characters living within the realities have free will and can't tell they are in a simulation, then we can assume billions upon billions of these realities exist. Think about a session of "Grand Theft Auto." You start a mission, you play, you stop playing. You come back, play the same mission, you stop playing. There's an example of 2 realities. As you can tell, billions upon billions of GTA sessions, or realities, take place every year. Obviously the NPCs in these simulations are programmed like robots, but we are talking about virtual realities that will be made thousands of years from now. (or maybe 30 years)

Back to the three possibilities. Here they are:

1. WE CAN'T. Civilization is wiped out before our technology advances to the point where we can create ancestor simulations. Maybe a meteor, or something else that wipes us out, and we never get to that point in history.

2. WE CAN, BUT WE DON'T. Technology becomes so advanced that we have the tools and wherewithal to create ancestor simulations, but we choose not to. Either we are too busy, don't care, or decide it's unlawful or unmoral.

3. WE CAN, AND WE DO.

OPTION 3a: NO SIMULATION. This is real life, and we are yet to reach the age of ancestor simulations.

OPTION 3b: WE ARE LIVING IN A SIMULATION RIGHT NOW. Ancestor simulations already exist, so as described earlier, there are billion upon billions of ancestor simulation realities in the history of forever happening right now. Each one exists non-player characters who have no idea that they are in a simulation. For us to believe that we are the true existence, the base reality, and that we aren't one of the billions of simulated ones, is a bold, borderline arrogant stance. A 1 in a billion stance.

Given these possibilities, here's why Elon Musk says we should be HOPING we're in a simulation, because if we're not, civilization will most likely be wiped out:
[link to finance.yahoo.com (secure)]

LETS SAY OPTION 1 IS TRUE. Civilization is destroyed, and we can't build ancestor simulations.

This seems unlikely.

LETS SAY OPTION 2 IS TRUE. Civilization becomes advanced, but we choose not to simulate.

Given our drive towards entertainment and our curiosity, I don't think we could possibly stop everyone from trying it. Throw out number 2.

LETS SAY OPTION 3A IS TRUE, and we're not in a simulation; this is base reality. However, since we are on track to make ancestor simulations that would fool billions of simulated consciousnesses within simulated realities, so we can't be sure we're not in one.

LETS SAY OPTION 3B IS TRUE, and we are in fact living in a simulation right now. Which Bostrom argues and Musk agrees is something that exceeds a 1 billion% chance.

The advancements in technology are suggesting these augmented realities may be coming sooner than we think.





#2 The Double Slit Experiment

The Simulation Theory provides a solid explanation behind the mystery of the Double Slit Experiment, first made public by Thomas Young in 1801. The double slit experiment proves that matter behaves differently based on whether or not it's being observed.Here's a video that details it out and makes this all a lot more understandable, It's like 3 minutes, just watch it dude:



Or, if you're 2, check out this video which will make it a little easier to understand (only like 5 mins):



When ping-pong balls are shot through a shield with one strip at a wall that lights up where it is touched, we see one strip of light as expected. With two slits, we see two lights as expected. When we test how waves travel through the shield and at the wall, we see several strips of light illustrating an interference pattern.

The experiment gets interesting when it’s observed at a quantum level.

When electrons are shot through a tiny shield at a similar tiny wall, the one slit will reveal one strip of light. However, with two slits, wave-like patterns are shown on the wall, similar to how the waves reacted. Scientists wanted to know which slit the electrons traveled through to make this wave-like pattern. They stuck teeny tiny microscopes next to the slits to see just which slit the electrons were going through to make this wave pattern.

WELL GUESS WHAT. Because they were checking in on the electron, the electron said to the scientists "Well fuck you, homey. I'm not gonna do the wave anymore- I’m gonna go through both slits since you're fucking looking at me like a creep. Go do something with your life and stop staring at me bro." and the electrons only created TWO lines, instead of several.

Tiny electrons through doubleslit = SEVERAL SLITS WHEN VIEWED FROM A DISTANCE

Tiny electrons through doubleslit = TWO SLITS WHEN VIEWED UP CLOSE

THE ELECTRON BEHAVED DIFFERENTLY JUST BECAUSE IT WAS BEING WATCHED.

What the fuck does this have to do with the simulation theory?

Imagine a world RPG game, like Grand Theft Auto or Zelda or some shit.

It's a bigass world, every time I go to a new part, a lot of detailed stuff is happening. Are the characters moving when I'm not looking at them? How is my Wii U Plus not exploding at having to process all these complex graphics in the entire simulated world?

Well, for great video games to work, they only show you the graphics you're looking at.
[link to xenon.stanford.edu]

The other stuff doesn't start moving until it's being watched, so as to make the simulation more realistic. This almost seems to answer why the electrons would behave in such a way.





#3: Advancements in technology

I want to talk a bit about Elon Musk.

Musk taught himself programming at age 10. He attended Queen's University, then transferred to University of Pennsylvania to pursue a dual-degree (Bachelor of Science in Physics from Penn's College of Arts and Sciences and Bachelor of Science in Economics from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.)

Later, he went to Stanford University to pursue PhD in Applied Physics but dropped out to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions. He used to study everything he could lay his hands on. During his childhood, when he ran out of books, he started reading Encyclopedias.
[link to www.cnbc.com (secure)]

Today, as you probably know, he is the founder, CEO, and CTO of SpaceX, as well as a co-founder, a Series A financial specialist, CEO, and product architect of Tesla Inc, arriving his net worth at an estimated 22.4 billion dollars.

Why does someone with his intellectual capacity believe that there is a one in billions chance that reality is not a simulation?



"Forty years ago, you had Pong, like, two rectangles and a dot. That was what games were. Now, 40 years later, we have photorealistic, 3D simulations with millions of people playing simultaneously, and it's getting better every year (...) If you assume any rate of improvement at all, then the games will become indistinguishable from reality."

Every day, we are seeing new advancements in technology that are seemingly mind-blowing:

• ‘Human brain’ supercomputer with 1 million processors switched on for first time
[link to www.manchester.ac.uk (secure)]

• Google pledges $25 million in new artificial intelligent challenge
[link to www.cnet.com (secure)]

• China builds super-computer with storage of 12,400,000,000,000,000 terabytes
[link to www.digitaltrends.com (secure)]

• Researchers develop virtual-reality testing ground for drones
[link to news.mit.edu]

If we take a deeper look at what's going on, what we are really proving right in front of your eyes is the following: We are on the path to creating lifelike simulations that will be indistinguishable from reality.

Maybe it will be 30 years, or maybe it will 10,000 years, but it is hard to deny that we won't someday be able to do it- inventing a virtual reality that interacts with all 5 senses, and has real life characters and environments that are nearly identical to reality.

If you believe it is possible, you must think about what happens after something like ancestor simulations are created.

In the video above, Musk talks about all the platforms that people across the globe will "playing" this simulation on. Billions of platforms performing billions of simulations.

If the simulation is truly an "ancestor simulation", then that means that NPCs (non-player characters) within the simulations will be unaware that their reality is a simulation, and also WOULD BE ABLE TO CREATE THEIR OWN SIMULATIONS.

You can see how this creates an almost infinite loop of realities, with billions upon billions of programmed consciousnesses living in billions upon billions of simulated realities.

In every single one of these realities, the NPCs within them believe they are experiencing real life, and they would tell you they are not in a simulation.

With all of these billions of simulated realities happening, we can say only ONE is the BASE REALITY- where it all began. For us to believe Earth in 2018 is the base reality is a possibility, but a one in billions possibility.

These amazing advancements in technology only support the theory that one day we'll be able to create our own simulations. If this is true, we cannot be certain we aren't in one of them already.





#4: Our natural drive to want to experience simulations

Have you ever played a virtual reality game? Or at least about heard about them?

My only experience was a shooting arcade game about 15 years ago- you would lower the spherical "screen" over your head, and when you turned left, the game would turn left, giving the illusion that you were really there, and giving the game a whole new level of interactivity.

Rick and Morty had an interesting take on this kind of thing. In the episode Mortynight Run, Rick and Morty go to an arcade where Morty plays a game called Roy: A Life Well Lived.

In it, players assume the role of Roy, and the game starts in his childhood, and the goal is to guide him through life with the programming adjusting to the path Roy takes and the events that happen to him according to the decisions made by the player.



Black Mirror, a show that dives in on the possibilities of what could be become in a futuristic society with our technological advancements, also had quite the episode about simulated virtual realities. In their season 4 premiere, they had an episode featuring a character who is working at his prestigious video game company. He created a game that, upon feeding it outside DNA, can create simulated versions of people he knows in real life that he can interact with in the simulation.

When the character is pushed around at work by the big boss, he goes into his game and treats him like shit. When he sees a hot girl at work, he gets her fingertips and fornicates her in the simulacra.

The simulation theory suggests reality as you and I know it is a virtual reality, similar to how the above television episodes describe them.

Instant gratification is everywhere. New generations are born into things appearing right at their fingertips, experiencing none of the "foreplay" of life that older generations were able to enjoy.

Imagine in the 80s, the joy a kid would receive when he would hear that "Frosty the Snowman" is coming on TV during the holiday weekends. Getting the popcorn ready, pajamas on, this little kid is ready for the program when it comes on, and all that waiting is finally paying off.

In the age where delayed gratification is becoming a thing of the past, escapism only seems to be growing and growing.

As Adam Carolla once said, Social media, television, and anything the internet has to offer is destroying the "foreplay of life".

When technology advances, our desire for instant gratification increases. "I know I have all the material things in the world that I need to feel completely relaxed and forget about the world, such as drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, pornography, gambling, movies, Netflix. These items let me escape and forget about my worries for at least a little bit. And with my phone and the internet, these items are so obtainable without even having to leave home."

If we had the technology to create virtual realities that were so realistic, and in it I can do whatever I want, and be treated like a God by the people in the game, would we do it?

Movies, television, fictional books and video games are examples of simulations we as a civilization cannot get enough of.

But that's what they are- they are simulations, fictional universes that draw us in and allow us to escape. Simulated characters with simulated lines acting out in simulated scenarios.

In 1930, weekly movie theater attendance was 80 million people, approximately 65% of the resident U.S. population. By the 1950s, when over 30 million household nationwide now had the newly invented television in their home, that figure declined to 27.3 million people, which was a mere 9.7% of the U.S. population.
[link to org.elon.edu (secure)]


We love the experience of a cinematic adventure, and especially any instances we can directly relate to. Anything that makes us laugh, cry, scared, or any other powerful emotion, we enjoy it and want more of it.

We are creative and bored, and would never miss the opportunity to create a hyper realistic simulation if we had the technology and resources to do it.





Let me close by recapping the 4 reasons we are most certainly in a simulation once again:

1. The 3 possibilities theory first made public by philosopher Nick Bostrom

2. The double slit experiment

3. Advancements in technology (especially AI, augmented/virtual realities, and photo realistic, interactive video games)

4. Our natural drive to want to experience simulations

Reason #2 proves that atoms move in different directions based on whether or not they're being watched. This is how realistic video games work- In order to save data, only the graphics you are looking at are processed.

Reason #1 points to an almost mathematical impossibility that we are at the base reality- the universe that started the endless loop of simulated universes. If the first of the 3 possibilities is true, we are going to be wiped out completely, which is why we should be hoping we're in a simulation. This post was meant to argue against and invalidate the possibility of number 2 being correct. Surely if we can, we will not be able to help ourselves. But even if life is real and there is no simulation...

Reason #3 suggests we are on the path to creating these simulations. When hyper realistic simulations are created, non-player characters will exist within the game that are conscious and have free will, which makes it the ultimate ancestor simulation. These NPCs also have the ability to create their own simulations, and when their technology advances enough, they will be able to program their very own simulated universes, filled with their own NPCs with consciousnesses and free will. Creating billions upon billions of simulated universes throughout the history of forever. In each and every one of these simulations, the characters within them would doubt this possibility if a player were to ask them "Are you in a simulation?"

Reason 4 suggests we want to do it. We want to create simulations that interact with our five senses- we merely don't have the technology yet. When we do get the technological advancements, even if the majority of the population is too busy on other ideas or if it is outlawed, I can't imagine you could stop each and every one of them from creating their own universe where they get to play God.

It is up to you to decide whether or not life as you know it is just a complex virtual reality, or if you everything is as it seems and none of this matters. For some it is known as a means to answer some of life’s mysterious questions, such as how is it the solar system never ends? How does everyone in the entire world look different, even though we have all the same facial parts? How do our bodies know exactly what to do and heal ourselves so miraculously? How does the sun come up every single day and the same way all the time? Will it just stop one day? How are cats able to find their way homes from impossibly far distances? How it is even possible that the stuff in the Bible could’ve actually happened?

These questions are hard to prove either way, but if you believe life is a simulation, it can explain all of those things quite easily.

And of course this begs the question- if life is a simulation and God was the creator... who created God? This is another one for the observer to decide.

Thanks for reading.

Man, this is enough for a dissertation. You should publish this for real.

Yes, the Universe is a simulation, but no, it isn't a technological thing.

This simulation runs on consciousness, not computer hardware.

If it’s a game/simulation....I WANT CHEAT CODES !

If it’s a game/simulation....I WANT CHEAT CODES !

Yes, the Universe is a simulation, but no, it isn't a technological thing.

This simulation runs on consciousness, not computer hardware.

Simulation Theory works for me for the same reason that I can taste food, in my dreams..

About a month ago, I dreamed I ate a piece of steak. I haven't had beef in over 7 years. Taste and texture were the same as I remember.

If it’s a game/simulation....I WANT CHEAT CODES !

If it’s a game/simulation....I WANT CHEAT CODES !

The Simulation Theory is... confusing.

"I can clearly feel everything, and everything feels so real, so what the fuck are you even talking about?"

The whole idea of it is rather silly, right? It isn't even worth entertaining, because it can't be true, and even if it is, who really cares? Right?

I started doing some research once I heard high intellectuals, the likes of Elon Musk and Neil deGrasse Tyson, speaking about it publicly, confidently stating we are most certainly in a simulation. In fact, deGrasse Tyson held a 2 hour conference about it.
[link to www.extremetech.com (secure)]

Why would these people believe that? Are they saying life is a video game? I've come to believe what they are saying makes a ton of sense.

The most convincing reasons we might be living in a computerized simulation can be outlined as follows:

1. The 3 possibilities theory first made public by philosopher Nick Bostrom
[link to web.stanford.edu (secure)]

2. The double slit experiment
[link to micro.magnet.fsu.edu (secure)]

3. Advancements in technology (especially AI, augmented/virtual realities, and photo realistic, interactive video games)

4. Our natural drive to want to experience simulations





#1: 3 Possibilities theory by Nick Bostrom.

The three possibilities theory takes a look at three potential possibilities surrounding mankind creating super realistic virtual realities that will be indistinguishable from civilization, referred to as ancestor simulations. Anytime I say "ancestor simulation", just picture a super realistic virtual reality with super realistic people in them.

Ancestor simulations are hyper-realistic simulations that a "player" can experience. Imagine a friend came over and said, "Hey, do you want to know exactly what the Las Vegas shooter saw and felt during the attack but not actually hurt anybody? Put on these goggles, bro." Disturbing yet tempting.

You agree, put the goggles on, and then you enter an extremely detailed virtual reality, that is connected to your brain in a way that allows you to feel everything as if it was real.

In this reality are conscious non-player characters who are running for their lives at your virtual character's massacre. They are conscious in that they are making contact with their environment with their simulated 5 senses, like you are with your virtual reality machine. These characters have free will and can move about the universe as they please, and are programmed exactly like humans.

Afterwards, you take off the goggles, smoke a doobie and talk about other shit you could simulate. He tells you there are billions of these video game consoles across the planet, and people play this shit every day. "You can fuck bitches, bro," your loser friend tells you.

If we take all the realities that are being simulated on each console by billions of players, and all are so complex and detailed that the characters living within the realities have free will and can't tell they are in a simulation, then we can assume billions upon billions of these realities exist. Think about a session of "Grand Theft Auto." You start a mission, you play, you stop playing. You come back, play the same mission, you stop playing. There's an example of 2 realities. As you can tell, billions upon billions of GTA sessions, or realities, take place every year. Obviously the NPCs in these simulations are programmed like robots, but we are talking about virtual realities that will be made thousands of years from now. (or maybe 30 years)

Back to the three possibilities. Here they are:

1. WE CAN'T. Civilization is wiped out before our technology advances to the point where we can create ancestor simulations. Maybe a meteor, or something else that wipes us out, and we never get to that point in history.

2. WE CAN, BUT WE DON'T. Technology becomes so advanced that we have the tools and wherewithal to create ancestor simulations, but we choose not to. Either we are too busy, don't care, or decide it's unlawful or unmoral.

3. WE CAN, AND WE DO.

OPTION 3a: NO SIMULATION. This is real life, and we are yet to reach the age of ancestor simulations.

OPTION 3b: WE ARE LIVING IN A SIMULATION RIGHT NOW. Ancestor simulations already exist, so as described earlier, there are billion upon billions of ancestor simulation realities in the history of forever happening right now. Each one exists non-player characters who have no idea that they are in a simulation. For us to believe that we are the true existence, the base reality, and that we aren't one of the billions of simulated ones, is a bold, borderline arrogant stance. A 1 in a billion stance.

Given these possibilities, here's why Elon Musk says we should be HOPING we're in a simulation, because if we're not, civilization will most likely be wiped out:
[link to finance.yahoo.com (secure)]

LETS SAY OPTION 1 IS TRUE. Civilization is destroyed, and we can't build ancestor simulations.

This seems unlikely.

LETS SAY OPTION 2 IS TRUE. Civilization becomes advanced, but we choose not to simulate.

Given our drive towards entertainment and our curiosity, I don't think we could possibly stop everyone from trying it. Throw out number 2.

LETS SAY OPTION 3A IS TRUE, and we're not in a simulation; this is base reality. However, since we are on track to make ancestor simulations that would fool billions of simulated consciousnesses within simulated realities, we can't be sure we're not in one.

LETS SAY OPTION 3B IS TRUE, and we are in fact living in a simulation right now. Which Bostrom argues and Musk agrees is something that exceeds a 1 billion% chance.

The advancements in technology are suggesting these augmented realities may be coming sooner than we think.





#2 The Double Slit Experiment

The Simulation Theory provides a solid explanation behind the mystery of the Double Slit Experiment, first made public by Thomas Young in 1801. The double slit experiment proves that matter behaves differently based on whether or not it's being observed. Here's a video that details it out and makes this all a lot more understandable, It's like 3 minutes, just watch it dude:



Or, if you're 2, check out this video which will make it a little easier to understand (only like 5 mins):



When ping-pong balls are shot through a shield with one strip at a wall that lights up where it is touched, we see one strip of light as expected. With two slits, we see two lights as expected. When we test how waves travel through the shield and at the wall, we see several strips of light illustrating an interference pattern.

The experiment gets interesting when it’s observed at a quantum level.

When electrons are shot through a tiny shield at a similar tiny wall, the one slit will reveal one strip of light. However, with two slits, wave-like patterns are shown on the wall, similar to how the waves reacted. Scientists wanted to know which slit the electrons traveled through to make this wave-like pattern. They stuck teeny tiny microscopes next to the slits to see just which slit the electrons were going through to make this wave pattern.

WELL GUESS WHAT. Because they were checking in on the electron, the electron said to the scientists "Well fuck you, dude. I'm not gonna do the wave anymore- I’m gonna go through both slits since you're looking at me like a creep. Go do something with your life and stop staring at me bro." and the electrons only created TWO lines, instead of several.

Tiny electrons through doubleslit = SEVERAL SLITS WHEN VIEWED FROM A DISTANCE

Tiny electrons through doubleslit = TWO SLITS WHEN VIEWED UP CLOSE

THE ELECTRON BEHAVED DIFFERENTLY JUST BECAUSE IT WAS BEING WATCHED.

What does this have to do with the simulation theory?

Imagine a world RPG game, like Grand Theft Auto or Zelda.

It's a complex world; every time I go to a new part, a lot of detailed stuff is happening. Are the characters moving when I'm not looking at them? How is my Wii U Plus not exploding at having to process all these complex graphics in the entire simulated world?

Well, for great video games to work, they only show you the graphics you're looking at.
[link to xenon.stanford.edu]

The other stuff doesn't start moving until it's being watched, so as to make the simulation more realistic. This almost seems to answer why the electrons would behave in such a way.





#3: Advancements in technology

I want to talk a bit about Elon Musk.

Musk taught himself programming at age 10. He attended Queen's University, then transferred to University of Pennsylvania to pursue a dual-degree (Bachelor of Science in Physics from Penn's College of Arts and Sciences and Bachelor of Science in Economics from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.)

Later, he went to Stanford University to pursue PhD in Applied Physics but dropped out to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions. He used to study everything he could lay his hands on. During his childhood, when he ran out of books, he started reading Encyclopedias.
[link to www.cnbc.com (secure)]

Today, as you probably know, he is the founder, CEO, and CTO of SpaceX, as well as a co-founder, a Series A financial specialist, CEO, and product architect of Tesla Inc, arriving his net worth at an estimated 22.4 billion dollars.

Why does someone with his intellectual capacity believe that there is a one in billions chance that reality is not a simulation?



"Forty years ago, you had Pong, like, two rectangles and a dot. That was what games were. Now, 40 years later, we have photorealistic, 3D simulations with millions of people playing simultaneously, and it's getting better every year (...) If you assume any rate of improvement at all, then the games will become indistinguishable from reality."

Every day, we are seeing new advancements in technology that are seemingly mind-blowing:

• ‘Human brain’ supercomputer with 1 million processors switched on for first time
[link to www.manchester.ac.uk (secure)]

• Google pledges $25 million in new artificial intelligent challenge
[link to www.cnet.com (secure)]

• China builds super-computer with storage of 12,400,000,000,000,000 terabytes
[link to www.digitaltrends.com (secure)]

• Researchers develop virtual-reality testing ground for drones
[link to news.mit.edu]

If we take a deeper look at what's going on, what we are really proving right in front of your eyes is the following: We are on the path to creating lifelike simulations that will be indistinguishable from reality.

Maybe it will be 30 years, or maybe it will 10,000 years, but it is hard to deny that we won't someday be able to do it- inventing a virtual reality that interacts with all 5 senses, and has real life characters and environments that are nearly identical to reality.

If you believe it is possible, you must think about what happens after something like ancestor simulations are created.

In the video above, Musk talks about all the platforms that people across the globe will "playing" this simulation on. Billions of platforms performing billions of simulations.

If the simulation is truly an "ancestor simulation", then that means that NPCs (non-player characters) within the simulations will be unaware that their reality is a simulation, and also WOULD BE ABLE TO CREATE THEIR OWN SIMULATIONS.

You can see how this creates an almost infinite loop of realities, with billions upon billions of programmed consciousnesses living in billions upon billions of simulated realities.

In every single one of these realities, the NPCs within them believe they are experiencing real life, and they would tell you they are not in a simulation.

With all of these billions of simulated realities happening, we can say only ONE is the BASE REALITY- where it all began. For us to believe Earth in 2018 is the base reality is a possibility, but a one in billions possibility.

These amazing advancements in technology only support the theory that one day we'll be able to create our own simulations. If this is true, we cannot be certain we aren't in one of them already.





#4: Our natural drive to want to experience simulations

Have you ever played a virtual reality game? Or at least about heard about them?

My only experience was a shooting arcade game about 15 years ago- you would lower the spherical "screen" over your head, and when you turned left, the game would turn left, giving the illusion that you were really there, and giving the game a whole new level of interactivity.

Rick and Morty had an interesting take on this kind of thing. In the episode Mortynight Run, Rick and Morty go to an arcade where Morty plays a game called Roy: A Life Well Lived.

In it, players assume the role of Roy, and the game starts in his childhood, and the goal is to guide him through life with the programming adjusting to the path Roy takes and the events that happen to him according to the decisions made by the player.



Black Mirror, a show that dives in on the possibilities of what could be become in a futuristic society with our technological advancements, also had quite the episode about simulated virtual realities. In their season 4 premiere, they had an episode featuring a character who is working at his prestigious video game company. He created a game that, upon feeding it outside DNA, can create simulated versions of people he knows in real life that he can interact with in the simulation.

When the character is pushed around at work by the big boss, he goes into his game and treats him like shit. When he sees a hot girl at work, he gets her fingertips and fornicates her in the simulacra.

The simulation theory suggests reality as you and I know it is a virtual reality, similar to how the above television episodes describe them.

Instant gratification is everywhere. New generations are born into things appearing right at their fingertips, experiencing none of the "foreplay" of life that older generations were able to enjoy.

Imagine in the 80s, the joy a kid would receive when he would hear that "Frosty the Snowman" is coming on TV during the holiday weekends. Getting the popcorn ready, pajamas on, this little kid is ready for the program when it comes on, and all that waiting is finally paying off.

In the age where delayed gratification is becoming a thing of the past, escapism only seems to be growing and growing.

As Adam Carolla once said, social media, television, and anything the internet has to offer is destroying the "foreplay of life".

When technology advances, our desire for instant gratification increases. "I know I have all the material things in the world that I need to feel completely relaxed and forget about the world, such as drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, pornography, gambling, movies, Netflix. These items let me escape and forget about my worries for at least a little bit. And with my phone and the internet, these items are so obtainable without even having to leave home."

If we had the technology to create virtual realities that were so realistic, and in it I can do whatever I want, and be treated like a God by the people in the game, would we do it?

Movies, television, fictional books and video games are examples of simulations we as a civilization cannot get enough of.

But that's what they are- they are simulations, fictional universes that draw us in and allow us to escape. Simulated characters with simulated lines acting out in simulated scenarios.

In 1930, weekly movie theater attendance was 80 million people, approximately 65% of the resident U.S. population. By the 1950s that figure declined to 27.3 million people, (9.7% of the U.S. population) when over 30 million household nationwide now had the newly invented television in their home.
[link to org.elon.edu (secure)]

We love the experience of a cinematic adventure, and especially any instances we can directly relate to. Anything that makes us laugh, cry, scared, or any other powerful emotion, we enjoy it and want more of it.

We are creative and bored, and would never miss the opportunity to create a hyper realistic simulation if we had the technology and resources to do it.





Let me close by recapping the 4 reasons we are most certainly in a simulation once again:

1. The 3 possibilities theory first made public by philosopher Nick Bostrom

2. The double slit experiment

3. Advancements in technology (especially AI, augmented/virtual realities, and photo realistic, interactive video games)

4. Our natural drive to want to experience simulations

Reason #2 proves that atoms move in different directions based on whether or not they're being watched. This is how realistic video games work- In order to save data, only the graphics you are looking at are processed.

Reason #1 points to an almost mathematical impossibility that we are at the base reality- the universe that started the endless loop of simulated universes. If the first of the 3 possibilities is true, we are going to be wiped out completely, which is why we should be hoping we're in a simulation. This post was meant to argue against and invalidate the possibility of number 2 being correct. Surely if we can, we will not be able to help ourselves. But even if life is real and there is no simulation...

Reason #3 suggests we are on the path to creating these simulations. When hyper realistic simulations are created, non-player characters will exist within the game that are conscious and have free will, which makes it the ultimate ancestor simulation. These NPCs also have the ability to create their own simulations, and when their technology advances enough, they will be able to program their very own simulated universes, filled with their own NPCs with consciousnesses and free will. Creating billions upon billions of simulated universes throughout the history of forever. In each and every one of these simulations, the characters within them would doubt this possibility if a player were to ask them "Are you in a simulation?"

Reason 4 suggests we want to do it. We want to create simulations that interact with our five senses- we merely don't have the technology yet. When we do get the technological advancements, even if the majority of the population is too busy on other ideas or if it is outlawed, I can't imagine you could stop each and every one of them from creating their own universe where they get to play God.

It is up to you to decide whether or not life as you know it is just a complex virtual reality, or if you everything is as it seems and none of this matters. For some it is known as a means to answer some of life’s mysterious questions, such as how is it the solar system never ends? How does everyone in the entire world look different, even though we have all the same facial parts? How do our bodies know exactly what to do and heal ourselves so miraculously? How does the sun come up every single day and the same way all the time? Will it just stop one day? How are cats able to find their way homes from impossibly far distances? How it is even possible that the stuff in the Bible could’ve actually happened?

These questions are hard to prove either way, but if you believe life is a simulation, it can explain all of those things quite easily.

And of course this begs the question- if life is a simulation and God was the creator... who created God? This is another one for the observer to decide.

Thanks for reading.

I have photorealistic, ludid dreams where I can actually take measurements of visual phenomena like specular reflections and it holds up as realistically as if it were raytraced.

The mind is incredible.

Quoting a super long post in full to make a one-liner comment is bad, OK?