I always hated the simulation hypothesis, but I will do my best to describe it accurately.
Because I’ve realized a terrible truth in it.
Author's note: I am republishing my own work, first posted on Medium. While we should all be creating content on the censor-resistant Hive blockchain, Medium has a useful policy of paying me in fiat - which I can then use to buy HIVE.
What Just Happened?
Here we are in the year 2020. Has anyone noticed anything… a little odd?
What in God’s green simulation is happening?
I suspect readers’ answers to this question will vary widely. Your perception of just what in the heck is going on here may differ greatly from mine. Most likely, it differs greatly from some members of your community, your family, maybe even your own household. Why is that?
Begrudgingly, this year I’ve accepted that I really am living in a simulation. I believe that you are too. So far as I can tell, everyone I know and all of the people who make up the background of my existence — my family and community, my nation and the world — we are operating in some kind of a program that is not of our own design.
What if none of this is real?
The theory, as I understand it, is this:
Given the vast number of stars and planets in the universe, the chances are far more than zero that life, including intelligent life, including intelligent life far more technologically advanced than ours, is abundant.
Considering our own ability to manipulate matter and energy, sensory data and perception, and create increasingly convincing simulations of reality, it is possible, even likely, that an advanced intelligence could create a simulation so sophisticated that it is indistinguishable from the natural world.
It would have to contain information down to the quantum level, so that not only would your eyes and ears be convinced, but every effort you might make to measure and understand this “reality” would be consistent, and would not break or reveal the simulation. In fact, your body and consciousness would likely be part of the simulation itself, not a separate entity receiving info through some interface.
If all of this is possible, then it is also probable that an entity capable of running such a simulation would run it many times, since any number of these simulations would have its inhabitants going extinct before they made it too far. Basically, the fact that we exist at all can be taken as evidence in favor of this all being a simulation, because under natural circumstances, what are the odds that we’d even have made it to now? (Source: Popular Mechanics)
“I am not a number, I am a free man!”
I don’t argue with this logic. I take it a step further.
Let’s say there was a being or beings capable of creating and running a simulation of life, the universe, and everything. Let’s say the entire matrix we inhabit, the natural laws that govern it, and all of the seemingly random series of events that shape the world we know today all spring from the work of this unseen entity. Doesn’t this being meet the definition of God?
Isn’t simulation theory just a convoluted way of explaining that our very existence is evidence that there is a creator somewhere, beyond our understanding?
(I am mentally shaking my fist at the simulation theorists while I imagine saying this to them. Also, credit to The Prisoner TV series for the quote in the header above.)
“What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.”
— C. S. Lewis
A Feature or a Bug?
Let’s look at some of the important events of the day. Are we living through a global pandemic? Was it inevitable, preventable, intentional? Is this a massive power grab by corrupt government and corporatist elites, or incompetent foot-dragging by entrenched bureaucrats too comfortable in the status quo to do real work? Is it possible that all of the above are true?
I live in the United States, where our recent election is still contested. Are the proper procedures being followed? If not, which party or parties are behaving improperly?
Most importantly, how do you know?
My first-hand experience of these events is quite limited. I’ve seen grocery stores run out of toilet paper, then dairy, then meat (though in my area, thankfully, most restocked within weeks.) I’ve seen people wearing masks. I’ve seen businesses closed, some shutting down for good. I voted in what appeared, locally, to be a well-organized and free election.
Oh, I have ideas about what’s going on. So do you. If any of you really want to compare the details of your own simulation with mine, we can do so in the comments. But for a moment, let’s try to realize the truth — most of what you think you know about the world, outside of your home and local area, comes to you from sources you have never even met and cannot witness directly.
Do you trust those sources? Why (or why not?)
Is the Simulation Breaking Down?
We’ve been lied to; that much is certain.
People and institutions we ought to be able to trust are telling a story that directly contradicts that of other people, and other institutions, that we ought to be able to trust. Each presents you with evidence. Maybe you weigh the evidence as best you can. Maybe you’ve already made up your mind who to trust. If so, your simulation is probably running much more smoothly than mine.
My simulation seems about ready for a full reboot. Ctrl-Alt-Delete. Take out the cartridge, blow in it, then re-insert.
It’s a bit distressing. Having run this particular simulation for 41 years, I thought I had a basic understanding of the world and my place in it. While I expect to encounter conflict and sometimes strong disagreement on what is important, and how to proceed, I never expected to live in a world where we can’t even agree on what is real.
Error: missing or null parameter [:truth]
Truth is objective, whether I understand it or not. It doesn’t matter if our world is a simulation running on the computer of some advanced intelligence somewhere. I reject that explanation as too simplistic, but I cannot possibly understand the true nature of this life and neither can you.
I am at peace with the fact that I am not getting out of this simulation, that I’ll never fully understand it, that I’ll live and die inside of it. I want to live well here. It’s an amazing place to exist.
Far too amazing to allow oneself to be distracted by lies, even (and especially) when it’s hard to tell who is lying and who is telling you the truth.
Do not let the great emptiness of what has been called “post-truth society” fill your heart. I believed, for a time, that I could trust a vast network of people to gather information from all over the world and deliver it right into my hands, free of any bias or agenda, without expecting anything from me in return. Now I know better.
Reboot
Later today, or tomorrow, you will put down the screen and you will go outside. Whatever you see there, whatever you hear, smell, and touch out there, it will be the truth. Whether the cells, atoms, protons and electrons of its structure were created by God, or beamed into existence by some quantum computer, or happened accidentally, they are real — as real as anything this simulation has to offer.
You may feel your emotions being pulled in the direction of some crisis that’s been delivered to you via satellite. Exhale and let it all go. Your next indrawn breath is your own. It came from the real world. Hold it a moment.
Did you know the word “inspiration” is synonymous with inhaled breath? Try another one, and this time focus on something in your real world that you can touch. Don’t forget to exhale. You’ve got to let go of those bits of code that are no longer serving you. They’re screwing up the simulation.
If we are living in a simulation, it’s a first-person sandbox. A choose-your-own-adventure.
You get to create your own story arc. And the Creator(s) of the simulation are rooting for us. They must be, otherwise we wouldn’t even be here.
So enjoy, and let me know what you are doing with your own little piece of the simulation. It’s good to have some company, out here in the real world.