Source: Slideshare.net
I still remember well the great amount of uneasiness and de-realization that "the Matrix" produced in me when I first saw it. I truly felt that in the cultural sense it gave birth to the 21st century and the feeling has only increased since.
The reason for that is that it touched one the essential philosophical questions of the age of computer technology. The question is next; How can we be sure that what we perceive is anything more than a computer simulation?
Apparently we can't and one of the most vibrant minds of our time, Elon Musk seem to actually believe that there is a better chance we are living in a simulated than "organic" reality.
For the simulation theory to be plausible several assumptions would have to be met.
One is very widely accepted idea that the consciousness is not substrate-based. Instead of being inherent quality of the carbon-based lifeforms it is believed to be the result of a certain level of complexity and interrelations of the neural systems; thus attainable by a computer.
Then there are assumptions that highly advanced civilizations would develop in the direction of producing huge amount of computing power (the way we are developing today) and would be interested in constructing various simulations (the way we are today).
And it all takes us to a major assumption that if there was at least one civilization with the enormous computing power capable of simulating complex "realities" then the number of beings living in simulations would vastly outnumber the ones in base reality. Especially if the simulation is so complex that it produced the civilization advanced enough to produce their own simulation, which too might be maybe sufficiently complex to take that chain even longer. Which is kind of Rick and Morty type of situation (Spoiler alert!).
Probably the most prominent developer of the simulation hypothesis dr. Nick Bostrom, from the Oxford University's Faculty of Philosophy, built his theory on the idea that at least one of three propositions would be true. In his pivotal essay "Are You Living In a Computer Simulation" he lists the propositions:
"(1) The fraction of human-level civilizations that reach a posthuman stage is very close to zero; (2) The fraction of posthuman civilizations that are interested in running ancestor-simulations is very close to zero; (3) The fraction of all people with our kind of experiences that are living in a simulation is very close to one."
Since we already excluded the number 2 proposition with the highly likely assumption that the advanced civilizations would in fact be interested in making computer simulations. So let's also exclude the low probability scenario that we happen to be the winners of some major cosmic lottery and thus living in the fundamental reality. In terms of probability then there are just two probable conclusions:
Either we will get extinct before reaching some major level of development, or we are indeed living in a simulation.
While the first possibility is not at all unimaginable when we consider our highly disturbed relationship with the planet, the second should still be considered.
Interestingly enough the simulation theory would be completely compatible with various premodern ideas and philosophical orientations.
For instance oriental philosophies like Hinduism and Buddhism consider our reality to be merely an illusion (maya) produced by the universal consciousness. To take it a bit further - since the individual self is a part of the illusion and the fine light of consciousness is all that matters the hierarchic level of simulation would be unimportant in a spiritual order of things - with individual life in the base reality being equally important (or unimportant) as those on the reality level of simulation's simulation.
Rene Descartes imagined a scenario in which the perceivable world is the illusion produced by an evil demon in order to ensnare our judgement. It goes without saying that his ideas of the demon maker was not very well accepted in his time and Descartes barely escaped the religious prosecution
Even Plato's idealistic philosophy has somewhat of a simulation quality to it (see the Allegory of the Cave)
Whether or not we live in a simulation would not have much meaning for your or mine life, or life of any person for that matter. But lets play with that thought and think of all the metaphysical implications.
For one there would really be a God (although not the God); our maker that is indeed capable of granting us afterlife. Even thou he himself might not be much more than a frustrated software developer working for some despicable Zuckerberg type entity.
Or take Christianity - what if our maker did indeed send his son to fix some bug in our simulation, but son's avatar got wasted by the sims? And the creator also proved to be mediocre programmer whose buggy software patch produced corrupt organized religion instead of some superior morality upgrade.
And what if religious fundamentalist have the point and our maker really wants all those moral interventions... because being a crappy programmer he just failed to gets things right before launching simulation but he has to patch things up with those moralist ideologies?
But Bostrom notices that if we are living in a simulation, then the cosmos that we are observing is just a tiny piece of the totality of physical existence (which might be the case nevertheless). Since our world would not be not located in the fundamental reality, the physics of the universe where the computer running the simulation was located may or may not resemble the physics of the world that we observe. It might also be highly likely that just like in video games that generate landscape as the character moves through it, the only part of the simulation generated is the one that we perceive. Or the simulation might be designed specifically for you (or me) as the only conscious entity (if this idea intrigues you read short and beautiful story "The Egg" by Andy Weir).
For that matter the ultimate purpose of our universe might be to run a certain piece of consciousness through all the limited individual existences until all the existential experiences are merged into a one universal consciousness.
And then used as standard benchmark for computer processing power.
So whenever you feel bad just imagine the possibility that you are living in a test for an impressive GPU that completes standard universe cycle in just 1.3 milliseconds.
Links in the text:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/02/elon-musk-tesla-space-x-paypal-hyperloop-simulation
http://rickandmorty.wikia.com/wiki/The_Ricks_Must_Be_Crazy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_(illusion)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_demon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave
https://www.reddit.com/r/Frisson/comments/1a07cy/short_story_the_egg_by_andy_weir/