Nearly everyone, if asked, will tell you that there is a really real universe out there and that they are part of that natural universe. However, that might not be the case. The case might be that there is a really real virtual universe out there and that you are a part of that simulated universe. In other words, you are akin to being just a character in what are commonly termed video games, only this video game that you are a character in was created by an unknown – let’s call this creator the Supreme Programmer; maybe a human; maybe not.
THE SIMULATED UNIVERSE!
Q. What Is The Simulated Universe Hypothesis?
A. The human species, especially since the proliferation of the computer and associated technologies, have created thousands of simulated landscapes and virtual beings, from the humble Microsoft office assistant to pilot training simulators to video games that cater to all types of interests and age groups. Entire movies are now computer generated simulations – no actual on-location travel required; no humans need apply in hopes of earning an eventual Oscar for best actor. In view of the explosion of simulation technologies, and it’s only going to increase and get ever more realistic than it already is, the question has arisen, if we can create virtual worlds, might not we in turn be virtual beings ‘living’ in a simulated landscape programmed for some purpose or other, by other beings which might be futuristic humans recreating their past history, or ET’s video game version of “The Life and Times on the Third Rock in the Sol Planetary System”. It’s a best seller on Krypton! Though once just sci-fi speculation, that profound idea that we don’t really exist as flesh-and-blood is now taken very seriously indeed. However, there are many more questions arising from this scenario.
Q. Who gets prime credit for coming up with the Simulated Universe hypothesis?
A. I wish I could, but I can’t. Prime credit should probably go to Professor Nick Bostrom, a philosopher at Oxford University
Q. How Is The Simulated Universe Created?
A. In the exact same way as computer nerds and geeks here on Earth create all the various thousands of instructional and recreational simulations here on Terra Firma. It’s all in the programming.
Q. Who or what is the Supreme Programmer?
A. Obviously those of a religious leaning would call the Supreme Programmer God, except God is identified with creating a really real reality, not virtual reality. I much prefer a flesh-and-blood Supreme Programmer, which offers up one of two possibilities. The Supreme Programmer could be a human(s) with computing and programming skills far in advance of our own, or the Supreme Programmer could be a non-terrestrial, an alien or an extraterrestrial. Hey, if we can create aliens in out video games, well what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
Q. Can software create matter and energy?
A. No. Software can only create virtual or simulated matter and energy.
Q. Is the matter and energy that we experience in our world matter and energy that doesn’t exist?
A. The matter and energy we experience in our world doesn’t really exist because we don’t really exist as a manifestation of matter and energy. Think of those animated cartoons – Bugs Bunny doesn’t exist as matter nor does the carrot he eats, but he still eats the carrot!
Q. How can a mind exist if there is no matter in our world to make our brains?
A. If our mind, and the brain it is housed in, is virtual matter – as it would be if we were simulated – then there’s no need for there to be really real matter in our world.
Q. There must be really real matter somewhere in order for the Supreme Programmer to exist so he / she / it can create the really real software program.
A. Of course. We may be virtual beings in a simulated universe but that would still require a really real universe and really real reality for the creator of the software to create in – our Supreme Programmer. An analogy is that the characters in our video games or cartoons (like Bugs Bunny) reside in a simulated or cartoon world, but their simulated or cartoon world resides in what we think of as 3-D reality – our universe.
Q. Does the Supreme Programmer manipulate us in real time as per a terrestrial video game, or has he / she / it just created an initial set of conditions; laws, principles and relationships, and then hit “enter” or “run program” and see how events unfold?
A. The latter. I certainly don’t get the sensation I’m being manipulated by outside forces beyond my everyday comprehension as if I were a character in a video game.
Q. Instead of being the product of computer software, might we be the product of wetware – someone dreaming or daydreaming (or even hallucinating)?
A. Absolutely. We all know how vivid, real, lifelike, and detailed dreams can be. The mind is capable of painting incredibly realistic imagery. The mind is more than capable of constructing virtual reality. Each day billions of virtual reality landscapes are created and dissolved – dreamland landscapes.
Q. What’s in it for me if the Simulated Universe scenario is correct?
A. Well, the Supreme Programmer isn’t much help when it comes to you paying your dues, bills, taxes, or in assisting you when dealing with those day-to-day issues we all have. But, it just might be a key element to your afterlife. End sub-programme routine “Life: Jane Doe”; run sub-programme routine “Afterlife: Jane Doe”.
Q. Is there anyway we can know that we are just virtual beings in a Simulated Universe?
A. If the Supreme Programmer really knows his (or her or its) stuff, no. You’re programmed not to know.
Q. Is there anyway we can suspect that something’s screwy somewhere, that we are just virtual beings in a Simulated Universe?
A. Computer software often needs tweaking – so look for anomalous tweaks around us. Computer software is often overridden, though usually never 100% completely – so look for the residue of overridden software, like ghostly images. Computer software programming will vary in the detail required – so look to areas that have been given the broad brush treatment where detail is lacking or so glossed over as to present anomalies. Computer programming might contain contradictions, backgrounds not thought through properly – so look around for enigmas – things that can’t be yet are. Look in general for all those ‘oops’ bits. Look in general for anything and everything than can best be explained by software programming or technology, as opposed to any natural forces at work.
Q. I gather therefore that the Simulated Universe hypothesis is like God-of-the-gaps arguments. Anything and everything is explainable.
A. Yes. Unfortunately there’s no getting around this. Religion explains all since “God works in mysterious ways” – that’s a copout. Anything God can explain away software programming can explain away too.
Q. What is the best argument against the Simulated Universe scenario?
A. Crunch power! The sheer amount of bits and bytes that could be required to simulate to the detail required our existence, life, the Universe and everything, would be massive. Now that’s not to say lots of shortcuts wouldn’t be taken. You could skimp on a lot of the micro details and a lot of the cosmic details, but even taking into account quantum computing it would be a massive set of software programmes. However, if it is a really advanced technological society, human or extraterrestrial, creating our virtual world, well who’s to say what might or might not be possible.
Discussion
When it comes to the Simulated Universe concept, there’s probably a time differential in operation. Just as in some of our simulations we speed up the unfolding action, compressing say a million years of galactic evolution into a few minutes, so too might our Supreme Programmer unravel our virtual reality such that a week, month or year to us might occupy the Supreme Programmer for a few of their seconds or minutes. Presumably it is the broad-brush evolving big picture of interest, not the nitty-gritty second-by-second details of your boring life.
Then too there are some people to whom the idea of a Simulated Universe and a Supreme Programmer is deeply disturbing. As one person wrote to me, “If I felt I was a puppet on a string, I might just give up and fall in a heap.” Of course the puppet-on-a-string hands-on character in a video game analogy is just one possibility. It’s also quite possible that you are left to your own evolutionary fate with no direct interference or manipulation by the Supreme Programmer other than he / she / it set the initial parameters and then just stood aside as an interested but non-interfering observer.
Actually I find it disturbing and quite incredible that some people might be upset by the Simulated Universe proposal (or any other state of the cosmos for that matter). As one person put it to me, “I can cope with an indifferent universe but not with a malicious one”, the idea being that a Supreme Programmer must of necessity be malicious. The more positive view might be that the Supreme Programmer, the puppeteer pulling the strings, might be pulling your strings in a nice way; in a beneficial way, so that you can and do enjoy “the beauty of the natural world, friendship, music, and the taste of good food, wine and beer!” Apart from the Supreme Programmer, there actually really is a puppeteer (of sorts) that you dance to – that puppeteer is called society and society pulls your strings! Your days, weeks, months, and years are full of society telling you to do this and don’t do that, from formal legalities to conventional mores. When society says “jump”, you ask, “how high?”
The Universe simulated or otherwise just is. The Universe is what it is. The Universe is whatever it is. There’s nothing you can do about the state of the Universe. Therefore, cross it off your “I’m concerned about this” list. There’s no point in fretting over what you have no control over.
If the Universe really might be malicious, if someone or something is yanking your chain, and that possibility disturbs you, then it is in your interest to show it otherwise, or if it is, you owe it to yourself to come to terms with that and then move on to newer and better concepts to occupy your mind.
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