Computer Simulation Realities: Forget Sci-Fi It’s Here Now
The Matrix wowed us with ideas of living inside a computer, but this idea has recently resurfaced. It’s no longer the stuff of fiction .
Silicon Valley has gained a reputation as a place where unconventional ideas, iconoclastic figureheads and counter cultural modes of thought find their way to the mainstream. From giving up food in the name of productivity (Soylent) to building a high-speed link between San Francisco and LA before there is even a functioning train (Hyperloop), the credo has long been: sure, why not?
Celebrity Promotions
But recently, a particularly surprising viewpoint has gained prominence: the idea that we’re living in a computer simulation. There are several high profile figures that have propagated this idea. There’s author Yuval Noah Harari, whose bestselling book Sapiens—a favorite among Silicon Valley types—posits that “the ability to create binding fictions is what enabled us to become the most dominant species on the planet. And what are stories if not representations, or simulations, of reality?” Then there is Tesla and Space X founder Elon Musk, who famously stated publicly that the chance humans are not living in a computer simulation was “one in billions.”
Musk points to the rate of technological change as the greatest proof: “The strongest argument for us probably being in a simulation I think is that 40 years ago we had Pong – two rectangles and a dot. That’s where we were,” he once announced at a recent conference. “Now 40 years later we have photorealistic, 3D simulations with millions of people playing simultaneously and it’s getting better every year. And soon we’ll have virtual reality, we’ll have augmented reality. If you assume any rate of improvement at all, then the games will become indistinguishable from reality, just indistinguishable.”
Out of this World
It’s worth asking if the idea that advanced humans with artificial intelligence in another galaxy are simply “simulating” our reality for their own amusement is worth taking with a hefty pinch of salt. As the Guardian notes, Musk—a man who is “worth about $14bn and that money has come from the commercial exploitation of technological innovations”–has somewhat of a vested interest in predicting and investing in what the future of technology will be. Is the computer simulation theory, then, really just come down to good old fashioned Silicon Valley hype?
Stranger Things Are Happening… To Us
Maybe, but there could also be a psychological explanation. It could be that anxiety and uncertainty around the state of the world—from strange happenings around the stunning election of Donald Trump to the infamous Oscar mix-up—are causing people to grasp for an explanatory theory. This has happened before, with “The Truman Show” diagnosis, wherein individuals genuinely believe their life is under surveillance.
As the American Psychological Association wrote, “The idea of being under surveillance has been around for a long time,” says David Downing, a psychology professor at the University of Indianapolis. Downing wrote a 2007 article in Psychoanalytic Review (Vol. 94, No. 6) exploring how “The Truman Show,” “The Matrix” and other films reflect modern anxieties about being subsumed by large, ominous and impersonal forces. In previous eras, he notes, psychotic delusions were fueled by current events as well—for instance, delusional people who during World War II or the Cold War believed that the Germans or Russians were spying on them.”
Delusion or not, the fact that the computer simulation theory has taken root in Silicon Valley means we’re likely to hear more about it. Influential founders and so-called disrupters are not ones to believe a large prediction about the future of humanity and not try to act on it. For better or for worse, it’ll be interesting to see what the likes of Musk and others will come up with to respond. Is it all hype or are you a believer? We’d love to know what you think.