We Live In A Simulation

Have you ever looked around and realized that something was not right? Maybe you felt as though you had done something before already, or that you dreamt about a moment you just experienced four months ago, or maybe you could have sworn that even though everyone says otherwise, you know that thing definitely didn’t look like that originally? What we call Deja Vu, Deja Reve, and the Mandela Effect may just seem like strange tricks our brain plays on us, but what would you do if I told you it wasn’t just a coincidence, or a trick of the mind, but something more? All of these events, plus many more, are what some people call a glitch in the simulation.

Simulation Theory is a theoretical hypothesis that says what people perceive as reality is actually an advanced, hyper-realistic computer simulation, possibly overseen by a higher being. It’s a complicated topic, with a lot of math and quantum physics involved, but this is the short (and easy to understand) version.

Basically, the idea is that according to a specific math formula called Bayesian reasoning, the odds that we live in a simulation are about 50/50. Bayesian analysis allows one to “calculate the odds of something happening (called the ‘posterior’ probability) by first making assumptions about the thing being analyzed (assigning it a ‘prior’ probability),” according to The Scientific American. 

The problem begins as a trilemma, with three major points of discussion that can be narrowed down into two, making it a dilemma. Easier to handle, but just as complicated. The dilemma pits a physical hypothesis (there are no simulations) against the simulation theory (there is a base reality—and there are simulations, too, within that reality). A base reality is the very first reality, one that is not simulated by a smarter or higher reality above it. There can only be one base reality, and odds are, it isn’t ours.

A simulation, or really a computer, capable of sustaining this level of intricacy and detail is an incredibly advanced technology that we do not yet possess.  This is one of the reasons why humans at this stage could not create a simulation ourselves. However, it is possible that the reality above ours is attempting to simulate humanity for a varying degree of reasons.

They could be human themselves, and they are studying humanity’s history, meaning that our existence is grounded in truth. They could also be simulating a reality that did not occur for them, trying to see what could have happened. Or they may not be human at all! This higher civilization could be something entirely different, having created humanity for some kind of test or experiment. It’s impossible to tell from where we are.

Realistically, there are two ways our simulation could be running.  One, everything we know is simulated, including us, or two, the world around us is simulated. The first one, generally, is more widely accepted, as it would be easier to achieve, at least to us. If everything were a simulation, then our entire lives are controlled and processed through a computer, like NPCs in a video game. Nothing around us is real, including ourselves. This computer would be extremely powerful, and as I’ve already stated, it is not something that we have been able to conceptualize yet. In fact, many computer scientists and physicists say that it’s almost impossible for us to live in a simulation, as a computer capable of simulating life, thought, and existence would be one that has to create literal atoms from scratch, something we are nowhere technologically close to doing, at least not yet.

The second would be more difficult to create and maintain, and is harder to understand. If we were still real people, but the world around us was simulated, that would mean that there was a reason to keep us in a simulation. Tricking the human brain into believing that everything it sees, hears, touches, tastes, and smells is a difficult thing to achieve, something impossible for us to do at this point. And not to mention that we can’t do it with one person, let alone around 8 billion people! Although maybe the simulation isn’t running 8 billion individual lives at once. Maybe it’s only running a million, or a thousand, or a hundred, or it could be just one! After all, there is a chance that the entirety of the world was just created by a human brain that appeared in space accidentally, and everything in existence is just a fabrication. But that’s a theory for another day. It’s entirely possible that there aren’t really 8 billion of us, and that the majority of people are actually something different, like artificial intelligence. This poses another problem, unfortunately, as at this point we have not been able to create an AI capable of passing as a human. If you’re interested in learning about this research, though, Google the Turing Test. It’s a great way to see how difficult it really would be to create an AI so advanced that it could perfectly replicate a human.

Those 50/50 odds I mentioned earlier are not set in stone. You see, the odds aren’t exactly half and half. They’re almost exactly 50% both ways, but the scale is set just a bit closer to the idea that we are not living in a simulation. However, if we were to manage to run a simulation similar to the one theoretically creating us, our chances of being products of a simulation would skyrocket!

Now, this is fun to think about, and there’s plenty more to be discussed the farther into the topic you go, but the most important question we need to ask ourselves is this: What would happen if we really were living in a simulation, and we found out? Philosophers and scientists have been asking this ever since the topic was first introduced by Oxford Researcher Nick Bostrom. Well, chances are, we’d be deleted. Think about it. When running a simulation or lab in science, you don’t just let it keep going forever! Once the test has fulfilled its purpose, or once it has stopped functioning the way it should be, you end it. Sometimes you start over, and sometimes you move on. The moment that we were able to prove that we lived in a simulation, our usefulness would expire for whoever was running it, and they’d most likely just pull the plug. But don’t worry! If it happens, it probably won’t hurt!

So yes, it’s possible that we may live inside a simulation. It’s almost a perfect 50/50 chance, actually. But do we really want to find out? Personally, I’d rather stay oblivious.