Are we in a simulation? This question was first introduced to me when watching an interview with Elon Musk. For those who are unfamiliar with such a name, I encourage you to do a quick google search and see for yourself.
Yet you probably will not do that (I don’t blame you, I probably wouldn’t either), so in short he is a multi-billionaire who currently leads the world in space travel with SpaceX. He also started and currently runs Tesla, along with dozens of other side projects in the effort to modernize our world into a safer, more luxurious future. So yeah, he’s pretty cool.
In his interview, he states that there is a one in a billion chance that we are not in a simulation. One in a billion chance that everything we feel, see, hear, taste and smell are actually true. One in a billion chance that you, me and everyone else are, in fact, real.
Now I am not going to lie, when I first heard him say such a tale I laughed and closed the video. As time passed, that instinct to resist such an unbelievable truth lessened. I began to wonder about the complexity of such a statement. If everything was run on a computer no different than a game like Skyrim, then how much energy would that take? Also, if this universe is fake then what is real? What could real even be?
After some contemplation, I have made some personal conclusions on this subject, but I would like to remind you of the fact that there is simply no way, as of now, to truly know how to true our reality is. Therefore, I encourage you to take everything I say with a grain of salt.
This whole simulation theory started with the digital age. Especially with the newest forms of virtual reality, it would appear we have the ability to create the very world we live in. Virtual reality headsets literally allow us to experience something with our senses that does not actually exist in the physical world. This technology is growing with the goal of one day reaching full dive technology. Full dive VR is the attempt to have all five of our senses engaged in whichever world we choose to play. If this is eventually achieved, we would have the capability to immerse ourselves into any world we chose fit, without any ability to register any difference from that one and the one we currently reside in.
There is no guarantee at the moment that this technology will ever be possible. Although, if it eventually is I would make the claim, without a doubt, that we are in a simulation. Just think about what full dive technology really means. We would have the capability to create a reality as real as our own. If such a thing is possible, how can we say that our reality is something separate from all the other ones we would be creating?
Now, as I said earlier, it is not possible yet and it very well may never be. I suppose only time will tell. In the meantime, I wondered what it would mean if we really are in a simulation. For one, that would mean the likelihood of me being real is zero as well. If a computer type technology were to have the capability of generating a universe as large as ours, it would probably have to harness the power of a star. Now if this were the case, the power from a star would most likely be so great that it could seemingly run an infinite number of universes. So I am essentially saying that if you can run a simulation of one universe, you probably have the ability to run as many as you want. If this is the case, then the ratio of living things compared to simulated things would be one to infinite. Meaning, the odds of you and me being real are, mathematically speaking, zero.
The flaw with this theory is its inability to escape from our very narrow vision of what reality is. As of now, there is literally no way of knowing a reality different from our own. It is similar to running an experiment when the experimental variable is held constant. You could run that test a million times and it will never change.
I mean, don’t take my word for it, test it yourself. Can you comprehend a reality different from this one? Not a different world. Not a different species with different rules that they exist by. Not different scientific phenomenons that dictate its universe. I am talking about imaging a reality different from the one you experience. Can you comprehend the fourth dimension, or do you just picture another layer on the third? Can you imagine life that is not defined by its ability to experience the world around it? I certainly cannot.
So, we can never see outside of our reality since we have no other sample to compare it to. This is what determined my final conclusion on the topic. Until someone breaks from this simulated world and comes back to tell us about it, we will have no idea if the things we experience are actually present in the true reality. Simply because we cannot understand a reality separate from the one we live in. Therefore, we are in no position to guess about a possible reality that we cannot even comprehend.
Yet as previously stated, if full dive VR does eventually become possible then our universe is most likely fake if we assume that the real one follows similar rules of reality that we do. I believe this assumption is the best we can make as of now. Until we have more knowledge and comprehension of this matter, I believe assuming that the real reality is the same as ours is the only thing we can do to make any sort of conclusion.
Although it should not be forgotten that all ideas seem impossible at one point or another. We are currently the only known species that can comprehend that we will eventually die. Other species can mourn for the death of their loved ones, but they can not understand that they will die one day as well.
Hence why my statement to leave you with is that just because something seems impossible to comprehend now does not mean it has to be impossible forever. Maybe understanding this reality is not as impossible as we think. It may just take a couple more generations of intellectual growth, and before you know it, the understanding will be as well known as our inevitable endings.