In science fiction, stories about simulated realities are commonplace. Writers and filmmakers delight in the chance to rattle our notions of reality and perception. Even Kurt Vonnegut toyed with the idea in his novel, Breakfast of Champions. But to Nick Bostrom, a philosopher and co-founder of the World Transhumanist Association, simulated realities are more than just a provocative thought experiment. In fact, he believes it is more than likely that we are all part of one right now.
Today in Beirut, my students and I turned our attention to a recent NYTimes Op-Ed to consider whether the universe is a computer simulation. After discussing how this digital paradigm might relate to Plato and Aristotle, we wondered if the realization that we live in a SIMS Beirut would make any difference in our every day lives. The consensus–it wouldn’t make any difference at all.
In these three videos, the notion of “simulation” is explored in depth by philosophers, scientists, and mechanical engineers. Some questions considered are: is the computation constructing our “reality” taking place here or somewhere else–and can we in this particular simulation prove there are other simulations running at the same time? Recent films like Her and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (in the tradition of many films before them) also explore the possibilities and perils of a digitized “universe.” If the universe is a computer, one of the scientists wonders in the video below, then why doesn’t it crash?
Living in the Matrix?
As computers become progressively faster and more powerful, they’ve gained the impressive capacity to simulate increasingly realistic environments. Which raises a question familiar to aficionados of The Matrix—might life and the world as we know it be a simulation on a super advanced computer? “Digital physicists” have developed this idea well beyond the sci-fi possibilities, suggesting a new scientific paradigm in which computation is not just a tool for approximating reality, but is also the basis of reality itself. In place of elementary particles, think bits; in place of fundamental laws of physics, think computer algorithms. But is this a viable approach? Is the universe the ultimate computer running some grand cosmic code? A discussion among the brightest minds in digital physics to explore math, computer science, theories of consciousness, the origin of life, and free will—and delve into a world of information that may underlie everything.
Who is the programmer, and where is the computer?
If everything we know as reality is simply a computer program being run by some complicated set of cosmic algorithms, then where’s the computer and who’s the programmer? Although it is difficult to imagine a machine that can simulate an entire universe down to the subatomic level, as pioneering computer scientist Edward Fredkin explains, a computer can create representations of space with completely different laws governing them. He believes the same could apply outside our known universe.
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