Perhaps the biggest assumption in the simulation hypothesis is that simulated brains will quickly overwhelm the number of organic brains. Fermi Paradox: Where are all the aliens? Resetting the computer Is the universe a simulation? Scientists debate Our expanding universe: Age, history & other facts Or, you could question the assumptions that go into the argument itself. No matter which option you choose, however, you need to bring in extra arguments beyond the original simulation hypothesis.
Or you could say it's all inevitable and we do live in somebody else's simulation of a universe. For example, you could say that computers will never be powerful enough to faithfully simulate the universe or that advanced civilizations will always find it morally reprehensible to simulate consciousness. You're also allowed to argue for one option over another. You're allowed to throw your hands up and say you don't know which possibility is the most likely to be correct. But the hypothesis ends with a trilemma - three statements, one of which must be true (if you accept all the assumptions in the argument), but we can't tell which one. It's the ultimate form of skepticism and is useful to remind ourselves that there are limits to the empirical study of nature.Īs philosophical arguments go, the simulation hypothesis is a good one. Through the ages, philosophers have wondered if our reality is the construct of a malicious demon, or if we live inside of someone else's dream. The simulation argument is the latest in a long tradition of philosophical thinking that questions the ultimate nature of the reality we experience. The vast majority of all conscious entities, including you, are living in a simulation. Our descendants (or other intelligent beings in the universe) will develop the technology but choose not to simulate the cosmos.ģ. Our descendants (or other intelligent beings in the universe) will never be able to develop the technological ability to faithfully simulate the cosmos.Ģ. If this ends up happening, we are left with three possibilities:ġ. Very quickly, the number of simulated conscious brains living in a computer will vastly outnumber the organic brains living in the real universe. Once our descendants build such a computer, they will inevitably create countless simulated beings - just try to count how many creatures in video games have appeared and disappeared since we first developed the technology. If we also assume that consciousness is consciousness, regardless of where it resides (in either an organic brain or a digital one), then any simulated entities within the computer that gain consciousness will experience a world that is indistinguishable from ours.
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