Have you ever had that feeling when you're not sure if you're awake or still dreaming?
Or a dejavu which looked like it was not real and seemed like a computer bug?
It happens sometimes, right?
Similar inquiries were made on the Matrix film which became a huge success in the early 2000’s and even took home 4 academy awards, introducing new visual effects and filming techniques for the first time. Now it is back with the upcoming release of the new 4th sequence of the movie.
It basically tells the story of the adventures of a hacker, called Neo, who found out that he was living in a fake world, a computer simulation reality called the Matrix. Then Neo was able to disconnect from this simulation and see the real world how it truly is for the first time.
In the film, humans going about their everyday lives didn’t realize they were actually living in a simulation.
The aim of this article isn’t to discuss the movie plot, but, instead, use its idea as inspiration to reflect on a broader philosophical question:
Is our reality an illusion ? Are we living in a computer simulation similar to the one in the Matrix?
Well I know, this idea may sounds like sci-fi, but actually it isn’t new and has been the subject of inquiries by philosophers and scientists throughout history.
The first and by far the most respected one who talked about that was the ancient greek philosopher called Plato who wrote the famous Allegory of the Cave, which describes a group of people imprisoned in a cave since childhood who are only able to see shadows on the wall in front of them. For the prisoners this is the only reality they are aware of, when, in fact, these shadows are an illusion representing the real world outside.
After him, many philosophers questioned reality, causality, and free will .
But now, with the advance of technology and computers, it is being discussed again.
Scientists and physicists are still debating whether we live in our own reality or if we're just pawns in the simulation of a higher life form like the SIMS.
Neil deGrasse Tyson, the physician from the Cosmos series, in his podcast called StarTalk , had just explained the simulation argument—the idea that we could be virtual beings living in a computer simulation.
This simulation hypothesis is the proposal that all of reality, including the Earth and the rest of the universe, could be in fact an artificial simulation created by a more sophisticated intelligence.
And there are plenty of smart people who are convinced that it is not only possible but perhaps likely. Among them is the tech entrepreneur Elon Musk for example, the Tesla and Space X founder.
This is because there are lots of mysteries in physics that are better explained by the simulation hypothesis than by the material one. A lot related to the quantum level, its indeterminacy and unexpected behavior.
One way to explain:
Instead of everything being made of particles, everything is made from bites.
Now here are some things to consider while going a little deeper:
If we are living in a simulation, we can conclude that there are higher level beings with access to practically unlimited computer power and some kind of interest of running simulations with conscious beings for some particular reason, right?
So, who are they?
What is the purpose of that simulation?
What kind of computer is that?
Is our creator-god a coder ? Like an IBM developer from a post human being civilization?
Conclusion
Well, This conversation can lead to a rabbit hole.
The truth is that there’s a lot we simply don’t understand about our reality, therefore why not consider and reflect about other possibilities.
Many people believe that it’s more likely than not that we are in some kind of a simulated universe. We can’t say that with 100 percent confidence, but there is plenty of evidence that points in that direction.
So what you consider reality is probably not what it seems to be.
But we don’t need to panic . All of this is based on a lot of assumptions which cannot be proved, and after all, if we are in a simulation, not much changes for us.
All we can do is try to live good lives, have a good time and hope nobody trips over the power cable.
