Experts on the subject say that there is a very real probability that we are all actually living inside a matrix where our reality is being simulated by a supercomputer. To be exact, they say there’s a 20-50% chance that this is the case. This 20-50% statistic comes from immensely influential articles on the subject by Elon Musk, Neil Tyson, and Nick Bostrom. Many of the leading scientists, philosophers, and business leaders in the world have come to agree with them. Even NASA is said to agree with the theory. They say that intense study has found that there are some things in nature that can only be understood if it is simulated.
For instance, there are some particles that apparently have a definite shape if someone is observing them. This indicates they are only simulated objects that have an actual shape only when the illusion is necessary. To create stuff like this, Nasa adds, you need a supercomputer, a supercomputer that hasn’t been invented yet. The present supercomputers aren’t enough to do anything like this. It has to be a supercomputer with technology that hasn’t been invented yet. And apparently we don’t have too long to wait.
Experts say that in about ten years we should have supercomputers that it can computer 80 years of life in just one month. Still, there are a lot of very skeptical scholars out there, but even the skeptics who think the idea is crazy respect it and admit that it may turn out to be true. They point to how many of the greatest, most life-changing ideas in history were at one time thought to be crazy ideas. Thank goodness for people like Nick Bostrom who thought of this crazy thing. Bostrom was the first to take the subject very seriously, penning his theory four years after the movie, The Matrix.
Bostom hypothesized that in the far future a race of highly evolved humans girded with highly developed technology will orchestrate a mass simulation of their ancestors and their universe. This released the floodgates and the subject began to be explored by top scientists all over the world. In April 2016, people from both viewpoints met at the American Museum of Natural History to debate the issue. Those arguing for it say that the advances in artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and computer technology are already reaching sky high levels and continuing to improve quickly.
Video game technology itself has improved astronomically. In the 70’s batting a dot back and forth on the T.V. screen was all the rage. Now video technology has the best in graphics and sound. That was just forty years ago. Some speculate that future gaming technology may become so advanced that the game world will be completely indistinguishable from the real world. And that is just video game technology. The advancements in other areas of technology are either equally or much more profound. This means that it is possible that in the future technology will be so advanced that our descendants will run a fully accurate and complete simulation on their ancestors.
If indeed video games do become so advanced that they are indistinguishable from reality, the likelihood that the advancement of other technologies to become so great that creating a matrix will not only be a possibility, but a likelihood. Nick Bostrom’s aforementioned article was instrumental in this part of the debate. In his paper he postulated three scenarios for the human race. He said there are three probabilities for the future of humanity. They will either 1) become extinct before reaching a posthuman state, that is, before they live only in an electronic or robotic state, 2) reach a posthuman state, but choose not to simulate their ancestors, or 3) reach a posthuman state, choose to simulate their ancestors, which means that we are being simulated already.
Most experts who agree in the strong chance that we are in the matrix, also agree that unlike Neo, we will never really know for sure. Other experts say we can because there has been a scientific test developed in which scientists can test the radiation in space to determine whether or not we are being simulated. But the experts who say we can never know for sure say that this radiation itself may be simulated because would make it an inaccurate source for such a thing. The radiation is not the only thing in nature besides us that might be simulated, though.
That is just an example. Everything in our universe might be. If they are then the simulators might have inserted into the program their own laws for the simulated nature. The theory goes that if we’re not in the matrix, it will never be a possibility and we will never see it come about. If we are in it, it is a possibility and will be created but we will still never see it come about because we are in it. But it is possible, and we are not in it, then the end of the world may be arriving before it can be done. For this reason, experts on the subject say that we should hope that we are in a matrix.
Skeptics of the matrix theory say that it all hinges on us assuming that humans who live during the time of that highly advanced technology think like us and will choose to use their technology to do the simulation of ancestors. These skeptics say that although they don’t think the simulation idea is accurate, it is an interesting idea to study and debate. A good, brilliant, and history-changing idea can evolve out of such topics even if the topic itself isn’t a reality. We may never know for sure if we are part of a future simulation. We may never know for sure if we are the original ancestors who will one day be simulated. It may not matter that much, but it is sure fun to contemplate and discuss it. In the meantime, enjoy life and watch The Matrix.