Humans are probably a simulation being run by a highly advanced civilization out there, Elon Musk argued at a recent tech conference.
The figure behind Tesla and SpaceX took the Recode Code Conference stage last Wednesday and proposed that the human race may not be at all the players made of flesh and blood in a physical realm that they're long believed to be — but instead computer-generated participants surviving in a better developed civilization’s video game.
Yes, it called to mind the The Sims game you were so fond of in your childhood years. He thought there is a compelling evidence for humans being in that same kind of simulation.
“Forty years ago, we had Pong. Two rectangles and a dot,” he said during his talk as a response to journalist Josh Topolsky’s question. “Now, 40 years later, we have photorealistic 3D with millions playing simultaneously.”
Musk proceeded to argue that assuming there was an improvement rate, the games would turn “indistinguishable” from what’s real, even if the advancement rate dips by 1,000 based on what it currently is. For him, humans are on a specific trajectory that they’re going to host games no longer distinct from reality.
It seems to follow that the odds humans are situated in actual reality is one in billions, he further said.
According to Musk, one should hope his speculations of all these being a mere simulation are true: otherwise, people will be creating simulations that are indistinct from reality or civilization stops existing. A stasis occurring for multiple millions of years is unlikely, he added.
Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom, in his 2003 paper, pinpointed machines’ unprecedented power these days and updated Descartes’ idea that man’s perception of reality was actually being faked.
“It could be the case that the vast majority of minds like ours do not belong to the original race but rather to people simulated by the advanced descendants of an original race,” said Bostrom in a summary.
The tech CEO quoted three possible conclusions on the matter as put forward by Bostrom:
• The fraction of human-level civilizations reaching a posthuman phase or where one is able to run high-fidelity ancestor simulations is so close to zero.
• The fraction of posthuman civilizations keen on running ancestor simulations is highly close to zero.
• The fraction of everyone with our own experiences that live in a simulation is very close to one.
It is worth noting, however, that Bostrom does not share Musk’s apparent selection of the third point – and in fact is not inclined to choose among the three. Instead, he found it sensible to divide one’s belief evenly among the three possibilities raised.
In a commentary on Mashable, Chris Taylor said it makes sense to ponder on the matter.
“No matter what is real or not in the outside world, your mind exists. You’re proving it by reading this in your head right now,” he wrote.
Whether those “everyone” actually exist or not, Taylor thought there is a “moral obligation” to treat those minds the way one desires to be treated. This, he maintained, will up the chances of people having a great game.
Is life actually a video game? The debate rages on, but do watch the fascinating discussion here.
Photo: R.C. Mariner | Flickr
