Let's get a couple of things straight before I get into this. As usual in my opinion articles, this is not an essay. This is purely my musings on a subject. In this article in particular, I'm going to delve into my personal beliefs and what I personally believe creation to be. It's one of the more honest and philosophical pieces I've written, so please excuse any ramblings featured in this article.
"I think most likely — this is just about probability — there are many, many simulations...You might as well call them reality, or you could call them multiverse".
Elon Musk said these words in 2018 while explaining the Simulation Theory. [Or, The Bostrom Theory to purists]. And Musk is not alone in believing the simulation theory either in part, or wholly. The late Stephen Hawking proposed the universe was, in fact, a "hologram", and Neil Degrasse Tyson has expressed his openness for the theory too.
So, what is the Simulation Theory?
Put simply: "The simulation hypothesis (or simulation theory) is the proposal that all of reality, including the Earth and the rest of the universe, could in fact be an artificial simulation, such as a computer simulation".
Basically, The Matrix. Except perhaps it's not based in a post-apocalyptic hell-scape that you can wake up from at any time. The simple belief that the universe around us is made up of code, created in a super-computer by a race of beings that have the technological capacity to do so. The inhabitants of which are solely convinced that the universe around them is real.
To be fair, this sounds a little bit terrifying. And something out of Doctor Who or Star Trek. But it isn't. If anything, it explains a lot and And I'd to explain my own personal journey on how I came to accept the simulation.
My Struggle With Religion
Like most other children in the UK, I grew up in Church Of England schools. I was taught Christian values in school assemblies. I was made to sing hymns to a God that I believed in, but didn't really understand. I knew God to be an all-powerful being that loved all his children and sent his son, Jesus, to teach us to be better and to follow his example. And that Jesus died on the cross so that we would be forgiven, cut scene. As children, this is the life we grew up around. And I, for one, fully accepted that there was a big bearded man in the sky who looked down on us and that, one day, I'd die and either go to heaven or hell, depending on how I acted while I was alive.
Then 9/11 happened. Or, more specifically, I saw the effect 9/11 had on the global landscape and I remember watching the news as the Allied Forces bombed Baghdad in the Second Gulf War. As I got older and started to understand the September 11th Attacks a little better, I found myself in a bit of a conundrum. I was taught there was a God who was all powerful, all seeing and all loving, yet he didn't prevent 9/11, or the war that followed. What kind of God allows things like this to happen?
This started my first crisis of faith.
By the time I reached secondary school, I'd become somewhat disillusioned by God and the faith I found myself brought up around. So, for the next few years, I tried to find something else that made me comfortable. For a day in Year 8, I decided I was Jewish. Then I did more research and that fizzled out pretty quickly. Then I became Protestant, but then I found myself in the same position as before. Then my woodwork teacher found a religion called Raelienism for me in order to help my distress. Bless you, Mr Harris, it was a good find. And one I understand given you knew about my love of science fiction. But I don't think you read deeply enough to find out about Raelien orgies as a form of worship or the high sexualisation that belief follows. Thank the Lord you didn't suggest Scientology.
Then, for over a decade, I became an Atheist. A staunch one too. Which put me in conflict with one of my best friends, who had blossomed in her spiritual practises. Although I accepted that religion was a valid path to choose for someone else, I hated the idea of religion for myself.
Fast forward to November 2015. The dust is settling from the Paris Attacks and Islamic Extremism is topic number one in the public consciousness. For about a fortnight following the attacks, I spent my time defending people who followed and practiced Islam against other Atheists who argued that it was their religion that was the cause of these attacks. I became an Atheist because, as well as the aforementioned reasons, I didn't like the religious division I witnessed within the sphere I was in. ("Christian" v "Muslim" etc). Religion was still my favourite subject at school, and the only A grade I got in my GCSEs. I even intended to go to uni to study it as an Atheist. But, during that fortnight following Paris, I experienced far more vitriol from Atheists than I ever did as a follower of faith. So, I turned my back on Atheism too. For a group that claim to be above religious arguments, I found they were almost worse.
As the following years went by, I found myself in a quandary. Do I believe, or do I not?
Then, something happened.
I was alone in my room in one of the darkest periods of my life. Alone, quite far from home, and needing solace. And, for the first time in years, I prayed for help. Then, I felt something wrap themselves around me in a hug. And it was just what I needed. The only problem was, I was home alone. And I could smell Old Spice. I can only assume, at the time, that it was my late grandfather who was giving me the hug I needed. Was it Granddad? Or someone else? It matters not, it took me back to square one.
The Simulation
Then came the Simulation Theory.
Aged 23, I became very interested by a concept known as 'Glitch In The Matrix'. This is a phenomena where people claim to have had paranormal experiences around time, space and people which cannot be explained by scientific or, indeed, supernatural means. I myself have had glitch experiences that I cannot explain. Some people may point to something called The Mandela Effect as evidence of glitches, but there are other stories which also claim to document strange glitches. Some of which include The Man From Taured, The Time Travel Case of Sir Robert Victor Goddard, Roanoke and a whole plethora of others. For what it's worth, Reddit is full of interesting stories. Go through them and make of them what you will.
Now, these could all be passed off as stories designed to creep out, intrigue, or entertain. But my contribution (which is the first story on this video compilation) is real as far as my experience informs me. It creeped me out big time and I cannot explain rationally what happened. It messed with my head for days.
Glitches are important when talking about the Simulation Theory. As, like computers we have here, all technology is not perfect. If you consider for a second that we are in a simulation, the processing power needed to maintain our universe must be, for lack of a better word, astronomical. Even post-human supercomputers (which are the cornerstone of the theory) may have some issues.
Ever played Sims? Seen how buggy that can get? Yep, that's your reality now.
When I first came across the theory, I thought it was madness. But then I read more into it, where it comes from and what the principle arguments for and against are, and that's when something clicked. Something from my teenage years.
Skepticism
I've always been somewhat skeptical of the things around me. Which is why I love philosophy, because it's bonkers. And who knows, maybe one of the philosophers are right. But there's a school of thought in Philosophy called Skepticism, the definition of which:
"is generally a questioning attitude or doubt towards one or more putative instances of knowledge which are asserted to be mere belief or dogma".
What is Dogma? Apart from being an excellent film from the 90s, it's another word for principles, or doctrine. Religion is a dogma. Science is, in many ways, a dogma.
As a teenager I believed that science had a lot of the answers, but I also believed that human thinking, and therefore some science, is flawed. I still hold this belief. Considering how much of science has changed and evolved over time, it makes no sense to accept that all science is fact when that fact, sometimes, changes. Now there are certain aspects of science that does not change. An atom is an atom, a molecule is a molecule and we are made up of certain things.
But when it comes to the universe, there's still a lot we don't know. There's a lot science cannot know yet. Which is why it carries on.
This self-held skepticism that I'd held for years helped the Simulation Theory to form in my head.
Here are some questions I really wanted answers to as a teenager.
1. Why are we so lucky not to have experienced an apocalyptic event in modern human history? (e.g, Supervolcano, asteroid, gamma ray burst, etc).
2. Where do the idea of Gods actually come from?
3. Why do different cultures across the world, that diverged and didn't communicate for thousands of years, have such similar ideas to one another?
4. How can things that defy the laws of physics exist when they're not supposed to?
I never got answers. But consider:
1. Given the amount of Earth-bound and Cosmic dangers that could wipe us out without our knowledge, especially before the advent of space technology, how were we so monumentally lucky as not to have experienced something cataclysmic within modern human history? Given how many asteroids pass us for instance, or given that we're LONG overdue for a Super-volcano to blow?
2. Was there something, or someone, that gave people the idea for Gods? (See Ancient Astronaut Theory for a fun read).
3. Most human communities compete with the same fundamental challenges, but why do similar ideas, thousands of miles apart, all get thought of?
4. If science was truly infallible, why do we find things that confound the laws, even when they're not supposed to? Dark matter, anti-matter, entropy, etc.
All these things together helped convince me. Maybe the fact that humans across the world had similar ideas was part of a software patch? Or maybe we're just that good. Maybe there was a guiding hand making sure we weren't totally annihilated? Or maybe we're just that lucky
Why I Accept It
I'm not saying that the Simulation Theory answers these kinds of questions, but the first thing you have to do when talking about this theory is keep an open mind.
At the end of the day, I'm not trying to convince you that this is right. I'm not trying to convince you that we are indeed inside a simulation right now. Why? Because that's a scary thought. The fact that we're all beings inside a digital simulation created by a futuristic society of humans (or Posthumans) is a scary concept. What if someone trips over the plug and ends the universe? What happens when we've fulfilled our usefulness? What if the future of our race is solely in the hands of EA Games?
Even Dr Nick Bostrom, the guy who first popularized the theory, isn't a staunch believer in this. And, frankly, perhaps it should be taken with a pinch of salt. But here are a few reasons why I accept the Simulation Theory.
1. It carries the idea of a Creator. Maybe not all seeing, all knowing or all-powerful, but they'd be there.
2. It brings a certain logic to how I personally perceive the universe and the world around me. It's a little similar to Descartes 'Brain-In-A-Vat' hypothesis, but it's more comforting than thinking I'm a brain in a vat of...stuff.
3. It allows me to believe that we still hold some importance in the fabric of the universe. It allows for literally anything.
Like I said before, I'm not trying to convince you we're in a simulation. There's no religion to convert to, there's no doctrine to subscribe to. I'm not going to go around preaching something that, frankly, I know isn't going to float with most people. What I can do, though, is impart what I believe. Maybe you'll want to look into it too.
Because, hey, what's the worst that can happen if Bostrom is right?
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