One of the spookiest prospects of the reality of our universe is the idea that all may not be
as it seems. We collect data, do experiments, confirm attributes and laws of the universe,
but there are also unknown areas of science that not only do we not currently understand,
it’s a very real possibility that we may never understand them because it’s simply
not possible to do so. There may be knowledge that the universe simply
doesn’t allow us to know, by virtue of not providing a means to figure it out.
This ranges from all sorts of ideas within science, from the multiverse,
which may never be testable, to what if anything existed before the big bang,
again which may never be testable, to other dimensions which may only ever be hinted at but
ultimately can’t be proven. But perhaps the most disturbing of these ideas is the concept that the
universe may actually be some kind of simulation that might run on completely unknown rules,
such as a prohibition of a full understanding of the universe, and thus the simulation can’t
be proven, baked in by whatever the simulator is, if it’s anything at all.
So here are ten solutions and their implications to the Simulation Hypothesis.
10. We are the Byproduct of an Alien Simulation
One of the vexing aspects of the simulation hypothesis is that it
appears to be impossible to know for sure what its
purpose would be. That would be known only to the simulator, if even that,
there’s no rule that says it has to be rational or have a purpose. In fact, it’s possible that we are
an unintentional side effect of a simulation, a peripheral by product of something greater.
The idea goes like this, an alien civilization in a progenitor real universe sets up a simulation
of a universe so advanced that it is indistinguishable from reality
to anything inside it. This simulation may be for purely scientific purposes,
an example would be to study how universes ultimately form and evolve from the moment
of their big bang to the cold end of the universe. This may have a practical purpose,
the alien civilization may be interested in seeing what the end of their own universe will be like.
We already construct rudimentary models like this in science, but this would be a
model on a much grander scale than anything we’ve ever done, or are likely to ever do.
But in a complex simulation, complex things can happen and this case, abiogenesis on a planet
that leads to intelligent life purely by chance and accident. Perhaps it’s so rare and unintended
that it only happened once in the entire vastness of the simulation, leading to the possibility
that we are alone and the great silence is to be expected of a simulation of a physical
universe. This may all seem very complex, probably impossible in our own universe to ever do, and
highly unlikely overall. Just the same, we don’t, and probably can’t, know what the rules of other
universes are. Complexity on this level may be humdrum and mundane to them, whoever they are.
9. We are an Ancestor Simulation
Answering the question of who the simulator is, if anyone, probably lies beyond any
abilities we might have available to us in the universe. But it can be speculated upon,
and here the option is that the simulators are us. In the far future humans,
or wherever we ultimately become, decide to look back and simulate what the universe once was,
perhaps to probe their origins. This gets into sci fi territory with a basis in science,
we don’t know what actually kicked off the creation of the universe, and ultimately if
it’s repeatable. Nature likes repeatability, and science basis itself on it. This should extend to
the universe in general, opening up the question of whether we can create other universes, since
nature obviously doesn’t prohibit the creation of universes or else we wouldn’t be here at all.
This opens up the possibility that far future humans might create universes of their own,
perhaps to escape the death of their own progenitor universe.
They might fine tune and tailor that universe to be amenable for their life, perhaps even better
than the one the originated in. This may allow them to create a universe far better for running
simulations than the one they started in. But that may also be that they want explore their past, and
that the simulation is our reality as a sort of echo of what once was, explored by the simulators
to learn of their origins, and perhaps to relearn what it is like to be human. There are absolutely
no indicators that this is the case, but it’s an interesting thought that can’t be ruled out.
8. We are a computer simulation
Envisioning the simulation of a universe is a tricky thing, because one can easily
get trapped in biases. Here, there are more possible biases than can be counted,
because every shred of our existence from the moment we are born and onward is defined by
and happens within our universe. Outside it, we simply don’t know what the rules are. Take
the idea of a computer simulation, which is perhaps the most often cited example in
simulation theory. We only say computer because we do simulations on computers,
so it seems a natural thought. But computers are human-made constructions based on human made
concepts, such as numbers, that are designed to make use of the rules of this universe.
That said, we have been enormously successful at using numbers and those rules to describe
our universe. So it may hold true for anything outside the universe doing the simulating. It
could in principle be a computer of some sort. But if so, is there a way to try to determine
if something is doing the computing? Cue in the findings of physicist Dr. James Gates,
who has noticed uncanny similarities in physics with that of a specific type of
error correcting computer code. This idea really is hidden in the mathematics of string theory,
and may not mean anything. And string theory may not be correct. But it’s an interesting thought
nonetheless. Perhaps somewhere in new physics will be a way to test the simulation hypothesis.
7. The Unknown Simulator
Talking about simulation theory is to skirt the fringes of science and philosophy.
It’s a kind of could be, but probably not a testable idea. These are always problematic,
and generally lie outside of mainstream science. In general philosophy, and remember science is a
philosophy, Ph. D. means Doctor of Philosophy, these questions can be tackled more broadly,
but again they may end up always being an open question. But again, here we run into
the question of unknowns and anthropomorphization. Human philosophy is, well, human, and there are
no guarantees that anything running a simulation from outside the universe would conform to that.
As a result, unknowns crop up everywhere in this question, and that includes the option
that whatever is simulating the universe may never be understandable, and may have motives
or means completely irrational to our minds. This would be the non-understandable simulator,
where the more you know about it, the less understandable it is. In short,
it may not be a computer, it may not be a sentient being, it may not be sane,
and it may not be anything you can conceive of, even if you ever find evidence of its existence.
6. Nature’s True Guise is Simulations
The simple truth is, we don’t even know if reality is reality. We just know our own reality,
and base everything we do on it, at least most of us try to. But there are aspects to our reality
that when you look at them in a certain way, are utterly absurd. Take quantum mechanics.
On the level of the very small, you run into realities that look more like simulations than
any reality in our day to day world of the huge. This includes virtual particles, that pop in and
out of existence from within the quantum foam. Something from nothing. Or the universe itself,
which was also apparently something from nothing. Or spooky action at a distance,
where two particles can be entangled even at great distance and share instantaneous changes
in state. Or quantum non-locality, where a particle can disappear and reappear halfway
across the universe just by random chance. Or the infamous double slit experiment,
collapsing a particle’s wave function just by observation. The world of the small is not the
same reality we experience in the world of the huge, but it’s a reality nonetheless to
the point that if certain quantum effects didn’t exist, our technology wouldn’t work.
Or take it to the realm of the huge, dark matter. Think about what exactly is proposed
when invoking dark matter. Most of the universe must be made up of invisible matter that can
pass through walls. While it must be there to explain gravitational effects we see,
providing our understanding of gravity at huge scales is correct,
it really amounts to a kind of scientific ghost story. Matter that is, but isn’t. Again,
certain properties of the universe more resemble simulations than an absolute reality.
As mind bending as that it is, also within physics are interpretations of reality
such as the many worlds interpretation, where reality spawns alternate realities infinitely,
everything that is possible to happen does so in different timelines. That idea actually
exists in mainstream physics. But it’s absurd, even if it’s real and correct. This would mean
beyond billions, really infinite, timelines all representing different realities. Again,
could it be simpler that nature is a simulator rather than a reality,
and spawns billions of simulations all centered on the same theme? We’ll almost certainly never know,
but in this there is a somewhat chilling proposition. That the simulator, like nature,
is completely unthinking and that we simply live in a natural process as weird as that may be.
5. Fever Dreams of a Boltzmann Brain
The idea of an infinite of time looms large in cosmology. There are only two options,
either time extends infinitely into the future, or it doesn’t. Both options come
with disturbing possibilities, if time does not go in infinitely, then what stops it? Does that
imply an ultimate end of the universe? If it does extend infinitely into the future, it’s
even worse because it means that everything that can happen, will happen, if you wait long enough.
This also applies in an infinite universe, which ours could be. Couple an infinite universe with an
infinite amount of time, and strange things can happen. This evokes the Boltzmann Brain thought
experiment, first proposed by physicist Ludwig Bolzmann in 1896. It goes like this, if you
wait long enough, particles will come together to form objects of any complexity, including a
conscious thinking brain, if only momentarily. In an otherwise dead and dark far future universe,
wisps of consciousness will repeatedly arise. If one of those wisps of awareness were to persist
for long enough of a time to look around, see the universe is a lonely black nothing, and concoct
either a simulation of what it was once like, or invent a dream of an ideal or fantasy universe,
it could be what we see. We could be the fever dreams of a boltzmann brain supercomputer.
This one also comes with some baggage however. In some theories about cosmology, a concerning
possibility is that our own human brains are far more likely to arise from fluctuations,
complete with false memories, than they are in how they actually appear to have come about.
Opening up the possibility that we are not what we seem, and are ourselves boltzmann brains.
4. The Brain in a Vat Matrix
This concept is used in philosophy for thought experiments, it provides a method of thinking
about what exactly reality, truth, mind and so on actually are. It’s also an old idea,
going back ultimately to Rene Descartes’ evil demon thought experiment,
and in its modern form simply posits that if you could put a living brain in a jar,
give it all the nutrients and oxygen that it needs to survive,
and then connect it up to a supercomputer that feeds it sensory information, then it would be
a kind of simulation indistinguishable from a real world, even though it may not be any such thing.
This is very similar to what was depicted in the Matrix movies,
where an out of control artificial intelligence keeps humanity captive by keeping their physical
bodies confined to pods and feeds them sensory information of a world very much unlike reality.
You could never prove nor disprove this one, there’s always a chance
that the simulation takes the form of the brain in a vat and that’s what we are,
meaning that in some sense, we may live in the Matrix. Mister Anderson indeed.
3. You are the Simulator
Cogito Ergo Sum, I think therefore I am, words made famous once again by Rene Descartes. The
idea here is that the simulator is actually you in some other reality modeling a different,
or perhaps identical version of yourself. After all, who wouldn’t want to take a look
at alternate reality versions of one’s self? Here the motive of simulation really just boils down to
curiosity about one’s self, and alternate versions thereof. And while we don’t have
the capability of running simulations of this nature, some other version of ourselves may.
This aspect may related in some way to the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics,
where an original simulation diverges from the moment of its inception onward into infinite
parallel realities, all being simulations. This one however seems the least likely,
because the resources involved would be titanic, at least from our perspective.
On the other hand, in an alternate universe, the word resources may
have a completely different meaning. It may not matter. In which case, as simulations,
would be very different indeed from our alternate counterparts doing the simulating.
It is a bit disturbing to think of one’s self as merely a guise of something else however.
2. Echoes of Universes
One of the biggest questions in cosmology is if there were previous, or will be future iterations
of the universe. This is Roger Penrose’s cyclic cosmology where a big bang happens,
the universe exists for a time, and then another big bang starts the process over
and that evidence of this may be searched for in the cosmic microwave background radiation.
Whether this is the case remains to be seen, but it does open up the possibility
of a scientific simulation designed to illustrate those cosmic cycles.
It goes like this, some future universe decides it wants to simulate and model a previous iteration
of their universe for scientific study. It doesn’t even need to be perfectly accurate,
it just needs to tick a few boxes for the simulating civilization’s objectives. The
result is that we exist in some future universe’s scientific investigations
into cyclic cosmology. One can only hope that they don’t decide anytime
soon that their objectives have been met, and shut the simulation down.
Number 1. The Mirror Hypothesis
Another interesting idea within cosmology is Neil Turok’s concept of a two sided universe,
one where time moves forward stretching from the point of the big bang, and an
anti-universe that stretches backwards. If this is indeed how the universe works,
a natural thing to investigate if you can and have advanced enough technology is probe
the other universe. If that’s impossible, you might model it instead thus creating a
simulation. Only a highly advanced civilization could ever do this, the computing power would
be beyond anything we can imagine, but if it were possible then our universe would
then be a model running forwards in time, in an anti-universe running backwards in time.
That might create a very strange set of affairs for the anti-universe counterparts, where they
start out wildly technologically advanced, and then slowly lose it before de-evolving until
their world eventually becomes uninhabitable and then non-existent as the process we know runs in
reverse. Eventually, the whole thing stops at the moment of the big bang. Granted, this is highly
speculative based on cosmological ideas that would be very difficult to prove, but then our
own universe is beyond strange. What exactly is it other than all that ever was, is and will ever be?
Does it have a purpose? Could it be a simulation? We may never know, and those questions
may well still be around in the far human future. But I leave you with this, does any kind of
simulator of universes have to be conscious and thinking at all? We probably can’t ever know.
Thanks for listening! I am futurist and science
fiction author John Michael Godier currently lamenting the turnips …
JMG: Oh there’s that music
ANNA: John …
JMG: ANNA, you're on the wrong channel again.
ANNA: I just thought you might like to know that
the concept of a Boltzmann brain applies to any physical object.
JMG: Great, Boltzmann opossums. Like we needed that, wait a minute, that might explain him.
ANNA: Not really John, he’s quantum mechanical, he did not appear by random chance but rather
he emerged from the quantum foam. It all makes perfect sense to everyone but you.
JMG: Wait a minute, if it applies to all objects …. Oh yes. Boltzmann lebarons,
if you wait long enough a vintage Lebaron will appear by random chance. You can’t keep a great
car down. And on that note, like, subscribe and hit that all important bell if you want to be
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weird and unknown aspects of this amazing universe in which we live.