more than two decades after the original
a new matrix movie is here and its
vision of humanity trapped inside a
simulation is still relevant given the
path for ai and vr that futurists like
nick bostrom predict you would have
computers powerful enough that you could
generate millions and millions of runs
of all of human history even if just a
tiny fraction of these technologically
mature civilizations resources were used
for this purpose the vast majority of
minds like ours would be living in
simulated worlds rather than in the
original histories 20 years ago
professor bostrom published the first
draft of his groundbreaking simulation
argument which asks
are you living in a computer simulation
right now we're inside a computer
program is it really so hard to believe
not for some prominent scientists and
tech stars apparently so we re-watched
the matrix with professor bostrom as he
explained his simulation hypothesis
[Music]
bostrom simulation argument doesn't
resolve the issue but it makes the case
that as computing power and progress in
artificial intelligence grows one of the
following statements must be true
one we will go extinct before we enter a
post-human phase in other words we die
out before becoming technically capable
of creating computer simulations with
conscious minds in it
or two we don't go extinct but we'll be
so evolved that we won't be interested
in running these types of simulations
or three is the simulation hypothesis
that we are living in a computer
simulation
[Music]
what is real
how do you define real
i thought especially the first matrix
movie was pretty cool if the simulation
argument is sound it would seem to be
quite a revelation about where we fit in
into the larger structure of reality
throughout history from the buddhist
concept of dharma to the aztecs belief
that our world was a painting by the
gods to plato's allegory of the cave
we've always toyed with this idea of
reality as an illusion as a shadow of
what is truly real i mean people have
been thinking since ancient times
about the question of how can we be sure
that we are not dreaming or that there
is not like a demon
deluding us into believing that there is
an external world but it wasn't until
the wachowskis matrix film dropped in
1999 that the possibility of reality run
by computers was burned into the popular
imagination if the simulation hypothesis
is true i don't think
the best way to characterize things
would be by saying that the world that
we perceive is not real i would rather
put it it's real but its reality
consists of being simulated in a
computer
in this scene from the matrix viewers
are shown a horrific basement or base
reality the artificial intelligence we
created turned us into a power source to
run their computers the matrix is a
computer generated dream world
built to keep us under control
in order to change a human being
into this is this a likely outcome when
we consume more energy than we generate
there are many more efficient engines
already available for
converting energy you wouldn't want to
keep a whole human organism just to
generate waste heat okay so if the
original matrix premise of humans as
batteries seems inefficient and unlikely
then how would the simulation work the
way to picture that is that it's not
that there would be these kind of
organic brains floating in tanks with
some big fiber bundle plugged in that
feeds them with some kind of input from
some simulated virtual world but the the
brains themselves would be part of the
simulation you would be conscious and
in your brain would in the simulation
would be simulated at a sufficiently
detailed level that it would basically
have the same information processing
structure as we previously thought were
implemented on biological neurons now
all of those biological neurons are
simulated
instead that information processing
could equally be implemented in silicon
hardware this is kind of a premise of
the simulation argument i call it
substrate independence the idea that
consciousness can be implemented not
just on biological carbon based
substrate but on other computational
substrate as well
[Music]
in this scene viewers are introduced to
a super intelligent ai program that
created the matrix who are you
i am the architect
i created the matrix
if we do live in a simulation
who are what created our simulation
if we are in a simulation then that
simulation was created by some form of
super intelligence rather than by some
human intelligence the technology to be
able to create simulations that are
realistic and that have conscious
creatures like humans in them it's a
very advanced kind of technology right
any civilization that had developed such
advanced technology would i think also
have the technology to enhance their own
intelligence and to build very
sophisticated forms of artificial
intelligence so by the time some
civilization becomes capable of creating
these simulations they would have the
ability to develop greater forms of
intelligence and i think they would do
so and in fact that's the likeliest way
that they would gain the ability to
create these simulations so then the
simulators would be super intelligent
but why would a future civilization
create these worlds we became capable of
creating simulations we might create
many different kinds of simulations we
might create some simulations that were
simulations of our own past that we try
to get as realistic as possible based on
our historical records like historical
tourism if you want experience in bygone
era and you can't actually go back in
time because time machines are not
possible and the second best might be to
create a kind of simulation of this
historical epoch and you could then
enter into that and experience it there
could be many other reasons as well we
might simulate potential alien
civilizations that we haven't
encountered maybe that would be very
important for gaining information about
how alien civilizations would behave in
case we did run into them think of all
the reasons why humans have tried to
create say fictional worlds using
whatever technologies we have even if
it's just words on a page that then
leverage the human imagination to
conjure it up
and like this scene from the matrix we
have arrived at the moment of truth you
take the blue pill
the story ends you take the red pill
all i'm offering is the truth if we're
all just software programs running
around in a simulated world
why is it important to know the truth as
morpheus offers the world we perceive
would still in the relevant sense be
real in that it would for example matter
a lot what happens in the simulation it
would be a matter of great concern to us
what experiences we will have in this
simulated reality so if morpheus offered
the choice red pill or blue pill
which one would professor bostrom choose
professor red pill or blue pill as a
philosopher i guess you have already
chewed a little bit on the red pill
right rather than
the binary choice of maximal complete
truth versus
staying in our current state of
ignorance i am cautious by nature so if
there were this third option i might be
uh
drawn towards that okay so a purple pill
perhaps even if we're not living in a
simulation knowing what we know about
the dangers of ai should we just give up
on developing machine super intelligence
before it turns against us like in the
matrix or terminator or 2001 a space
odyssey or westworld or ex machina i
think it would be tragic if we forever
failed to do that i do think that
transition however will be associated
with
big risks including existential risks
what we'll need to do is design ai
systems that are fundamentally on our
side that that share our values or that
are aligned with human intentions