The Simulated Universe: Future Posthuman Curiosity

We assume that what we taste, smell, feel and see in our world are all "real'' experiences.  However, physicists are now saying that we may be able to find proof that we are really living inside a simulation. This unbelievable theory is not a new concept. The Matrix, Plato's Allegory of the Cave , The Brain in a Vat Theory, and the Simulacra and Simulation are just a few examples of this theory told from different perspectives.

Silas Beane, and the team at the University of Bonn in Germany, say that we may be able to see evidence that our cosmos is simulated. The technology review reports:

"So if our cosmos is merely a simulation, there ought to be a cut off in the spectrum of high energy particles. It turns out there is exactly this kind of cut off in the energy of cosmic ray particles,  a limit known as the Greisen–Zatsepin–Kuzmin or GZK cut off."

Philosophers throughout history have attempted to talk about this issue of reality by creating myths, new words, symbols and new language that could be understood by the current culture they find themselves in. Just think if Plato had gone about his day casually using the word computer, simulation, brain-computer interface or virtual reality. No one would have understood him because these words had no cultural context in his time.

Now in 2012 philosophers are also using words that also fit into our current understanding. We have simulations running all over the world, physical and digital. Hospitals, the military and Nasa are just a few that have used simulations to evaluate and train future pilots and doctors. However, the Simulation Theory feels very different.

This could be because I am a Simulist myself. I believe we live in an information system that is pulsating, numeric and geometric. This system is holographic, energy rich and is possibly a labyrinth of self replicating fractals. The closer we look the more we find the same numeric reality. Looking out into the universe is really just looking deep inside ourselves. We are numeric magical machines.

I am being literal when I say this. As complicated or "NEW AGE" as that sounds, anthropologists and string theorists are finding evidence in AFRICAN FRACTALS and complex corrective computer equations that support this theory.

Many of you who listen to Serious Wonder Radio know that I have talked about Oxford professor Nick Bostrom and his now-infamous paper on the Ancestor Simulation Theory. This theory states that some future posthuman advanced civilization has created a simulation of their ancestors for one reason or another and that our current "reality" is in fact, a simulation.

If that does not cook your brain, then think about this idea. This posthuman future civilization could be running trillions of these simulations simultaneously....and all of them could contain a version of you! Moreover, these future posthumans running our simulation could ALSO be the byproduct of a simulation! Talk about a digital "Escher"!

So, if this theory is true, who is running the simulation and what are they trying to learn from this complex simulation? I have said many times "the point of this simulation could be to see how long it takes us to realize we are being simulated."

As any good futurist knows, we are also a self fulfilling species. Just talking about this theory could make it happen. If we can imagine it, we can manifest it...and a simulated universe is born.

What do you think, are we living in a simulation?

Originally Posted On : www.SeriousWonder.com

Source: http://arxiv.org/abs/1210.1847  technologyreview

Image Source: CC By dwhartwig