Are we living in a simulated reality? Are we merely simulated quantum instances inside a holographic substrate? Is the cosmos an advanced computer simulation created by a future technologically mature human civilization? Who are the original simulators and what are they looking for? Could our reality be the product of a lonely quantum AI machine stranded on the outer edges of our galaxy in the distant future? If we are inside of a simulation, does it even need a creator or could the digital simulation be a naturally emergent phenomena, an infinite fractal, with no beginning and no end.

Merriam-Webster defines the word simulation as: Something that is made to look, feel, or behave like something else especially so that it can be studied or used to train people.

this essay is a transcript from Gray’s podcast on The Futuristic Now

To Simulate to give or assume the appearance or effect of…. often with the intent to deceive.

Oxford professor, futurist and transhumanist Nick Bostrom argues that at least one of the following propositions is true:

(1) the human species is very likely to go extinct before reaching a “posthuman” stage;

(2) any posthuman civilization is extremely unlikely to run a significant number of simulations of their evolutionary history (or variations thereof);

(3) we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation. It follows that the belief that there is a significant chance that we will one day become posthumans who run ancestor-simulations is false, unless we are currently living in a simulation.

To unravel the simulation theory, we must ask ourselves some mind boggling questions:

Will it ever be possible to create realistic simulated realities filled with AI beings?

Are we experiencing the original reality now or are we inside a simulation?

Who are the original simulators?

Why did they create the simulation?

Do you need an original creator or could this simulation be a natural recursive process inside an indigenous digital cosmos?

What is the point of this simulation?

Do we respawn into other simulations when we die?

Is this a quantum simulation and do we gain access to all the data when we die?

Maybe the simulation is in a state of superposition. If so this would mean we are all things at all times. In other words, we are everyone that ever was and ever will be. No, you, no me just one single awareness in a state of quantum superposition.

Here are more questions:

Is it unethical to produce simulations that are inhabited by AI conscious beings that can suffer? Should we allow this to happen in the future? Can we even stop it?

Who is the observer in this simulation? Are we observing the simulation or are we being observed? Maybe both.

The delayed choice protocol in the double slit experiment suggests that we may only exist because we are being observed and quantified inside a simulated reality.

If this sounds crazy or impossible to you, then you have not been following the emerging world of Virtual Reality, gaming, visual FX and AI research. In just the last ten years, VFX and gaming have reached a new threshold of realism. We are on the cusp of creating a true AI simulation.

We know that if we continue to progress in this direction that simulated games in the future will look and feel as real as any reality we have experienced. VR is the bridge into the simulated future. EEG brain scanning headsets, AI research, Mind uploading, biomimicry and nanorobots that can directly interface with the web are all precursors that will move us toward our inevitable AI Simulated future.

Sean Murray http://www.hellogames.org/about-us/ from Hello Games is set to launch No Mans Sky sometime in late 2015. This procedurally generated game or simulation is a precursor to the AI simulation that awaits us in the near future. In fact, all of the primary pieces to the AI Simulation are already in place. The computing power, the quantum processing, the Virtual Reality technologies, the internet, wearable tech, AI research, and EEG technologies are all here now. Each of these alone is not enough to cause the AI Simulation to occur. It is the amalgamation of these emerging technologies that will inevitably cause the AI Simulation to begin.

Or is our current reality just a level up in an infinitely recursive fractal simulation? Has this all happened before? Will it happen again? Is time a flat circle?

I believe the AI simulation has already begun in our reality. And if we are about to simulate AI beings in the near future, more than likely the developers of the AI simulation are alive right now.

What are the simulators looking for?

Maybe we are in a quantum state of superposition with boundary awareness protocols coded into the system making it impossible to inhabit the minds of multiple conscious beings at any given moment. This would ensure that we collect information and experiences individually. It would be the most efficient way to collect experiences in the human condition. In other words, imagine simulating 7 billion human scenarios at one time. Imagine the variations of experiences and information you could gather if you were a future machine studying human emotions or behavior.

This may be one reason or purpose of this AI simulation? Or they might be looking for the original developers of the AI simulation? This Procedurally generated algorithmic reality that we currently find ourselves in might be the product of an advanced future civilization that realized that they were inside an AI simulation themselves. Maybe they wanted to run ancestor AI simulations to see how it happened to them. To see if they can communicate between levels or multi-simulations. This takes the multiverse theory to a whole new level.

Now, another direction is a naturally emergent one. If the cosmos is a machine or quantum computer, why would it create human simulations? Why would a computer want to create flesh beings like us? Maybe humans have become extinct in the future and humanoid machines that have inherited the Earth want to study humans just like we would want to study dinosaurs. Maybe these future humanoids want to be human. Maybe we are their avatars?

To me, Ray Kurzweil’s singularity theory sounds like the beginning of the AI Simulation. The moment an AGI can self-replicate and upgrade its operating system, it will run AI Simulations. It will create worlds within worlds filled with simulated AI beings. Why would it do this? The same reason we are trying to create AI machines. Simply out of pure, Curiosity.

So if we are in a quantum state of superposition, or a procedurally generated algorithmic reality, how would we know? Well, nature is filled with mathematics and geometry. I have said before; technology is natural. This is the first clue. The second clue is that we are now creating simulations in VR worlds. And the third clue is that AGI is near. Add these together and you can see that it appears that an AI simulated future is inevitable.

Finally, Why would any technologically advanced human civilization create an ancestor AI simulation? The answer to this question might be unbelievably simple. The entire point of the simulation may be to see how long it takes the simulated beings, inside the simulation, to figure out they are being simulated. Or, to see how long it takes us to create our own AI simulations.

So, what do you think?