If the theory of evolution is true, then by definition, the entire world is simulation. Indeed, that’s what scientists like Oxford University’s Robin Spears and Max Tegmark are saying. Simulation means the careful, painstaking recreation of the world, including all its aspects, in the computer code of a computer.
When you look at it this way, you can see that both the physical world and the virtual world are part of a simulation. We know this because we observe that the virtual world seems to exist inside the computer code of the game we are playing. Likewise, the laws of physics and the values of real life loans us the tool to calculate the value of such variables as interest and risk. Without these tools, it would be impossible to simulate any possible event in the universe. This is the parallel universe that scientists are trying to recreate.
But is the simulation theory true? Science has a lot of theories about how the world works, but no one has yet completely explained how the world came to be simulated in the first place. This is the problem with trying to prove a theory – no one has been able to provide a precise answer. If the world is a simulation, then there is an unlimited number of parallel universes that are continually being recreated within the computing device that you are using right now.
And the computer code is the world that you and I are living in. It is an ocean of possibilities stretching out in all directions. The question is, how do you tell which world is that? When you try to recreate reality in your own mind, you run into all kinds of problems, especially when you realize that the world and the entire universe are non-simplifications. So are the parallel universes, or the world that you are playing in?
To answer this, we have to look at what it means to be simulated. Simulations are a form of communication between advanced civilizations. Think about the Internet and Facebook, or the way in which people communicate on Blackberry’s. The Internet is a simulation of the real world, and Facebook and Blackberry’s are also considering simulations. Now, there’s nothing wrong with this, necessarily. Communication itself is a form of simulation, and this is why people can communicate using email and Blackberries… they’re just using the tools and software that they have available.
However, this also poses another question – if you’re going to ask me if the world is a simulation, then shouldn’t you ask me whether or not the world is possible to create in the first place? And the answer is yes. It’s actually quite simple to simulate. In fact, many scientists believe that advanced civilizations in our galaxy may well have already created life in their own solar system through a process of simulation. And this simulation could only have happened if that civilization was sophisticated enough to actually create intelligent life – otherwise, all the other life in that solar system would have simply been vaporized when the planet was born, like the remains of Venus’s atmosphere millions of years ago.
So, this brings up another question: if the simulation hypothesis is true, then how come we haven’t found any aliens yet? This also goes back to the first question I asked at the start of this article – if the simulation hypothesis is correct, then any species that exists within the universe just had to be exceptionally advanced. Why? Well, if aliens don’t exist, then obviously there’s no need to study them, because their existence wouldn’t make any difference to the Earth, and therefore they couldn’t be simulated. But if aliens do exist, they may be very different from Earthlings, and their existence could make a big difference to the outcome of the simulation.
Of course, one could also consider an argument for realism – if the world is a simulation, then all of reality must be a simulation, right? And therefore, we can know about the real world without needing to look at the simulation. Is this possible? I believe so, and not only because of the simulation hypothesis; I think it’s also possible because we already know a lot about the real world, such as the weather patterns, the history of the planets, etc., which allows us to study the computer simulation to see what it would look like if we lived in that world. So, I believe the simulation hypothesis to be correct, and the real world to be a simulation.