Eventually, in a narrative of the artificial intelligence
singularity, computers become so advanced that desktop PCs are able to process
with incredible speed beyond the collective brain-power of every man, woman,
and child who ever lived. And if this were
the case, a proposal known as "simulation theory" suggests that the
chances of being a product of one of these simulations is almost
guaranteed. So how did one Oxford
University Professor call everything in reality into question?
The paper at the centre of the controversy is titled
"Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?" Nick Bostrom, award winning Swedish
Philosopher and professor may have come dangerously close to disproving reality
as we know it. Circulated in 2003, the
paper goes down the rabbit hole to suggest that we are not, as many have taken
for granted, in a physical world governed by immutable laws that transcend the
fabric of the universe dictated by forces unknown at its periphery.
Instead, it puts forward the following three possible
scenarios given today's already emerging technological trends. First, it says it is quite possible that the
human race will inevitably go extinct before it achieves a
"posthuman" stage where artificial intelligence is able to improve
upon itself in a Ray Kurzweil style AI singularity. If that is not the case, it suggests the idea
that some factor in the human race's future will prevent more than a handful of
advanced computer simulations of its own past from being built. And the final scenario it puts forward is the
most shocking of all - that we are currently living in an environment generated
entirely by a computer. And that's not
all. According to the paper, even our very
minds may be simply byproducts of the computer simulation. It states that rather than a mere
possibility, the likelihood of our being made from information is surprisingly
high.
