Are we living in a computer simulation? This scientist thinks so

Could humans be living in a simulated world? This question elicits all kinds of reactions. Some laugh at it and think that only a conspiracy simulation theory could say something like that; others believe that it should be taken very seriously because it is a real possibility. Now, it's an MIT scientist who claims we're more likely to live in a simulated universe.

If we live in a simulation, how can it be?

Rizwan Virk, a computer scientist and sophisticated video game developer at MIT, has just published a new book in which he discusses this topic. This one, in the book "The Simulation Hypothesis," uses a multitude of arguments to support the theory that human beings live in a simulation (simulated beings).

The Digital Trends portal has interviewed him to find out his opinion on the matter. Virk tells the aforementioned media about an experience that influenced him when writing the book. He explains that he played ping pong in Virtual Reality and found it so realistic that he completely forgot that he was in a simple room with VR glasses.

At the end of the virtual reality game, Virk tried to support himself on the virtual table and almost fell to the ground, since the table did not really exist. This experience was shocking to the scientist since he realized that video games could become so real that we could not distinguish them from reality.


The Simulation Hypothesis

The fundamental idea of Virk's simulation theory is that everything around us is part of a very sophisticated MMORPG; that is, a massively multiplayer online role-playing video game. Supposedly, every human is a player in the game; although, the simulation hypothesis deals with two modalities.

At first, we are all Artificial Intelligence executed directly from a giant computer simulation of another person belonging to a more advanced civilization. On the other, we humans are "player characters"; conscious people who exist outside the simulation but occupy a character to play. Just as in some video game we choose a dwarf or an elf.

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