Life Is Like A Video Game

People, have you ever thought that the world you live in is a lie? That maybe we're all just computer programs that have no actual free will, but artificial free will?

Don't freak out, I'm only referring to the Matrix. Remember those movies? I love them, and I was recently talking about their philosophies and themes. It was really screwing with my mind, as most existential thoughts will do to anyone, and I started tunneling through the internet to find more ideas that strengthen this theory. Now, I am happy to share these ideas with all of you.

1. Elon Musk Believes It
• I want to start this list off with a surprising bang. The genius inventor and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has said in an interview, "There’s a one in billions chance we’re in base reality."
• This means that Musk believes more likely than not that our world is just an extremely sophisticated computer simulation. (JSYK Neil DeGrasse Tyson also believes this and puts the odds at 50/50)
• Musk elaborates on his thoughts from the same interview, "The strongest argument for us being in a simulation, probably being in a simulation, is the following: 40 years ago, we had Pong, two rectangles and a dot…That is what games were. Now, 40 years later, we have photorealistic 3D simulations with millions of people playing simultaneously, and it’s getting better every year. And soon we’ll have virtual reality, augmented reality. If you assume any rate of improvement at all, the games will become indistinguishable from reality.
2. This Has Been a Heated Topic Among Scientists For Years
• Scientists and philosophers have also been arguing about the idea for years, with some saying it's not a question of when living in a digital realm will be possible, but whether we're already there
• "It is something that even the Greeks have thought about: dreams within dreams," says Rich Terrile, an astronomer and director of the Center for Evolutionary Computation and Automated Design at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
• The universe, he says, obeys fundamental principles, and as we get better at understanding those rules, we'll be better able to reproduce our natural environments in digital form.
• "You can simulate the universe," he tells The Current's Anna Maria Tremonti, "with a series of equations you can carry around in your pocket."
3. Universe Building
• Scientists say that the universe is computable. Its discrete elements can be understood individually, as well as within a wider mathematical framework that predicts the way the natural world behaves.
• These observations could be used to simulate environments that feel so real they are indistinguishable from the reality that we see.
• If we're able to do this, then it's easy to believe that in the near future we would have the ability to live in these digital worlds.
4. The Technology Already Exists
• The tech to build these realistic-looking worlds is all around us, and computing speeds are only getting faster.
• The fastest computers used in the 1969 moon landing can now fit into your pocket. (By the way, I'm not talking about cell phones. More like key fobs.)
• A human brain calculates at something in the order of a million-billion operations per second. And this is about 100 times slower than our fastest super-computers.
5. Has It Already Happened, & If It Has, Would We Even Know?
• Neil DeGrasse Tyson and theoretical physicist Brian Greene met to discuss the simulation theory. Discussing this theory, Dr Greene and Dr Tyson suggested three pieces of evidence to look out for to suggest that what and where we are is not the real deal.
• Firstly, they say to look out for glitches, but as Mr Greene acknowledges: “Real universes don’t have glitches, but computers can have them. 
• “But I say to that," retorts Tyson, "if it’s a really good simulation it should be able to rewind, erase the memory of the glitch, fix it, and then the simulated beings have no memory of it ever happening.”
• Secondly, a simulation so advanced would not allow the beings inside it to prove that it is a simulation – as we will never likely be able to do.
• Finally, the duo state when scientists can run the most advanced simulations, it would lead to mass power shortages in the original universe as each universe powers what is being simulated inside.

Are you all feeling paranoid yet? I hope so. I love freaking people out with stuff like this. Let me know what your thoughts on this is.

I hope it was as enjoyable for you to read as it was for me to research. It's too late for my paranoia (I'll be looking over my shoulder forever), but you might be able to walk away from this before it soaks in too deep. That is, of course, your memory isn't wiped. 

Anyway, I'll be back tomorrow with another post. See you then.

Buh-bye.