(Edited Reissue) #024 - Simulation Theory, or Young Earth Creationism for Atheists

We recorded this about a year ago, for the 25th anniversary of the release of THE MATRIX.

But since Elon Musk now controls the country, we're republishing an edited-down version because it's important to know how Musk thinks.

Next episode, we'll be talking about a number of the other beliefs that shape Musk's worldview, among them Roko's Basilisk, so this episode is good preparation for that conversation.

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In 2003, Oxford University philosophy professor Nick Bostrom published a paper titled Are You Living in a Computer Simulation, thus giving rise to the modern incarnation of Simulation Theory, which posits that our experienced reality is actually the product of an advanced (possibly future-self) civilization running a simulation experiment.

But the paper on might have been written off as a useful thought experiment had it not been for the popularity of the 1999 film The Matrix, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this month, and its two sequels, which came out the same year as Bostrom's paper.

In the years since, Simulation Theory has become a lot of things to a lot of people - from a fun metaphor to explain Cartesian philosophy to college freshmen to an all-out article of faith for an increasingly doctrinaire sub-culture of futurists. How useful (or even likely) is Simulation Theory?

In honor of The Matrix's birthday, John and Kelly decided to take up that question.

Sources

https://simulation-argument.com/simulation.pdf

https://builtin.com/hardware/simulation-theory

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-we-live-in-a-simulation-chances-are-about-50-50/

https://www.wired.com/story/living-in-a-simulation/

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/04/the-illusion-of-reality/479559/