Author: John Prytz

The Multitudes of You: If we exist via a simulation, there of course could exist in turn more than one copy of that simulation; lots, and lots, and lots of copies. If so, there\'s more than one copy of you. It\'s a kind of parallel universe scenario. The saving grace is that you don\'t ever get to meet yourself!

What Are the Odds I\'m A Simulated Entity? I think it\'s fair to say that based on the level of sophistication of my simulation scenario, you and I aren\'t part of a dream, or someone else\'s overactive imagination, nor a terrestrial computer software package. So, no terrestrial Supreme Simulator has created us. The possible exception to that observation is the assumption that the simulation that creates us is the product of the terrestrial 20th or 21st Century. Of course it\'s possible that our simulator is in the terrestrial 30th or 31st Century. The simulation\'s time period doesn\'t have to reflect the same time period as that of the simulator. That aside however, and assuming a non-terrestrial origin, that leaves the rest of the Universe and an extraterrestrial(s) Supreme Simulator(s).

The apparent bottom line, using Planet Earth\'s supposed reality as a guide, is that any one real world and real inhabitants can create, wetware and software combined, more, vastly more, nearly infinitely more, simulated worlds and inhabitants with varying degrees of complexity and duration. How many dreams (or active mentally imagined scenarios) have humanity collectively racked up? How many video games have been, are now, and will be on the market? Certainly it\'s way more than just one. So, one real world and just one real entity can ultimately create hundreds (maybe thousands plus) of simulated worlds and hundreds (maybe thousands plus) of simulated entities. If that logic applies to Planet Earth\'s supposed reality and her actual simulation (wetware and software) packages, then what of those extraterrestrial abodes and advanced civilizations? If there are hundreds, thousands, maybe millions of extraterrestrial technological advanced civilizations out there and each create hundreds, thousands, maybe millions of simulated worlds and beings, well, what odds we\'re one of the rare real worlds relative to the massive number of simulated ones?

Objection! We exist in a 3-D environment. Surely simulations, even dreams, are 2-D. Therefore, we\'re not in a simulation! Unfortunately for that argument, 2-D technology is now old hat. Well, there\'s now a plethora of 3-D films; 3-D TV is the latest thing. Can the 3-D Internet be far behind? Surely 3-D video games, etc. will soon be available too. Of course the Star Trek holodeck was 3-D, but that\'s way future technology, but who knows how quickly those advances in future technology will come. I\'m sure holodeck technology, or some reasonable variation of it, will be part and parcel of our future entertainment as well as being useful in training and other role playing scenarios.  

Apart from that, I\'m sure the characters in computer or video games; the entities in your dreams, would, if they could, tell you that they do indeed navigate through a 3-D environment – as viewed through their senses. But wait a minute, that\'s something that equally applies to us. You navigate in a 3-D world, yet the actual images, or your perception of 3-D reality of that apparent 3-D environment, lies totally inside your mind and in the biochemistry of your brain. Inside your brain, that projection of reality is actually 2-D; interpretation by you however is 3-D, in much the same way perhaps as that hologram image on your credit card is 2-D, but appears 3-D.  So, does that really make you any different from the video game or dream counterparts? They say they exist in 3-D; you say they are 2-D. You say you exist in 3-D, but…?

What If I Knew This? What if I knew that I and everything around me was but a simulation and I had no free will? Well, there\'s not a hell of a lot I or you can do about it! At best, all we can wish for is that the Supreme Simulator\'s wetware or software that\'s responsible doesn\'t contain any nasty surprises, or that the dreaming Supreme Simulator doesn\'t have an alarm clock set to go off or the temptation to press the delete button.

Free Will: If you wrote (programmed) yourself into a video game; even if you star in your own dream as a whole separate character, you\'re dancing to the beat of your drummer software or your drumming mind. The ‘You\' in your own creation, in your own dream, has no free will! If you\'re dancing to somebody else\'s tune either through their wetware dreams or software programming, you don\'t have any free will. Sorry ‘bout that!

Ultimate Origins: Even if the simulation of our Universe / world / us is an accurate scenario, that doesn\'t explain the origin of the simulator(s) or of their world and universe – which may, or may not, mirror this (our) simulated one. Ultimate origins get even harder if the Supreme Simulator(s) are in turn simulations from an even more remote reality. One could well argue that if we\'re a simulation within a simulation within a simulation, etc., and we in turn are simulating, then the ultimate first cause is the one with the, presumably, free will – the first Supreme (flesh and blood) Simulator starts things off and all else that follows is just programming originating from him / her / it.  Knowledge of such ultimate origins might be forever beyond our reach.

Wetware Versus Software: For all their sophistication – to date anyway – no one has any real difficulty in recognising virtual reality software in the form of a training exercise, a video game, or even a cinema feature ‘filmed\' without real actors and real background. However, the evolution in realism in such media is improving by leaps and bounds. Still, the computer software behind such simulated generations isn\'t yet in the same ballpark, or even the same league compared to wetware. Your dreams, nightmares, hallucinations, imaginings, etc. are very realistic indeed.

What If We Are Not Simulated? Well then its business as usual, though it still leaves scientists with a lot of hard work to do to explain the normal everyday life, the Universe and everything, with all its myriad of weird stuffs!

The Return of the Gods: Once upon a time there were many gods (Thor, Odin, Zeus, Apollo, Ares, etc.) and polytheism ruled the roost and the affairs of mortals. Unfortunately they were overthrown and monotheism became flavour of the month. That\'s a pity as the old gods had way more appeal – they were flawed and thus way more interesting because they were way more ‘human\'. Well, the gods have returned in their new form of Supreme Simulators; the writers of software and creators of video games, their associated characters and environments.

You too could be a Supreme Simulator and create your own video game. Why not? Others have done it. Not into writing software and creating brave new worlds and new life forms? Well, despite that you too can be (and have been) a Supreme Simulator – sleep, perchance to dream, and for a brief while at least create your own virtual realities.  

I rest my case!

About the Author
Science librarian; retired.

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