Are You Real? | Science Specials Week S03 E01

Are You Real? If yes, then give me the proof that you are real. And if not, then why not? We humans have evolved and progressed so much in the technological world that now we are able to create different worlds out of it. Like say, popular games like GTA-5 or Minecraft are open world games and it feels like you're character is playing in a real world just like ours. We have developed ourselves to that extent! Technology showed us what we thought was unreal had become the reality. In the future, as the technology is growing exponentially, it's not difficult to say that we'll be able to "simulate" entire universes.

But now, what does the word "simulate" mean? Well, simulating basically means to excite an activity. And "simulation" is the imitation of a situation of process or in other words, it just simply means to copy or pretend. Now, there are 3 types of simulation.

1) Live Simulation: This is a simulation where real people operate real systems.

2) Virtual Simulation: This is a simulation where real people operate simulated systems.

3) Constructive Simulation: This is a simulation where simulated people operate simulated systems.

Someone can control objects and other people. But who? Is it a God? Then what is it? If we are able to create simulated universe in computers, then is it not possible that it has been happening before? What if we are not the creators, but are the creations?

THE SIMULATION ARGUEMENT

Is it not possible that we are not real and we don't even know about it? This is a topic of debate over many scientists across the world. They were baffled when they encountered the Simulation Argument. Why is it an argument? Because some believe the simulation theory and some don't. Let's see what exactly is the Simulation Argument.

Now we know that making entire universe itself is kind of impossible and that's because we can not make those quadrillions of stuff that is present in the universe. Making a universe is not easy.

We need enough universe to fool the inhabitants of our simulation to thinking that they are real. We don't need to create all those cells, bacteria and other microscopic stuff as they will be created instantly when someone sees them through a microscope. Same with atoms. They will be created by themselves. Our main objective is to make our subjects think that they are real although they are in a simulation.

To simulate everything, or at least what you want, you must first control the brain of the people you want to control or simulate. For that you will need a computer that would be able to handle million, trillion, trillion, trillion operations per SECOND! If you were able to produce such computers, then you would comfortably be able to simulate at least 200 Billion people with an average life span of 50 years. But we know, making a computer like this is incomprehensible for humans.

But what if we DID create such technology? As we see day to day new technological progresses, it isn't hard to say that it could be possible to create computers with unlimited powers any time soon. In no time, humans have revolutionized the technological world so much, that what was thought as fiction was converted into reality! There are some concepts and theories for such high power computers that could simulate everything. The Matrioshka Brain, is a theoretical megastructure made up of billions of parts orbiting a star, feeding on its radiation. A computer of this scale, would have enough power to simulate many thousands of humanities at the SAME time! Other super technology like Quantum computers could increase the scale even more and thus simulating entire universes would be a child's play.

Man, there are a lot of alien civilizations all spread out in the universe but the only thing is we don't see them. This could be because of the Great Filter. Great Filters are like disastrous barriers that our Earth has to overcome in the future. If life is destroyed then there will be no creator, no simulation.

If WE are in a simulation, then our creator, the God, might not want us to think about simulation, isn't it? Who would want its creations to question the creator himself? But we are questioning who OUR creator or the God is and we think therefore we are not in a simulation. But remember, creations can not over smart the creators (Ignore AI for now). We think that questioning our creator means we don't live in a simulation but who knows what our creator thinks about us thinking about simulation. Don't get confused. Our creator might have some special reason for making us think about himself. Nobody knows who our creator is.

Now, if there are a lot simulations in the world, then it is possible we are in one of them. After all, we assume that post human beings have unlimited computer powers than us. And so, they have created us so sophisticatedly that we think ourselves real. Simulation Argument is such a cool and interesting topic that even today, there are debates going on this topic somewhere in the world. If Gods can create simulations, then it must be possible for them to run millions and billions of more such simulations as well.

We humans have a chance of 1 in a 999,999,999 simulations to NOT be a simulation! This small probability of us not being simulated is terrifying. This means what we think REALITY is, might be an illusion. We might be in a simulation right now! But all of these assumptions are not yet tested scientifically now and so a whole lot of scientist disagree with this theory. Even though, if you think about it, how will your life be if you knew you're simulated? Interesting to explore, isn't it? 

Even if you are simulated, so what? Nothing would happen! Your life will go on and on and nobody would even care if they know they are being controlled. Your life will be the same as before. The Earth won't stop. The solar system won't break down. Your tooth won't break. Nothing will happen. Just the fact that knowing you're simulated gives actual goosebumps. This proves how vast humanity can think and explore. That's why we always say: Explore More Deeper!