In games, there are NPCs (Non-playable characters) and main characters. Do you think you are the main character or an NPC? I’m asking you this question on the probability that the universe we live in is a simulation. Therefore, how big do you think this probability is? Are we really living in a simulation, as Elon Musk says?
The simulation argument takes its current form in an article by Nick Bostrom in 2003. In this argument, Nick says that simulation theory has 3 possibilities. The first possibility is that the human race can never have the capability to create a simulation. If this possibility is wrong then we have the second possibility; even if the human race has the power to do it, they wouldn’t be interested in doing it. However, if these two possibilities are not actual, we are definitely in a simulation right now.
I believe the first 2 possibilities are most likely to be wrong. Because considering how big the way we’ve come in these last 50 years is why can’t we go much further? Moreover, considering how curious human beings are in everything, I don’t even think it’s possible that there would be no desire to create simulations. In another way, I give a very high probability to the theory that we are in the simulation.
If we are in a simulation, then everything in the universe we live in can be simulated. Anything like tables, animals, atoms, etc. What about human consciousness? Is it possible to simulate a creature to have thoughts of its own? If not, then whose consciousness are we living in? Don’t we have our own thoughts? Actually, no. Research shows that brain simulations are possible. If neurons and their interactions can be fully simulated and the entire neural network of a human brain can be scanned, then basically consciousness can be created in a computer environment. In the end, as we know anything can be simulated, but what happens when we die? I wonder if we will be respawned as in the games when we die. I think this would be the best possibility we can face.
In conclusion, we have an interesting result, right? The contingency that, this simple but important life we live is just a “game” to another. Perhaps those who simulated us can not understand what we are feeling. Our sufferings and happiness might mean nothing to them.