Moore’s law is the observation that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit (IC) doubles about every two years; and as a consequence the power of computers continues to go up, whilst the prices tend to come down.
And even though this trend is showing signs of slowing down, if we fast forward far enough into the future, there will inevitably come a time when we have more computing power than we know what to do with. It’s easy to imagine that we’ll be able to run simulations with degrees of sophistication hitherto undreamed of. So who is to say we won’t eventually try a simulation of a community, or a planet, or a Universe?
If we can accept this possibility, it’s only a simple step to wonder “what if what we call existence is merely a simulation inside some a computer in a ‘meta-Universe’?” Something like Matrix, but without maintaining banks of messy protoplasm.
We may already have evidence of this… as we continue to investigate the properties of our Universe, we find problems when looking at the very very large and the very very small. At large scales, just when we think we have a handle on things like cosmic distances, and even the size of the Universe, we discover that our calculations are all wrong and we’re forced to invent things like dark matter and dark energy to explain the discrepancies. At the level of the very very small, quantum uncertainty seems to limit how much information we can extract from our observations and measurements. It’s almost as if the architects of our Universe have made it’s physical laws and properties accessible, even understandable to it’s occupants… but only up to a point.
The big question though, is why go to all the trouble of building this simulation, if all you’re doing is creating the illusion of reality for the occupants, who are actually not much more than a collection of program subroutines? Without knowing what the meta-Universe is like, and who the architects and programmers are, it’s difficult to speculate (and afterall, it’s possible that they too are in a simulation!)
But anyway, here’s some speculations:
Perhaps psychological or behavioural data? Unless the occupants have been given true self-determination, this seems unlikely when it could be argued that their behaviour is just a consequence of their programming. Modelling different types of society, cultures, political systems? Ditto.
Where does the need for religion come from, and how do religions evolve?
Seeing how long it takes to destroy ourselves? Hmmm.
Art perhaps? Of course these simulations would be well beyond what we currently consider to be AI, so it’s possible that we can produce art that is valid to the meta-beings.
The most plausible speculation I can come up with is music. Again, we can’t know what the meta-beings are like, but it’s possible that they are creatures of pure logic, and have out-evolved the ability to make music even though they still appreciate it.
Music is that wonderful fusion of art, science, mathematics and emotion. Music is simultaneously objective and subjective. It’s been in a constant state of evolution from it’s earliest origins, probably with just rhythm from beating hollow logs with sticks, then melody when people started using voices, and later made pitched instruments such as pipes, harps, lutes, etc. Then eventually, discoveries of harmony, counterpoint, cross-rhythm, time signatures, etc. Somewhere along the line, we discovered what could happen when groups of musicians got together. Then people started to move around, and we got fusions of different cultural influences. Finally we had the evolution that comes from improved technologies such as better materials, better instruments, and eventually the ability to record and therefore disseminate the music. Mankind has made a lot of music!
On balance I’m not ready to abandon reason, even thought the simulation idea makes some sense and certainly has it’s advocates. It also has a much merit as some religions! But if you accept the possibility, then at least as a thought exercise, music as the prime motivator makes as much sense as anything else.
