When The Matrix came out in 1999, it seemed like a bizarre fantasy, the kind of delusion that only arises in the mind of someone who has not slept for too long or accidentally picked the wrong mushroom during a walk in the woods, but the idea that our world is an illusion is as old as our civilisation. Long before the beginning of our era, the Greek philosopher Plato stated in his Allegory of the cave already that besides the world we call our own, there is another abstract world of which our world is an imperfect reflection: a primordial version that we cannot perceive from our 'cave'.
Meanwhile, 20 years after The Matrix, the idea that our world is the real not has moved from the world of SF to the 'real' world of science.
Essence of the 'simulation hypothesis', as the idea has been referred to in science since AI researcher Nick Bostrom published a paper on it in 2003: our physical reality could 'in reality' be an advanced video game-like simulation, fabricated by members of a posthuman society who, using unlimited computing power, create simulations of their ancestors in the universe in order to gain more insight into their own evolution. Or just for fun, because they can.
On whether the theoretical conceivable is long gone anno 2021. The debate focuses on (higher) probability. The chances of us living in a simulation are fifty-fifty, reasoned a leading astronomer recently. Simulation-adept Elon Musk even exclaims that the probability that we are not in a simulation life is one in a billion.
The simulation hypothesis is a thousand-thing cookie where the riddles of our universe are concerned. It could explain some of the inconsistencies in the laws of nature, such as the finiteness of time and space, according to physicists. That our universe is divided into subatomic particles could be explained by reference to video games, which are made up of pixels. And the big bang? That is simply the press of the button the Designer once used to start the simulation.
The idea that we live in a computer simulation, in a game, moreover, would offer an explanation for what Karel van het Reve once called 'the incredible wickedness of our supreme being'. Look at a game like World of Warcraft: wars and earthquakes provide delicious tension, excitement. It is, for posthumans at least, fun.
All good theorising, sceptics say, but evidence is lacking. Experiments by astronomers and physicists to "catch" the simulation have so far been fruitless. The simulation hypothesis is similar to the belief in an invisible creator.
Anyway, suppose our universe is unexpectedly a computer simulation after all: would that be bad? After all, it would mean that all misery is likewise an illusion. All the war, hunger and disease: it would matter less anyway. Just as you need to be less annoyed by that one narcissistic politician who believes the world is an extension of his ego. On closer inspection, he lives in a simulation of his own making, you tell yourself, a simulation within a simulation. So oh well, what can happen to me? After which you walk into the garden in good spirits. The afternoon sun caresses the fields, an enchanting glow. High up in a tree, a blackbird begins to sing. You take a deep breath. "Spring in the air," you murmur, and feel how a feeling of happiness flows through you. For as long as it lasts, that is, because once inside, something starts to gnaw at you: if trouble is an illusion, then so is the blackbird and that enchanting skimming light.
Still hoping maybe we will never find out.
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