Even the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, who lived almost two and a half millennia ago, suggested that our world is not real. With the advent computer equipment and gaining virtual reality humanity is increasingly coming to the understanding that the world in which it lives may be a simulation of reality - a matrix, and who created it and why, we will most likely never know.

Even today, having, for example, the Sunway TaihuLight supercomputer (China), capable of performing almost one hundred quadrillion calculations per second, it is possible to simulate several million years of human history in a matter of days. But quantum computers are coming, which will work millions of times faster than the current ones. What parameters will computers have in fifty, one hundred years?

Now imagine that a certain civilization has been developing for many billions of years, and in comparison with it, ours, which is only a few thousand, is just a newborn baby. Do you think these highly developed beings are able to create a computer or some other machine capable of simulating our world? It seems that the question of whether it is possible to create a matrix has, in principle, been resolved positively (esoreiter.ru).

Who would create the matrix and why?

So, a matrix can be created; even our civilization has come close to this. But another question arises: who allowed this, since from a moral point of view this action is not entirely legal and justified. What if something goes wrong in this illusory world? Isn’t the creator of such a matrix taking on too much responsibility?

On the other hand, it can be assumed that we live in a matrix created, so to speak, illegally - by someone who is simply having fun in this way, and therefore does not even question the morality of his virtual game.

There is also a possible option: some highly developed society ran this simulation for scientific purposes, for example, as a diagnostic test to find out what and why went wrong with the real world, and subsequently correct the situation.

The Matrix is ​​revealed through its flaws

It can be assumed that in the case of a sufficiently high-quality simulation of reality, no one inside the matrix will even understand what it is - artificial world. But here's the problem: any program, even the most advanced one, can have glitches.

These are the ones we constantly notice, although we cannot rationally explain them. For example, the effect of deja vu, when it seems to us that we have already lived through some situation, but in principle this cannot be. The same applies to many other mysterious facts and phenomena. For example, where do people disappear without a trace, sometimes right in front of witnesses? Why some stranger suddenly starts meeting with us several times a day? Why is one person seen in several places at the same time?.. Search the Internet: similar cases thousands are described there. And how many undescribed things are stored in people’s memory?..

Matrix is ​​based on mathematics

The world we live in can be represented in binary code. In general, the Universe is better explained mathematically than verbally; for example, even our DNA was solved using a computer during the Human Genome Project.

It turns out that, in principle, a virtual person can be created based on this genome. And if it is possible to build one such conditional personality, then that means the whole world(the only question is the power of the computer).

Many researchers of the matrix phenomenon suggest that someone has already created such a world, and this is exactly the simulation in which we live. Using the same mathematics, scientists are trying to determine whether this is really the case. However, for now they are only making guesses...

The anthropic principle as a proof of the matrix

Scientists have long been surprised to note that in some incomprehensible way ideal conditions for life have been created on Earth (the anthropic principle). Even ours solar system– unique! At the same time, in the space of the Universe observable by the most powerful telescopes there is nothing else like it.

The question arises: why did these conditions suit us so well? Maybe they are created artificially? For example, in some laboratory on a universal scale?.. Or maybe there is no Universe at all and this vast starry sky is also a simulation?

Further, on the other side of the model in which we find ourselves, there may not even be people, but creatures whose appearance, structure, and state are difficult for us to even imagine. And in this program there may be aliens who know the conditions of this game well or are even its guides (regulators) - remember the film “The Matrix”. That's why they are practically omnipotent in this simulation...

The anthropic principle echoes the Fermi paradox, according to which in an infinite Universe there should be many worlds similar to ours. And the fact that we remain alone in the Universe suggests sad thought: we are in the matrix, and its creator is interested in precisely this scenario - “loneliness of the mind”...

Parallel worlds as proof of the matrix

The theory of the multiverse - the existence of parallel universes with an infinite set of all possible parameters - is another indirect proof of the matrix. Judge for yourself: where did all these universes come from and what role do they play in the universe?

However, if we assume a simulation of reality, then many similar worlds are quite understandable: these are numerous models with different variables necessary for the creator of the matrix, say, to test a particular scenario in order to obtain the best result.

God created the matrix

According to this theory, our matrix was created by the Almighty, and in almost the same way as we create virtual reality in computer games: using binary code. At the same time, the Creator not only simulated real world, but also introduced the concept of the Creator into people’s consciousness. Hence the numerous religions and belief in higher power, and worship of God.

This idea has its own discrepancies in the interpretation of the Creator. Some believe that the Almighty is just a programmer, albeit of the highest level, inaccessible to humans, who also has a supercomputer on a universal scale.

Others believe that God creates this Universe in some other way, for example, cosmic or - in our understanding - mystical. In this case, this world can also, albeit with a stretch, be considered a matrix, but then it is not clear what is considered the real world?..

What is beyond the matrix?

Considering the world as a matrix, we naturally ask the question: what is beyond its boundaries? A supercomputer surrounded by programmers - creators of numerous matrix programs?

However, these programmers themselves may not be real, that is, the Universe may be infinite both in width (many parallel worlds within one program) and in depth (many layers of the simulation itself). It was this theory that was put forward at one time by the Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom, who believed that the creatures who created our matrix could themselves be simulated, and the creators of these post-humans, in turn, too - and so on ad infinitum. We see something similar in the film “The Thirteenth Floor,” although only two levels of the simulation are shown there.

Remains main question: who created the real world, and does it even exist? If not, then who created all these self-nested matrices? Of course, one can argue this way ad infinitum. It’s all one thing to try to understand: if God created this whole world, then who created God himself? According to psychologists, persistent thinking on such topics is a direct path to a psychiatric hospital...

The Matrix is ​​a much deeper concept

Some researchers have a question: is it even worth creating all these complex matrix programs with multi-billion people, not to mention endless universes? Maybe everything is much simpler, because each person interacts only with a certain set people and situations. What if, apart from the main character, that is you, all other people are fakes? It is no coincidence that with certain mental and emotional efforts a person can radically change the world around him. It turns out that either each person has his own world, his own matrix, or each of us is the only player in a single matrix? And that only player is you! And even the article about the simulation that you are reading right now is a program code necessary for your development (or for the game), like everything else that surrounds you.

The latter is, of course, hard to believe, because in this case there are an infinite number of matrices not only in depth and width, but also in the infinity of other dimensions, about which we have no idea yet. Of course, you can convince yourself that there is a super programmer behind all this. But how then is he different from the Almighty? And who is above him? There is no answer, and can there be one?..

Have you ever thought that our real world may not be real at all? What if everything around us is just an illusion invented by someone? This is exactly what the computer simulation hypothesis is about. Let's try to understand whether this theory is worth seriously considering or whether it is just a figment of someone's imagination, which has no basis.

“He is your illusion”: how the simulation hypothesis appeared

It is completely wrong to think that the idea that our world is just an illusion only recently appeared. This idea was also expressed by Plato (of course, in a different form, without meaning computer simulation). In his opinion, only ideas have true material value, everything else is just a shadow. Aristotle shared similar views. He believed that ideas are embodied in material objects, therefore everything is a simulation.

French philosopher Rene Descartes in the 17th century said that “some evil genius, very powerful and prone to deception,” made humanity think that everything around people is real physical world, in reality, our reality is just the fantasy of this genius.

Despite the fact that the very idea of ​​simulation theory is rooted in the distant past, the theory flourished with the development of information technology. One of the main terms in the development of computer simulation is “virtual reality”. The term itself was coined in 1989 by Jaron Lanier. Virtual reality is a kind of artificial world where an individual is immersed through the senses. Virtual reality simulates both the impact and reactions to these impacts.

IN modern world simulation theory is increasingly becoming a subject of discussion in the context of artificial intelligence developments. In 2016, Neil deGrasse Tyson, an American astrophysicist with a Ph.D. in physics, conducted debate with scientists and researchers on the topic of the simulation hypothesis. Even Elon Musk has stated that he believes in the simulation theory. According to him, the possibility that our “reality” is basic is extremely insignificant, but this is even better for humanity. In September of the same 2016, Bank of America issued an appeal to clients in which it warned that with a 20-50% probability our reality is a matrix.

Marina1408 / Bigstockphoto.com

Simulation hypothesis: how it works

How long have you played computer games? It's time to refresh your memory of how you and your friends completed GTA missions in your youth. Remember: the world in a computer game exists only around the hero. As soon as objects or other characters disappear from the virtual hero's field of view, they disappear completely. There is nothing outside the hero's space. Cars, buildings, people appear only when your character is there. In computer games, this simplification is done in order to minimize the load on the processor and optimize the game. Supporters of the simulation hypothesis see our world approximately this way.

Proof of the theory

Swedish philosopher and Oxford University professor Nick Bostrom, in his 2001 article “Are We Living in the Matrix?” offered three pieces of evidence that the simulation hypothesis is indeed true. As he says, at least one of these pieces of evidence is clearly correct. In the first proof, the philosopher states that humanity as a biological species will disappear “before reaching the “post-human” stage” (read about this in our friend). Second: any new posthuman society is unlikely to launch a large number of simulations that would show variations of its history. His third statement is “we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation.”

In his reasoning, Bostrom gradually refutes the first two of his proofs, which automatically gives him the right to speak about the correctness of the third hypothesis. It is easy to refute the first statement: according to the researcher, humanity is capable of developing artificial intelligence to such an extent that it can simulate the work of many living organisms. The validity of the second hypothesis is refuted by the theory of probability. Conclusions about the number of earthly civilizations cannot in any way be applied to the entire Universe. Consequently, if both the first and second judgments are erroneous, then we can only accept the latter: we are in a simulation.

A study by scientists at the University of California at San Diego in 2012 also speaks in favor of the theory of simulation. They found out that all the most complex systems– The Universe, the human brain, the Internet – have a similar structure and develop in the same way.

One of the proofs of the virtuality of our world can be considered strange behavior photons when observing them.

Thomas Young's experience back in 1803 turned “modern” physics on its head. In his experiment, he shot photons of light through a screen with a parallel slit. There was a special projection screen behind it to record the result. Shooting photons through one slit, the scientist discovered that the photons of light lined up one line on this screen, which was parallel to the slit. This confirmed the corpuscular theory of light, which states that light is made up of particles. When another slit was added to the experiment for the passage of photons, it was expected that there would be two parallel lines, however, contrary to this, a series of alternating interference fringes appeared. Thanks to this experiment, Young confirmed another - wave - theory of light, which says that light travels as an electromagnetic wave. Both theories seem to contradict each other. It is impossible for light to be both a particle and a wave at the same time.

Young's experiment, where S1 and S2 are parallel slits, a is the distance between the slits, D is the distance between the screen with slits and the projection screen, M is the point of the screen on which two rays fall simultaneously, Wikimedia

Later, scientists found that electrons, protons, and other parts of the atom behave strangely. For the purity of the experiment, scientists decided to measure exactly how a photon of light passes through the slits. To do this, a measuring device was placed in front of them, which was supposed to record the photon and put an end to the disputes between physicists. However, a surprise awaited the scientists here. When the researchers observed the photon, it again exhibited the properties of a particle, and two lines again appeared on the projection screen. That is, one fact of outside observation of the experiment caused the particles to change their behavior, as if the photon knew that it was being observed. The observation was able to destroy the wave functions and make the photon behave like a particle. Does this remind you of anything, gamers?

Based on the above, adherents of the computer simulation hypothesis compare this experiment with computer games, when the virtual world of the game “freezes” if there is no player within it. Likewise, our world, in order to optimize the conventional power of the central processor, lightens the load and does not calculate the behavior of photons until they begin to be observed.

Criticism of the theory

Of course, the evidence given for the theory of simulation is criticized by other scientists who are opponents of this hypothesis. Their main emphasis is on the fact that scientific articles, where evidence of the theory is presented, there are gross logical errors: “a logical circle, self-reference (the phenomenon when a concept refers to itself), ignoring the non-random position of observers, violation of causality and neglect of simulation control on the part of the creators.” According to the candidate of economic sciences, one of the founders coordination council Russian transhumanist movement of Danila Medvedev, the basic principles of Bostrom do not stand up to philosophical and physical rules: for example, the rule of causation. Bostrom, contrary to all logic, allows the influence of future events on the events of our time.

Besides, our civilization is probably not interesting to simulate at all. Global society, according to Danila Medvedev, is not as interesting as, for example, states and local communities, and from a technological point of view, modern civilization is still too primitive.

Simulating a huge number of people has no advantages compared to a small number. Such large civilizations are chaotic, and there is no point in simulating them.

In 2011, Craig Hogan, director of the Center for Quantum Physics at Fermilab in the USA, decided to check whether what a person sees around him is real and not “pixels”. For this purpose he came up with the “holometer”. He analyzed beams of light from the emitter built into the device and determined that the world is not a two-dimensional hologram, and it really exists.

Wikimedia

The theory of simulation in the film industry: what to watch to stay in the know

Directors are actively trying to explore the idea of ​​life in the matrix. It is safe to say that it was thanks to cinema that this theory reached a mass audience. Of course, the main film about computer simulation is The Matrix. The Wachowski brothers (now sisters) quite accurately managed to depict a world where humanity is controlled by a computer simulation from birth to death. Real people in the Matrix can go into this simulation to create a “second self” and transfer their consciousness into it.

The second film that those who want to learn more about computer simulation should get acquainted with is “The Thirteenth Floor.” It reflects the idea that in a simulation it is possible to move from one level to a new one. The film embodies the possibility of several simulations. Our world is a simulation, but an American company has created another new one - for a separate city. The characters move between simulations by transferring their consciousness into the bodily shell of a real person.

In the movie Vanilla Sky, with a young Tom Cruise, it is possible to enter a computer simulation after death. The hero's physical body is cryogenically frozen, and his consciousness is transferred to a computer simulation. This film is a remake of the Spanish "Open Your Eyes", filmed in 1997.

Now it is very difficult to unambiguously answer the question: whether we live in a computer matrix or not. However, such a hypothesis does exist: our Universe holds too many mysteries and blind spots. Even physics cannot explain these mysteries. And even after their solution, new, much more complex questions arise.

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The fact is that we will never know about it anyway.

A letter that Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) sent to its clients on Tuesday said there is a 20% to 50% chance we are living in a matrix - meaning that the world we perceive as "reality" is actually in fact is only the result of computer modeling.

Bank analysts refer to statements given in an original article on this issue by Elon Musk, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Nick Bostrom, on the basis of which they estimated this probability at 20%-50%. .

Context

Is humanity alone in the universe?

Forbes 06/23/2016

Yakunin: humanity is under threat

Parlamentnilisty.cz 04/01/2016

Will humanity be able to build a ring world?

BBC 07/11/2015 This is what the letter says: “Many scientists, philosophers and business leaders believe that the likelihood that people are already living in a virtual world created using computer simulation is 20%-50%. To discuss this concept, scientists met in April 2016 at the American Museum of Natural History. The fact is that humanity is already approaching the technology of photorealistic 3D modeling, in which millions of people can simultaneously participate. It is possible that as technologies improve in the field of artificial intelligence, virtual reality and increased computer performance, representatives of future civilizations could come to the point of recreating their ancestors using computer modeling.”

BAML experts also highlight three likely scenarios for human development proposed by Nick Bostrom. The first of these is the extinction of humanity before it reaches the “post-human” stage; according to the second scenario, humanity will reach a “posthuman” stage in its development, but evolutionary history will not be modeled; according to the third scenario, we already live in the matrix.

However, when reading Bostrom's 2003 paper, it becomes clear that humans will never truly be able to test any of the scenarios in detail because, as Bostrom concluded, "unless we now live in a virtual, simulated world, our descendants will almost certainly never model their ancestors.”

This logical structure of "if it's true then it's true, otherwise it's false" means that all these philosophical debates have no meaning at all.

Either we are in the matrix or we are not. And if we are not in it, then we are unlikely to create it, because if the matrix were possible, it would have been created one way or another. And we would be in it.

How this finding will impact investment activity remains unclear.

Are we simply the result of a computer simulation? Who or what is our creator? More and more scientists are now seriously considering the possibility that we could live in the matrix, and they say there is plenty of evidence for this all around us.

One such scientist, Rich Terrell, is from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech, and has been involved in preparing missions to Mars, discovering four new moons of Saturn, Neptune and Uranus, and photographing the distant solar system.

Terrell has his own opinion about our Creator, who is commonly called God.

“What are the requirements for God? God is interdimensional and controls everything related to everything in the entire universe. The Creator who is in charge of the Universe and can change the laws of physics if he wanted to. There must be a God,” Terrell says.

This is the same way programmers create scientific models, Terrell explains. Terrell confirms this belief using Moore's law and the Turing test.

Terrell wondered what percentage of power was needed to simulate the Earth. Humans are doubling computing power every 13 months, and Terrell says computers are already matching the power of human brain, By at least in computing speed.

Now ours fast computers capable of one million billion operations per second, Terrell says. In this case, in 10 years, Terrell believes, computers will be able to create a real model of everything that we see around us and in general - the Earth.

But could a computer populate such a model with thinking beings, simulating the artificial intelligence of creatures such as humans? Terrell thinks that people are on the verge of creating worlds inside computers inhabited by living beings.

Terrell says he has found evidence that God is a programmer in nature.

“Look at how the Universe behaves, it's all quantum and made of pixels. Space, matter, energy, everything consists of individual pixels. Which means that the Universe has a finite number of components. This means a finite number of states, which means everything is created by a computer.

In his scientific work"The Simulation Argument" Professor Nick Bostrom of the University of Oxford has suggested that we are likely already in a simulation.

Research carried out by other scientists, such as David Bohm, Karl Pribram and Alain Aspect, suggests that our Universe is a gigantic and well-made holographic illusion.

“Our world has every indication that it is nothing more than a computer model. But who needed to create all this and imitate people’s lives... Maybe these are our descendants from the future? They would then be god-like beings for us, capable of creating their own universes. Perhaps we came from nothingness in self-awareness and further self-awareness reached a stage where our future descendants became gods themselves,” says Rich Terrell.

Are we all living in a matrix?

Every child sooner or later asked their parents where the starry sky ends and what is behind it? The answer, as a rule, was terrible for the child’s consciousness: “The Universe is limitless, it has no end.” To realize the existence of something limitless is beyond the power of either a child’s imagination or the brain of an adult. This was the case until films began to appear in world cinema with enviable regularity, the plot of which played with the idea of ​​the illusory nature of our universe. The world-famous trilogy: “The Matrix” became an unconditional hit among such films. However, films, films, but many researchers wondered, what if this is how things really are? From that moment on, a boom began on Earth in the search for parallel worlds and attempts to make contact with the main system administrator of the program called “humanity.”

Humanity simulation

Researchers call one of the most likely scenarios for the development of post-human civilization not only the gradual fusion of humans and computer systems, but also a gradual retreat into the virtual world. Indeed, by that time, supercomputers will be able to create in the smallest detail any most fantastic world, any historical era, and a person will actually be able to choose in which world to spend first his free time, and then possibly his whole life. Even today, to the question of what reality is, each person will answer differently depending on his social status, wealth and intelligence. At the same time, philosophers who study human consciousness have long stopped connecting his consciousness with the body, believing that the same consciousness can exist in different “carriers.” Indeed, doctors are confident that for consciousness to exist, all that is necessary is its embodiment in carbon-based biological neural networks, which can also be technologically obtained using silicon processors. Similar statements apply to brain cells, if humanity learns to synthesize them electronically, then the resulting cell, which has all the characteristics of a biological one, will be able to replace it, which will inevitably lead to the emergence of artificial people who have the consciousness of a living person, but, unlike him, have an artificial non-aging body with replaceable components. In addition, posthumanity will probably want to model many historical characters with the full surroundings of their era in order to look at the possible options development of human civilization. However, it may simply not occur to people that the created models will consider themselves to be real, living people. And here lies an extremely exciting guess-version. What if humanity has long ago reached a post-human state, and our world is just a virtual projection of the real world, which has developed so much that it will soon be ready to create its own virtual worlds?

Search for a system administrator

Let's assume that we live in a virtual world, then there must be some objective things that confirm such a guess. Oddly enough, the main evidence lies in human mythology. After all, the Gods of any religion, if you believe the sacred texts, created people, declaring the laws by which they should live. This state of affairs is extremely similar to a programmer who created a computer world and its inhabitants, telling them, through the prototype of God he created, how to behave so that the game does not end before its allotted time. No wonder when people stop following higher rules, the programmer erases them, populating the world he created with new “modified” entities.

Electronic resort

In this regard, the term “fate” is defined quite simply. In fact, when creating people, the variations in their actions are limited by the imagination of the creator - the programmer, so he comes up with each of the created virtual characters - programs the plot of his life. It is simply impossible to turn away from it; other characters will either return you to the “true” path or destroy it. It is also possible that our world is an amusement park for some higher civilization, whose inhabitants are “loaded” into the body of a person with a certain destiny in order to have fun, and then return to their world. This is eloquently proven by the fate of great people, such as generals or conquerors. Contemporaries said about each of them that they were supposedly led by some external force. They make the only right decisions and take only the right steps. At the same time, genius dictators often complained to those close to them that they heard some voices. But, at some point, the voices suddenly disappear, and the ruler or conqueror flies head over heels down the social ladder, usually to the scaffold. There is nothing to be surprised here, it’s just that in another world, the user paid for the game “become a conqueror”, his consciousness was uploaded into common man, creating ideal conditions for him in our virtual world so that he could reach stratospheric heights. Then, when the player gets tired of playing dictator, he returns to his body, in his world. The person who played the role of a case for the player’s consciousness is thrown to the mercy of fate. Such games can be collective, when a whole group of entities is loaded into our world, or players can play against each other, as is already happening today in human computer strategy games.

Evidence to the stage

As proof of the artificiality of our world, we can cite a strange fact that has long been noticed by astronomers around the world. In their opinion, the surrounding space is extremely friendly towards the Earth. It’s as if something is protecting her from cosmic radiation, huge meteorites and other unpleasant surprises of space. Moreover, guardianship became noticeable from the moment intelligent life appeared on the planet. The same carbon necessary for the emergence of life did not arise at the moment big bang, like all other matter, but only as a result of complex, unlikely nuclear reactions in the depths of giant stars, after an explosion, which spread throughout the Universe. Thus, the English astronomer Fred Hall called the Universe a “machinery,” hinting at its artificial nature of creation. And the famous astronomer Martin Rea has repeatedly suggested that both we ourselves and our Universe are nothing more than a virtual model of some more powerful civilization. Of course, no virtual model can be one hundred percent reliable; there must be errors in it, and there are! So John Web from the University of NSW, studying the light of distant quasars, unexpectedly discovered that about six billion years ago, there was a minute shift in the speed of light. However, this cannot be! Unless an unknown programmer overloaded our world by making changes to it.

Have German scientists found the boundary of space?

According to the Daily Mail, German scientists have experimentally scientifically proven that we live in a virtual world. To do this, Silas Bean from the University of Bonn created a theoretical model of the universe to test fundamental principle its infinity. In his model, the scientist used the theory of quantum chronodynamics, which describes strong interaction elementary particles. The scale of the model can be represented as the interaction of particles to the power of 10 to minus 15. The virtual model of space created in this way limited the energy of particles, confirming the thesis of a finite universe that only imitates reality. It also turned out that back in 1966 the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin limit was calculated, which describes the upper limit of the energy of cosmic rays from distant sources. This discovery, however, does not directly indicate the virtuality of our Universe, but determines the limit of the propagation of cosmic rays. In conclusion, we can only say one thing: if our world is virtual, no matter if it was created for the purpose of an experiment, a game, or a resting place for entities from more developed civilizations, it is of interest to the creators only as long as humanity does not realize the unreality of its existence. In this regard, the most reasonable thing for people would be to pretend that they have no idea about anything and observe all the higher laws sent down to us by the creators.