Simulation Theory Explained: Are We Living in a Simulation?

by Austin Waters, Ron Welch (Narrator)

Simulated reality is the hypothesis that reality could be simulated—for example by quantum computer simulation—to a degree indistinguishable from "true" reality. It could contain conscious minds which may or may not be fully aware that they are living inside a simulation. This is quite different from the current, technologically achievable concept of virtual reality. Virtual reality is easily distinguished from the experience of actuality; participants are never in doubt about the nature of what they experience. Simulated reality, by contrast, would be hard or impossible to separate from "true" reality. There has been much debate over this topic, ranging from philosophical discourse to practical applications in computing.

The version of the simulation hypothesis was first theorised as a part of a philosophical argument on the part of René Descartes. Later, the philosopher Nick Bostrom developed an expanded argument examining the probability of our reality being a simulation. His argument states that at least one of the following statements is very likely to be true:

1. Human civilization is unlikely to reach a level of technological maturity capable of producing simulated realities or such simulations are physically impossible to construct.
2. A comparable civilization reaching aforementioned technological status will likely not produce a significant number of simulated realities (one that might push the probable existence of digital entities beyond the probable number of "real" entities in a Universe) for any of a number of reasons, such as, diversion of computational processing power for other tasks, ethical considerations of holding entities captive in simulated realities, etc.
3. Any entities with our general set of experiences are almost certainly living in a simulation.
4. We are living in a reality in which posthumans haven't developed yet and we are actually living in reality
In greater detail, Bostrom is attempting to prove a tripartite disjunction, that at least one of these propositions must be true. His argument rests on the premise that given sufficiently advanced technology, it is possible to represent the populated surface of the Earth without recourse to digital physics; that the qualia experienced by a simulated consciousness are comparable or equivalent to those of a naturally occurring human consciousness; and that one or more levels of simulation within simulations would be feasible given only a modest expenditure of computational resources in the real world.

If one assumes first that humans will not be destroyed nor destroy themselves before developing such a technology, and, next, that human descendants will have no overriding legal restrictions or moral compunctions against simulating biospheres or their own historical biosphere, then it would be unreasonable to count ourselves among the small minority of genuine organisms who, sooner or later, will be vastly outnumbered by artificial simulations.

Epistemologically, it is not impossible to tell whether we are living in a simulation. For example, Bostrom suggests that a window could pop up saying: "You are living in a simulation. Click here for more information." However, imperfections in a simulated environment might be difficult for the native inhabitants to identify and for purposes of authenticity, even the simulated memory of a blatant revelation might be purged programmatically. Nonetheless, should any evidence come to light, either for or against the skeptical hypothesis, it would radically alter the aforementioned probability.

1 pages, Audible Audio

Published April 24, 2018

Reviews

[Sinisa Mikasinovic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book started with statements like "From a logical perspective, accidents lead to a jumble and inactivity. Creation leads to order and progress."

I disagreed.

And going onwards, I kept hearing things stated so matter-of-factly that I had a hard time making myself pay attention.

"No system is created by accident. It's all order unless The Architect wants it."
Sure, tell that to cancer.

I knew it was just a matter of time before the author introduced God as the Grand Architect, but I was pleasantly surprised. The topic was discussed, yes, but this didn't turn out to be one of those zealotries in disguise. Otherwise, I fully planned to turn the book off and go listen to George Carlin on YouTube for a while.

Instead, the book does bring up quite a few interesting points. Some are discussed to death by now, such as "Maybe there's no life on other planets. What if we are the first?" And then continues with "Will then there be others?" and "Have others previously been wiped and we're just the next iteration of the ongoing experiment?"

Interesting thought experiments. At least for a while. The second half of the book went completely off the rails. Questioning the law of physics and (again) stating that they are so perfect that only The Architect could have made them. Discussing thoughts of people who ingested hallucinogens and then wrote down their scientific observations of their interactions with demons.

It ended just in time. If it weren't for the Ron Welch narrating this in the very professorial way I don't think I'd be able to go through the whole book. I enjoyed his voice and will definitely pick something interesting from him in the future. From the author, I'm not so sure. I'll read reviews first.

3* for some good talking points and fresh perspectives. Two stars docked for discussing uninteresting things irrelevant to the stated topic of the book.

Simulation Theory Explained: Are We Living in a Simulation?
by Austin Waters, Ron Welch (Narrator)

 

Verdict     Not deep enough.
Runtime     00:37
Overall     
Performance 
Story       

[Tim Kingsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this unbiased, voluntary review.

I listened to the audiobook by Ron Welsh.

I would like to note this is my first experience with simulation theory, so I can not say whether it covered all the necessary points.

I throughly enjoyed this book. It was an interesting perspective on life that I had never thought of before. The possible evidence seemed loose at best including saying crop circles could not be created by people but had to be from a simulation. I would say much of this book is speculation, but it is quite interesting if you don’t believe every word.

Ron Welch was great! He had a strong, confident voice. He never missed a beat and I was entranced by is delivery.

As a short little book, I would recommend listening to this different perspective on the world you know.

[Kingsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Simulation Theory Explained' doesn't really explain anything. It is more just a barrage of a list of reasons why it could be true, without fully explaining the items of the list. It drops a whole lot of premises for it's argument without giving any good explanation for where those premises come from. It also felt like the logical from some of the premises to the if-so-then of the next premise wasn't actually there. It's a leap that the author assume without backing it up well. Maybe the arguments have good basis, maybe they don't. But this book doesn't have the time in it to build that depth. The list is basically an introduction of what will be discussed in later chapters of the book, but those chapters never come.

The latter half of the book tries give a little more detail around the history with René Descartes and Nick Bostrom (it also touches on the work by Ludwig Boltzmann and the Boltzmann Brain, but doesnt actually mention his name). It would have been better to have some of this information up front as it does better to explain where the idea came from and what it actually is.

Overall the book is too presumptuous and too quick to gloss over ideas.

Narration by Ron Welch is good. Clear and well paced, easy to understand. No issues with it.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.