Elon Musk rates the probability that “we are living in a base reality” as “one in billions”. If this is true — that everything we see and experience is a simulation — then this would have a deep impact on philosophy and physics. Or would it really?

This a priori approach to the nature of the universe could never be confirmed in an experiment. We will never know, no matter how advanced we become, if we are living in a simulation. Therefore, it is reasonable to ask: why even have this hypothetical discussion?

Nick Bostrom wrote a paper about the simulation argument a while back, which Musk partially seems to quote during his interview with Vox Media. Here’s his abstract:

This paper argues that at least one of the following propositions is true: (1) the human species is very likely to go extinct before reaching a “posthuman” stage; (2) any posthuman civilization is extremely unlikely to run a significant number of simulations of their evolutionary history (or variations thereof); (3) we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation. It follows that the belief that there is a significant chance that we will one day become posthumans who run ancestor-simulations is false, unless we are currently living in a simulation. A number of other consequences of this result are also discussed.

My take-aways from the simulation argument

Either way, I think there’s only two paths I can choose in my life.

1) I can choose to do nothing.

2) I can choose to do something.

To quote Star Wars, “Do or do not, there is no try.”

The simulation universe is an interesting hypothesis because it puts forward a strikingly existential question: if the universe is simulated, why do anything? The things we do only have meaning to the extent to which we give those things meaning. If our entire universe is sitting in a hard-drive on someone’s desk, then any of our ambitions seem insignificant.

Since I am already here, I am currently choosing to do something. What is that something? I am still exploring. But it is one of the best times in the history of humanity to do something that helps others.

And I have every intention of capitalizing on that.