The idea that we are in a computer simulation has pop culture, philosophical, and theological supporters, but now it may have science on its side.
Floating around the Internets this week was an article about a group of scientists who are seeking to test if we exist in one big simulation of another being’s creation. While the ‘test’ is beyond my comprehension, the theory from the article is intriguing:
The theory basically goes that any civilization which could evolve to a ‘post-human’ stage would almost certainly learn to run simulations on the scale of a universe. And that given the size of reality – billions of worlds, around billions of suns – it is fairly likely that if this is possible, it has already happened.
And if it has? Well, then the statistical likelihood is that we’re located somewhere in that chain of simulations within simulations. The alternative – that we’re the first civilization, in the first universe – is virtually (no pun intended) absurd.
The simulation question was posited by the mega-hit science fiction movie The Matrix (1999) whereby humanity had been overtaken by machines and attached to a computer that simulated the world around us. All of reality was just electrical impulses fed to us by computers who harvested our body heat as an energy source. The savior figure Neo breaks out and joins forces with other renegades to defeat the machines and find a new way for humanity to survive.
In The Matrix, reality is a computer simulation that is meant only to make us content. It seems far-fetched but to scientists above, it is theoretically possible. But I believe that we follow this philosophy in everyday ways without thinking.
When I was younger (and occasionally still today!), I would often wonder if I was in a simulation and, like Santa watching if I was naughty or nice, if every person I met was a test.
- Was a person who passed me by crying a test of my compassion?
- Was the person on the train tentatively reading a bible a test of my evangelism?
- Was that person who looked like a childhood friend a test of my memory
or a glitch in the Matrix? - Is my 12mo daughter testing me by seeing if I pay more attention to her or to The West Wing reruns?
- Am I in a simulation and does my every interaction become a test to see if I am rewarded at the end?
This philosophy has biblical and pop-culture support. It stems from the Matthew 25 passage where the people at the end of time ask “when did I see you hungry, thirsty, naked, or in prison?” and Jesus responds “whenever you care for the least of these, you cared for me.” There’s also the Guideposts regular section “His Mysterious Ways” that shows spooky coincidences or whatnot that prove God is sending Angels to watch out for us and give us support. Are we are in a simulation and can never tell if the person in front of us is human or an angel (or a computer, I guess)?
While one can easily say “I don’t believe it is possible” I think the strongest philosophy that leaves this computer simulation question open as a possibility is Process Thought. Process Thought states that each instance, each moment of life, is connected to the next. So whether we are in a computer simulation of another super-human race or merely wandering the landscape as the pinnacle of the universe, we act as though our actions are connected to the future and the past.
As I wrote before:
Process Theology has really helped me realize that every moment I have an opportunity to seek the best possibility that God is placing before me. Holding open a door for the next person, answering that phone call when I’ve already closed the office door, tipping a server, smiling at the clerk even when I’ve had a rough day, saying hi to the gas station attendant…all those are opportunities to offer the best possible moment to the person in front of me. And now that I know it, it’s ever-present in my mind.
Whether we are in a simulation or in reality, whether angels walk among us or there are many happy coincidences, whether that irritating youth is asking honest questions or a simulacrum sent to torment you, my hope is that we all act as though we believe our actions are rooted in our past and impact the future, and we take careful consideration of how we might use each and every moment to better the world around us. In doing so, no matter what cosmology we are a part of, we’ll have lived faithfully and well and be ready for whatever glitches in the Matrix might come our way.
Thoughts?
Love this post. Although usually I more think of myself on the Truman Show than in the Matrix 😉
My eldest daughter is named Trinity (after the lead female character in the Matrix), so I’ve been thinking thoughts like this for some time.
If we are in a simulation (perhaps it’s such a real-looking simulation that it’s hard to tell the difference), miracles are as easy as a “cheat code” in a video game or as simple to implement as “commenting out” a few lines of code in a computer program.
Additionally, if you think of the universe as a large computer game, couldn’t it be the case that God picked you to live now, knowing the entirety of the code of history, for two simple reasons, to maximize the chance that you’ll enter a relationship with Him (how’s that for prevenient Grace?) and to become more like His Son?!
What if there are virtual people, angels, or other beings interlaced throughout the universe? They might be here to test us (so that we know, not so that God knows our responses because He already does, but so that we know how we’d react). The universe could be a large gym or video game meant to train and test us.
It could be that each Universe (simulation) contains only one real person (btw, welcome to mine if that’s the case) or has a limited number of real people.
I actually think it solves a few problems and makes it possible that science and Christianity don’t have contradictions, but that some things appear certain ways because of the nature of the simulation, but outside the simulation, there’s another universe that Jesus came from.
Even if the universe is “real,” it doesn’t mean that it’s not a useful metaphor for understanding the eternal things versus the physical things.
Paul
Hi, I am from Australia.
Please find an essay and website which in one way or another point out that we “live” in culture, or matrix of mind-created illusions.
http://spiralledlight.wordpress.com/2010/08/24/4068
Plus a set of resources which provide a profound critique of the kind of fragmented humpty-dumpty left-brained spirit-killing thinking that both creates and holds in place the matrix or Mummery.
http://www.beezone.com/whiteandorangeproject/index.html
I had not noticed this post before, but sadly, it has caused me to realize the root of the apparently heretical doctrines propagated by Jeremy Smith. Firstly, advocating a worldview that we are in a computer simulation, comes dangerously close to Gnosticism; the Matrix was basically Gnosticism: The Movie. Gnosticism is an evil heresy; along with Marcionism, Arianism and Iconoclasm, among the worst heresies Christianity has suffered.
Process theology is itself inherently heretical, because it denies the omnipotence of God, it denies the immutable and transcendental nature of God, and as such, is inherently un-Biblical. Thus, in identifying himself as a process theologian, UMJeremy is effectively admitting that he rejects traditional Biblical teachings about God, in favor of what amounts to New Age mysticism.
Good day. I might mention, that if anyone has read the book “The Bible Code” one notes that 1. The author is an atheist; 2. He proves as a mathematical fact that the Bible code IS real, and is computer software (as well as the living Word of God in my opinion). I myself am a chemist, and to me all of creation is just a sequence of code….all from the periodic table. Just to see the combination of molecules that make up our cell walls or DNA and their amazing complexity, it’s not a stretch to believe that our universe is one giant code…created with exquisite detail and purpose all to the glory of Jesus Christ.
Oh…for the record, the mathematical chances of just one strand of DNA coming together by chance is 10 to the 87th power!!!! Mathematically impossible without intelligent design. For the evolutionists I recommend you read the 2nd law of Thermodynamics, Entropy (disorder), which destroys the hypothesis of evolution. Entropy has been proven…evolution Never Has! Read about it for yourself. Science proves God is real, He is all knowing, Perfect in everything, Loving, and holding our bodies and universe together in His hand. Once you see that…it’s easy to see that Jesus IS who He says He is…Lord. I dare anyone of you to pray to Jesus and dare Him to reveal Himself to you!
Blessings!
In reply to Chuck D,
You state the “mathematical chance” of one strand of DNA coming together as 10 to the 87th power (against). Where do you come up with this number? Would you please figure the odds against you writing your response as you have as would be expressed at the beginning of the universe? Call it 12 billion years ago. There is no chance of this happening and yet here you are. Your statement of probability is meaningless in a universe where DNA has indeed formed by chance. It’s as bad as trying to use the Anthropic Principle to prove the existence of God. Simply because you believe something is impossible without a God in no way proves it to be true.