After exploring the
unknown, let us come back to our known world, the world of computation and
simulation. Games nowadays can have graphics so realistic, it is hard to tell
that they are not from real life filming. Increasingly, real life physics are
Incorporated into the graphics of the game, taxing the computational resources
of the system playing it, but producing stunning simulation of life. Already we
have virtual reality and augmented reality being realised via wearable
headsets. Increasingly, the digital world and the real world are starting to
blend together. Some games allows for its coding to auto generate seemingly
endless expanse of space and planets for the players to explore and really
discover new digital planets no one has been before.
As our computing powers
gets more upgrade with the transition into quantum computing, we will have more
computational powers to continue simulating ever more realistic worlds. Most
importantly, quantum computers can simulate a gaming world from the quantum
ground up. Usually, when we say simulation, we are implying a simplification of
the system being simulated, not from the ground up. It could be that a table is
defined as the shape, being coloured with a realistic wooden structure, have
solidity so that it can hold other things up on it. Not all simulated tables
has the property of being able to be broken, that requires additional coding
and more pictures of broken table. Simulation from the ground up means
simulating every subatomic particle which compromises every atom which
compromises every cells which comes together in a tree structure, which are
then cut and shaped into a table. Properties like colour, breakability, solidity
are all emergent from lower level codes of its subatomic particles and need not
be coded into it. The ultimate reductionist ideal.
We might one day in the
future have sufficient computing power to simulate an entire universe from the
ground up, including its history and set the time of the simulation to be
faster than our time to speed up the simulation to more interesting eras. The
living beings which emerge there emerge entirely based on simulated atoms,
molecules, cells, simply obeying all the laws of physics, allowing all other
laws of chemistry, biology, psychology, sociology become emergent from the laws
of physics. These living beings then go on to evolve intelligence,
civilisations, religions, computers, simulations, and finally be able to simulate
a little universe within our simulated universe.
You might see what
question would naturally arise now. Who’s to
say we are not already in a simulated universe right now? If simulated
universes are so perfectly simulated that they can in turn simulate other
universes which can simulate universes of their own, it becomes a chain of
simulated universes all emerging from a supposed prime universe which is the
original where the laws of physics are really real, unchanging instead of being
able to be changed at a programmer’s whim. If reality is like that, then given
one universe, ours that we know, what are the odds that we are the prime
universe? Extremely low. We are far more likely to be a simulated universe down
the road. More on simulated universe in the Chapter of Multiple Universes, be
sure to read that before trying some stupid suicide move like the wife of the
main character in Inception. She thought she was still in a dream when we
jumped off a window, thinking that death would pull her up back to reality.
Unfortunately for simulated beings, there is unlikely to have a counterpart of
ourselves higher up in the simulated chain. Rebirth would have been programmed
into the simulated universe for deaths, at least for this universe it seems.
Anyway, if we are living
in a simulated universe, it would be extremely easy to fit in the gods. We can
assume any motivation and knowledge of the programmers, but even if everything
is simulated from the ground up, they can still input higher level commands and
cheat codes which would seem to be against the basic laws of physics they had
programmed in earlier. Hence, the appearance of supernatural stuffs, including
gods. Here, I would like to just put the sensual desire gods at the level of
being confined within the simulated universe. Or another more interesting view
is that gods are the programmers of our universe, with each level up is a level
up of the simulation. The Brahma worlds then would be the universe wherein the
laws of physics is different from the sensual realms, thus they can enjoy
Jhanic bliss instead. In all the analysis below, if the gods are programmed
beings, then their characteristics can be arbitrary programmed to fulfil the
criterion below, so we will focus more on the programmers as gods scenario.
●
Spontaneous rebirth: The programmers maybe programmed by their
programmers higher up the chain to be spontaneously reborn, or their laws of
nature would allow for spontaneous rebirth happening naturally.
●
Invisible, but can reveal themselves, or be seen via divine eye:
The programmers are outside of the simulated universe, so naturally they are
invisible to us, but they can project themselves down into the simulated
universe, wearing a form we can perceive. If divine eye is a special cheat code
to be able to take command of the video cameras of the higher level up
simulated universe, then it can see the programmers.
●
Blissful, but not end of suffering: So the programmers might be
living in a universe where the laws of physics is such that they are blissful
(Brahma realms). Or they can have the abilities to plug into the minds of any
beings being simulated and experience the same kind of happiness of that being,
with a programme which runs automatically to constantly switch to the minds of
happy people. Being virtuous makes one happy, thus the saying that gods likes
virtuous people might come about like that.
●
Long life: The programmers can speed up our simulation such that
our time runs faster compared to theirs. Their lifespan can be long presumably
due to the advanced technological findings there to help them live long. They
can also easily take our future medical technology and import them up the
simulated universe chain as lower down the chain, we got more time for
research.
●
Many levels: We already mentioned how simulated universes can nest
within one another.
●
Superior powers, but limited knowledge: Programmers naturally has
superior powers, powers to change the laws of nature in fact! However, the
programmer may not have all the knowledge of even the simulated universe, or
maybe he is good in programming but lacks the skills and knowledge to cook!
●
Virtuous conduct needed to be reborn here: We have to assume that
the programmers are benevolent, as sadistic programmers may have already
destroyed their simulated universes. However, here we run into the almighty,
all good, and all knowing combination problem along with the existence of
suffering, of which we have to choose to abandon the all good criterion as the
programmers are sadistic enough to allow suffering to be programmed into the
universe. Or at least not to include a patch to eliminate suffering if
suffering is emergent. To many perhaps the patch is sensual desire, an
imperfect patch. The programmers are of course not all powerful outside of
their created universe, and not all knowing as discussed in the previous point.
●
Powers of instant travelling: The programmers can project
themselves anywhere inside their simulated universe, but cannot travel
instantly on their on universe, unless it happens to be programmed in for them.
●
Luminous light shining forth from them: This would have to be
artificially programmed in, maybe as a special effect for the avatar of the programmer
in the simulated universe.
●
One for each world: Here if we insist on world to mean solar
system, then our analogy breaks down. It more naturally fits if the world means
the simulated world, wherein each programmer (god) has their own world, and
going up higher levels, their level of influence naturally increases as they
cover more worlds. However, seeing that we have never truly explored beyond our
solar system before, the simulation can simply be accurate for our solar system
and treat the rest of the universe as backdrop. Then it would fit in nicely.
However this becomes the same level of dissatisfactory explanation of the world
as Creationist proposed. Why have fossils when the earth is only ten thousand
years old? Why bother with galaxies collision, cosmic microwave background
radiation, gravitational waves of black holes merging if only our solar system
is fully simulated?
Agganna
Sutta: This would be the story of how higher level programmers had entered into
their simulated world, eaten something which made them forgot about their old
world and less able to go back until they fully assume a person in their
simulated world, no longer needing their body back in their world to be alive
for them to live fully as humans in the simulated world. Science fiction had
indeed even explored this concept, the most recent that I have seen was in
Marvel’s Agent of Shield
wherein the creator of the virtual world was immersed in it and his body got
killed by his robot Aida, but his mind lives on in the simulated world.
Possible
experimental verification: First off, we must be able to show that sentient
beings can be simulated. In Buddhism terms, it means we can be reborn inside
simulated worlds. If we can be reborn into artificial intelligence, then I think
there is no conceptual difficulty for this one. However, the question still
remains, can we be reborn into non-biological bodies of AI or simulated beings?
There are many efforts ongoing to find clues as to whether we could live in a
simulated world after all. Recent [1] discovery shows that our observed nature would take
enormous amount of computing power to simulate, then it can possibly make the
chain of endless simulated worlds nested inside simulated worlds impossible to
achieve, increasing our probabilities of being the prime world.
Likelihood
of gods as programmers if we are living in a simulated universe: (I use 50 for
unknown or uncertain factors)
1.
Spontaneous rebirth: 50%
2.
Invisible, but can reveal themselves, or be seen via divine eye:
99%
3.
Blissful, but not end of suffering: 99%
4.
Long life: 79%
5.
Many levels: 99%
6.
Superior powers, but limited knowledge: 99%
7.
Virtuous conduct needed to be reborn here: 89%
8.
Powers of instant travelling: 99%
9.
Luminous light shining forth from them: 69%
10.
One for each world: 69%
Total possibilities: (product of all ten scores
after converting them to probabilities): 15.92%. It’s possible, provided we
can be reborn into the simulated world.
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