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10 questions science can’t answer yet
ness into a computer program. But let’s just assume we can, and furthermore that platforms like Second Life will one day become homes for large numbers of these artificial minds. Computers will then be simulating consciousness millions, billions, trillions of times, on millions of machines. There are no time limits on any of this by the way. These conscious simulations could be built in the 2020s, in the thirtieth century or millions of years hence. It doesn’t really matter. And it doesn’t matter whether it is we humans doing this, or space aliens living on another planet or even beings living in another parallel universe. All we need to assume is that at some point in the entire history of the Universe, or all the universes, computerized simulations of conscious life are created. And now, the crux. Because we have assumed that these computerized avatars have been created over and over again, it is overwhelmingly likely, by the sheer and simple weight of statistical probability, that we are living in one of these simulated worlds, a future (and rather more impressive) Second Life, possibly sitting in some adolescent’s bedroom, rather than in the one ‘real’ universe. (Of course, it is just possible that our world is the real and original world, but just very, very unlikely.) What then? Well, everything we think about reality would be wrong. Our Universe, and us within it, would be a fake. Life would be, in effect, a gigantic computer game. Our world would be like a supercharged version of the world of Doom or Grand Theft Auto, albeit rather more violent. We as individuals would, in a real sense, be reduced to being no more than the playthings of imperfect gods – gods who in our case may well be labouring under the delusion that they themselves are the real McCoy. It is a profoundly depressing scenario. Is it testable? Well, it is possible to test some of the counter-arguments. One is that is would be impossible to be conscious and not aware that one’s