This episode focuses on the simulation hypothesis, with a novel approach to how simulated worlds might arise and what might be their true purpose.

Transcript (not exact):

In this episode of The Filter I’m going to discuss the simulation hypothesis, the idea that the reality we perceive is actually something akin to a computer simulation. Along the way I’ll present ideas about how such a simulation might have come to exist, and about what our purpose in it might be Some of these ideas are, so far as I can tell, completely novel and, in some sense, much darker than than any other theory of why such a simulation might exist.

A quick note before beginning. I first presented many of these ideas on ykyz in the form of microcast episodes, recorded under the username Mattasher about five months ago. I’ll link to those on the show notes page at thefilter.org

Before I dive in the simulation hypothesis, assume for a moment that we inhabited a completely real, tangible, meat space. Then consider how much, nonetheless, we act like we are characters in a video game. We have our scripts, we have the things we do on a regular basis. When we interact with people, it’s often with a limited set of phrases. If you go into a store or Starbucks, when you order you probably use almost the exact same phrase each time. And the person behind the counter, in turn, responds with something close to a precise script. We drive around, we follow familiar routes, often without paying much attention to them. We know that we’re following a script because sometimes we’ll get in our cars and execute the wrong script. We start heading to a place that’s Not where we wanted to go because we’re following some script that’s already in our head. Like, OK, It’s the morning, so we drive to work. Then, all of the sudden, we’re driving to work on a Sunday.

To continue with this idea that we are like characters in a video game, I think we all, sometimes, in effect, resemble NPCs, those Non-player-characters who are limited to following a small set of predefined scripts. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. We actually rely to a large extent on these scripts to get through the day and make things work. So we have our routines that help us keep track of things, like when you come in the door you always put your keys in the same place, and if you don’t, you’re probably going to run into trouble sooner or later.

We setup these routines for ourselves, sometimes very deliberately. We rely on them. You could argue that to some extent mastery of anything depends on finding a set of things that you do which can be turned into scripts, or perhaps another way to put it would be to say you ritualize them. You have some kind of check list that you are going to pursue every time in exactly the same order and way, to make sure you achieve your goal.

Before I beat to death this idea of making ourselves into video game characters, I want to back out and recognize that with every technological advance, we reframe our model of the universe and how human beings operate. With the invention of the clock, came the model of the clockwork universe, and the idea that human beings were deterministic machines, predestined to act exactly as they do, just like the gears of a clock completely determine where each hand will be and when. With the rise of the computer, the universe itself became a calculating machine, perhaps a quantum one, computing at plank-length intervals where everything should be and what it will be doing.

Early pioneers in the field of computing argued that the human brain was our PC, taking in input and directing our actions based on internal algorithms. Now that we have sophisticated virtual worlds, it only makes sense that we should re-imagine our world itself as a simulation. In this context, are we just projecting one more tech advancement...