Image capture of video by Bloomberg via Youtube channel - Elon Musk believes we live in a computer simulation
- He noted that with our rapid technological advancement, the line between virtual and base reality is blurred
- Musk said there is only a “one in a billion” chance we’re not living in a computer simulation.
Thinking big is nothing new to this ‘real-life Iron Man’. He founded Paypal, built America’s first fully electric car, and is working to make commercial space travel a reality in our lifetime through SpaceX. Eccentric tech billionaire Elon Musk made his boldest claim yet: We might be living in a Matrix-style realm.
Essentially, Musk believes that our technology is evolving at such a rate that the line between virtual and base reality will soon cease to exist. He suggests that humanity may have already reached a certain level of technology that is now running simulations of past civilizations that is indistinguishable from reality, as per an article published by Independent.
“Forty years ago we had Pong – two rectangles and a dot,” Musk explained. “Now 40 years later we have photo-realistic, 3D simulations with millions of people playing simultaneously and it’s getting better every year. And soon we’ll have virtual reality, we’ll have augmented reality.”
He continued: “We are clearly on a trajectory to have games indistinguishable from reality, and there would be billions of them.”
Taking from the works of philosopher Nick Bostrom, who warned that super intelligent AI might wipe out humanity, Musk postulated a theory that we’re living in a computer simulation.
Musk pointed out, if we aren’t in a simulation, the most likely reason for that isn’t that we are the first civilization ever; instead, it’s that no civilization has ever advanced far enough to simulate reality.
When Bostrom described the argument in 2003, he claimed that basically no civilizations last long enough to develop simulations, the civilizations that do develop simulations are so different from our own that they wouldn’t simulate us, or we are almost certainly in a simulation already, as per an article published by The Guardian.
“It would seem to follow that the odds that we’re in ‘base reality’ is one in billions,” Musk said; noting that our continuous technological advancement is critical to our survival.
It sounds outlandish because it is — even Musk thinks so too.
“I’ve had so many simulation discussions it’s crazy,” Musk said; adding that having a discussion about AI or simulations “kills the magic”.
Watch his interview below:
Post a Comment