Philosopher Nick Bostrom says it is possible that we are all part of a computer simulation. I don’t believe it. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t believe it. It’s his logic that fascinates me. From a NY Times article:

Dr. Bostrom assumes that technological advances could produce a computer with more processing power than all the brains in the world, and that advanced humans, or “posthumans,” could run “ancestor simulations” of their evolutionary history by creating virtual worlds inhabited by virtual people with fully developed virtual nervous systems…If civilization survived long enough to reach that stage, and if the posthumans were to run lots of simulations for research purposes or entertainment, then the number of virtual ancestors they created would be vastly greater than the number of real ancestors.

Bostrom’s logic says that if this is possible, there is a chance that it has already happened and WE are the product of it.

In this short (15:29) interview on the Buzz Out Loud podcast, Bostrom says that, were we to discover that we are living on some guy’s laptop, it shouldn’t make much difference.  We would simply have realized that reality is different than we thought, and our basic ideas about how to live life would remain the same.

WOW.  That’s easy to say if you don’t believe in anything.

If you’ve seen The Matrix, The 13th Floor, etc., you know that the simulation paradigm can be used to explain anything we regard as supernatural (miracles, angels, even deja vu).  I wonder if the simulation idea will become a new “irreligious religion” for nerds?

(The NY Times article is here, but requires a free registration at the site).