In recent reports it has been suggested by Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts that there is a 20-50% chance we already live in a Matrix like computer simulation and are in no way aware of it. This revelation from the banking giant is yet another eery suggestion that we may not be as in control of our lives as we had previously thought.
It was the great René Descartes who had tore us from this type of thinking in the 16th century when he stated, “I think therefore I am.” However as time has gone on the 21st century psyche has done some reconsidering and in some cases some reverting.
The analysts at Bank of America are joining a respectable group of individuals who are growing more and more sure (or unsure) about the state of reality. As recently as April Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson suggested there is a “high chance” the universe as we know it is merely a simulation. Going along with Tyson is Nick Bostrom from Oxford University who made a very strong argument in his paper “Are You Living In A Computer Simulation?” that we in fact are.
Whose Reality Is This?
The issue of our reality being nothing more than an elaborate computer simulation was tackled by Bank of America in a recent report concerning the implications of virtual reality. The report stated, “Many scientists, philosophers, and business leaders believe that there is a 20-50 per cent probability that humans are already living in a computer-simulated virtual world.
In April 2016, researchers gathered at the American Museum of Natural History to debate this notion. The argument is that we are already approaching photorealistic 3D simulations that millions of people can simultaneously participate in.”
As you can see the report Bank of America Merrill Lynch is experiencing a kind of existential crisis. If this world, this reality is nothing more than a computer simulation whats the point of being a giant bank? What do you really own? What is money and what can it really buy?
If I were a betting man I’d put money on the idea Merrill Lynch is doing all they can to get our realities Creators to take out a loan with them. Thus securing the guarantee of their survival in both this reality and the higher reality that created us. Contracts, binding throughout eternity and reality.
But I digress.
Perhaps the biggest name professing our lack of current uncertainty with reality is none other than Elon Musk. Yes, the Paypal, Tesla, SpaceX, Solar City man has something to say about our reality. He laid it all out in June for the Code Conference.
“The strongest argument for us probably being in a simulation I think is the following, 40 years ago we had Pong – two rectangles and a dot. That’s where we were. Now 40 years later we have photorealistic, 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. If you assume any rate of improvement at all, then the games will become indistinguishable from reality, just indistinguishable.”
Strong and confident words from a man who is set on saving our planet and our race from extinction despite believing it all to be a coded simulation anyway.
Ultimately we may never know if we are truly living in a base reality or if the more “probable” answer is correct that we are just another set of code in a old Matrix in some deities basement at the far reaches of an unknown universe.
Happy Wednesday.