in a 2008 Joe Rogan podcast when Elon Musk was asked whether he entertains the idea that the Universe could be simulated famously said the argument for simulation is quite strong we're most likely in a simulation the topic sounds like it's straight out of a sci-fi movie but whoever thought self-driving electric cars would be a reality 30 years ago so what may sound absurd today shouldn't always be dismissed the question of whether all this everything you see around you including all the memories as well as your very Consciousness could be inside an artificial computer is a profound one could our entire reality be nothing more than pixels on an advanced simulation could you and I have been living a lie unwittingly participating in a sadistic video game subject to the programming and whims of a higher intelligence let's take a look at whether this is scientifically plausible or as Preposterous as it sounds and if it's plausible how would we test it that's coming up right [Music] now the simulation hypothesis suggests that everything we experience our whole universe and everyone in it could actually be an advanced digital simulation created by a higher order technologically advanced civilization think of it as an incredibly complex version of the video games and VR simulations we have today today but so Advanced that it is indistinguishable from reality supporters of this idea frequently mentioned progress in technology and Virtual Worlds to imply that cultures much more advanced than ours might generate simulations so detailed that even the complexity of a character's simulated brain would be enough to make it sentient but these characters would be oblivious to their existence in the digital world and if this is possible then how would we know whether our world is not such a simulation how realistic is such a notion we can get an idea by estimating the amount of computing power that such a complex simulation would require Hans moravec of Carnegie melon University an expert in robotics and AI has made a rough estimate of the amount of computing power needed to simulate a human mind he calculates that this would require about 10 to the 14 operations per second this is based on computer modeling of IND individual nervous tissue other experts calculate this number to be even larger up to 10 to the 21 operations per second this level of computing power could make the simulated beings conscious because they would essentially have exactly the same brain capability of any real humans do we have the capability to perform these kinds of computations no not currently but many people including Rik kwell director at Google have argued that such technology is less than 20 years away okay K Eric Drexler a PhD engineer from MIT outlined a design for a system the size of a sugar cube that could perform 10 to the 21 operations per second and Robert Bradberry has conceptualized a hypothetical Computing Mega structure called a matrioska brain based on a planet siiz Dyson Sphere that would have computing power on the order of 10 to the 42 operations per second based on the highest number needed to simulate the brain 10 the 21 a total computing power of 10 the 31 would be all that's needed to simulate the brains of every single person on Earth but to make a universe simulation Not only would the brain need to be simulated but also our environment and the passage of Time how much computing power would this require well simulating the entire universe down to the quantum level would require a computer theoretically bigger than the size of the universe so that's not possible but if all we're trying to do is create a realistic simulation for humans we don't need that level of granularity when people look up at the night sky for example those stars and other objects can be simulated with very few pixels to give it sufficient realism so for example if the computer detected that a human was about to look at a planet through a telescope or bacteria through a microscope it could fill in the details in the moment the observation was being made moreover since all human perception resides es in the brain any perception of an external Universe could simply be simulated within the brains of all the simulated humans requiring no external Universe to even exist so really in terms of computing power all that's needed to create a universe is sufficient capacity to simulate the brain in that case most of the universe would just be an illusion inside the brain so if Bradbury's matrioska brain could be built it could simulate billions of such universes but much smaller structure the size of say the Empire State Building could easily simulate millions of universes How likely is all this Nick Bostrom philosopher and principal researcher at macr strategy research initiative who popularized the idea of simulation theory has argued that there are three possibilities for the future of advanced intelligent beings in the universe one almost all civilizations at our current level of development go extinct before reaching technological maturity that can support running ancestor simulations two almost all technologically mature civilizations lose interest in running ancestor simulations or three if one and two are not true then we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation additionally Boston created a mathematical model to attribute probabilities to each of these scenarios so the rationale here is that if civilizations similar to ours contined to be an arising technological trajectory unless they all go extinct or have no interest will inevitably create simulations that mimic their ancestors and they could potentially create many of them perhaps millions or billions of such simulations if so then the odds favor that we are more likely to be in one of those billions of simulations than the only one true reality so on the surface this seems to favor a simulation but this rationale relies on several key assumptions that are worth questioning first Bost hypothesis is unfalsifiable we can't ever prove that we're not in a similation because any evidence we collect could itself be simulated as French philosopher Renee deart realized we can't know that we aren't manipulated into believing the world is real but oam's razor tells us that that's a poor reason for believing it if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck is it more rational to believe it's a simulated robot than a duck this seems like a birds aren't real meme another problem is whether it's possible to simulate Consciousness we don't yet know the mechanism of Consciousness or what part of the brain is responsible for it I suppose it could work if we expect that it will simply emerge if enough simulated neurons are connected to each other but if Consciousness arises from something more than connected neurons then simulating a conscious being might not be possible a corlar to this is how would we simulate the subconscious or unconscious part of the brain since we're not even aware of it finally Bostrom assumes that advanced civilizations would want to dedicate a significant portion of their total computational and energy generating capability to ancestor simulations which raises the question why what motivation would such beings have to simulate multiple universes and its intricate details some scientists have argued the quantum mechanics supports the idea of assimilation for example the quantized nature of matter and energy might be a consequence of the storage limits of the underlying computer similar to The Limited memory capacity of a hard drive that creates discrete pixels on a screen in addition the observer effect where Quantum systems only have definite values when observed might be a sign of this limitation and quantum entanglement where distant objects appear to simultaneously take on complimentary values might be due to a code setting global values but the problem is that if the phenomena of quantum physics is due to simulation then the physics of the base reality can't be Quantum since it's by definition not simulated the quantum effects would not occur there and this is where this idea falls apart because if base reality is not Quantum then it works by a completely different mechanism than the physics laws we're aware of quantum physics is the basis of all reality including chemistry and biology atoms could not form without it there would be no living things as we understand them so what exactly are the advanced beings trying to simulate because this universe would be nothing like a universe without quantum physics in a 2017 paper written by theoretical physicists Zohar Ringle and Dimitri kzen from the University of Oxford and the Hebrew University in Israel found that classical systems cannot create the mathematics necessary to describe Quantum systems according to them classical computers could not be controlling our universe I believe Bostrom by clever but ultimately flawed reasoning has picked out a low probability future to make it appear inevitable when it really isn't it requires a fantasy Universe where technological advancement has had no limits where planet-sized computers exist with near unlimited energy for simulating essentially Advanced VR games why would such a civilization want to do this large gaps in reasoning seem to have been overlooked the entire Theory seems Preposterous but what bothers me most is how this currently very fashionable idea of a simulation is actually so harmful to our society it devalues every problem and challenge we Face climate change income inequality homelessness never mind because surprise it's all a fantasy it's all a morage created in a fantasy computer by fantasy intelligence it's all in our head the universe is a giant computer screen so no need to worry about it really we need to stop with this nonsense now I could stop right here but I know many of you might disagree and say okay I get it Arvin you have a strong opinion but what if you're wrong what would it take to prove to you that we live in a simulation fair enough here are some things that while not proving the theory would give me pause if true first Cosmic race if we're living in a simulation there might be physical limitations on how much energy can exist in our universe specifically the idea is that cosmic rays the high energy particles from outer space might have an energy limit due to the finite resources of simulation if there's a sudden drop off in the energy levels of cosmic rays that doesn't fit our understanding of physics it could suggest that the simulation has hit a computational limit testing these energy levels could give us a clue Quantum error correction is another fascinating possibility in Quantum Computing error Corrections are made in order to maintain the stability of quantum information this reduces the effect from environmental decoherence and noise sometimes this is done by redundancy multiple copies of the same code if the universe were a simulation we might expect similar error correcting codes to be built into the fabric of reality for example if SpaceTime is found to be a complex network of interconnected points where duplicate information is encoded throughout the Universe it may have the ability to correct errors by adjusting local disturbances this could be an indication that the universe is a maintained system like a running program that could be evidence of assimilation we could also test the physical constants of the universe such as the speed of light the gravitational constant or the charge and mass of an electron if we're living in a simulation these constants could be subtly altered in different parts of the universe possibly due to the limitations of the simulation's resources any slight variation in these constants would be a strong indicator that something artificial could be at play similarly inexplicable anomalies or glitches could indicate a bug in the system but so far no such variation or glitches has been detected but could be that we haven't been looking at the right places ongoing tests could help us rule this out from a practical perspective even if such a simulation were possible proving or disproving it from within may be an exercise in futility we' need access to the external reality in order to compare it to our simulated one but how would we have access to this if we're in the simulation an avatar on a screen can't come out of the screen so far all indications are that our reality is quite real as much as we may want to escape it all our problems and anguish as well as our Joys and Euphoria are real and the best we can do is to treat it as the base reality that it most likely is speaking of Base versus simulated reality our sponsored today nid AI have created what I think is an astonishing technological Advance there are the only AI Video Creator I know of that lets you turn your ideas on any topic you can think of into fulllength videos not just singular Clips like other tools if you have an idea invid AI will put you in the director's seat independent of your skill level with very little Technical Training you can just type in the idea you want to create a video about and in video will produce a video according to your specifications within minutes here are just a few samples of the actual first iterations of videos it made and the prompts used to create them the prompt on this one was make a one minute trailer about how Indiana Jones discovers new age influencers at Area [Music] 51 here's one where the promp was create a short horror film about The Exorcist the beginning make the video about a man from India who is possessed by a demon from Spain the Spanish government sends their best Exorcist to help the man and get rid of the demon and here's the third video where the prompt was create a one minute long YouTube video of B rooll of the beautiful and stunning marine life under the sea from a diverse point of view I'm simply amazed at the quality of these videos in my mind this is gamechanging you can even edit whatever you want by text commands like add my voice and start with a joke and even more amazing you can try inv video for free at the link on your screen also in the the description below it'll save you hundreds of dollars on animation and other production cost be sure to give it a try at the link in the description thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next video my friend [Music] oh