The Thought Experiments of Virtual Reality
In 2003, philosopher Nick Bostrom published a paper called “Are You Living In A Computer Simulation?” The paper discusses the possibility, or likelihood, of our living in a simulation. Here, Bostrom argues that there are three potential scenarios relevant for the question of whether we are living in a computer simulation. In this video, we will discuss this as one of the thought experiments of Virtual Reality.
Bostrom argues that at least one of them has to be true:
The human species is very likely to go extinct before reaching a “posthuman” stage where we can run simulations;
Any posthuman civilization is extremely unlikely to run a significant number of simulations of their evolutionary history (or variations thereof);
We are almost certainly living in a computer simulation.
Here, Bostrom argues that if humans develop the possibility of running perfect simulations and actually want to do so (thus, if the first two possibilities are not true), then we are almost certainly already living in a simulation. How can this be?
This is the topic for today's video, in addition to some other philosophical examples on the same topic!