Evidence For A Programmed Reality

The Singularity, Infomania, and Programmed Reality

Which is our future? Which is our present?

 by Jim Elvidge

December 31, 2008

Article from www.theuniversesolved.com

There is a school of thought which has gained significant credibility and momentum, largely as the result of Ray Kurzweil’s best-selling book “The Singularity is Near.”  It is based on the belief that we will achieve a technological singularity in the coming decades (Kurzweil puts the date at 2045), a sort of AI-run-amok scenario.  Closely related is the concept of Transhumanism, which predicts that due to the same trends and forces, we will merge with artificial intelligence (AI) and evolve into a new species of cybernetic being that will essentially be immortal.  This is a logical theory of the future that is based on Moore’s Law, nanotechnology, and trends in AI. This paper will show that there is actually evidence that the accelerating trend may be slowing down, due to reaching the limitation of human’s ability to keep up with the pace of technology. Instead, this is actually strong evidence for the theory of Programmed Reality. 


Programmed Reality is a different, yet somewhat overlapping theory, that takes Moore’s Law to an alternative conclusion.  That is, between advances in virtual reality simulations, gaming, and Brain Computer Interfacing (BCI), we will eventually be able to create reality simulations that are of such high quality from a “sensory experience” standpoint, that they will be indistinguishable from “real” reality.  I, Kurzweil, Nick Bostrom, and others put this event at about 20 years from now, or in the 2025-2030 range.  Bostrom, Director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University, makes the logical argument in his “Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?” paper, that we are most likely living in a simulation now.  My book “The Universe – Solved!”, explores significant additional classes of evidence that lend support to the idea that we may be living in a programmed reality, if not via a “Matrix”-like simulation, then by a program that drives the physical world.  Either way, if true, it revolutionizes our concept of reality.



Rather than being a theory of the future, Programmed Reality is more a theory of everything; the past, the present, and the future.  And the Singularity would therefore occur within the construct of our Programmed Reality.  This has some interesting implications for the likelihood of the Singularity actually happening; in fact, it also provides a test case for the validity of the whole theory.  This paper explores the differences between the two views of the future and presents evidence that already exists that not only do we live in a programmed reality, but if so, the Singularity will never occur.


Evidence for the Programmed Reality:  
 
It is worthwhile to briefly review the evidence that we are living in a programmed reality.  There is much more detail in the book, but to summarize:


1. OUR DISCRETE WORLD - It takes an infinite amount of resources to create a continuous reality, but a finite amount to create a quantized reality. The very nature of the computational mechanisms of a computer are essentially the same as Quantum Mechanics - a sequence of states, with nothing existing or happening between the states. The resolution of any program is analogous to the spatial resolution of our reality, just at a different level. In fact, if you carry Moore's Law forward (which has been consistent over the past 40 years), computers will reach the Planck resolution in 2192. Not too far off. However, you don't need to model reality all the way to that level for the model to be indistinguishable from our reality. Let's say you want to examine the guts of a tree. You cut it open, scrape off a few cells and put them under a microscope, maybe an electron microscope.

To simulate this computationally, one doesn't have to model every single tree down to the Planck level. Only the observed tree needs to be modeled, and then only the cells selected, and then only down to a resolution that matches the observational limitations of our measurement devices. The program can do that dynamically. And all quantum effects can be programmatically modeled without building a reality model to the Planck level. So, given Moore's law and the limitations of "observational reality", we should be able to create Virtual Realities that are indistinguishable from our current reality within 20 years or so. The very fact that our reality is quantized may be considered strong evidence that reality is programmed.


2. THE SIMULATION TIMELINE - Various modern philosophers and scientists have posited that we are likely to be living a simulation. This is because it is highly probable that we will be able to create ancestor simulations within a few years, when we achieve a posthuman stage. Due either to the number of simulations that will be run, or to the proximity that we are to that stage, it is actually more probable that we are in one than the case where we haven't yet reached that stage. Again, there is no way to tell that we aren't in a programmed reality.


3. THE FINE-TUNED UNIVERSE - The universe is unbelievably finely tuned for the physical existence of matter, let alone life. For example, universal constants cancel out all of the vacuum energy in the universe to an amazing accuracy of one part in 10 to the 115th power. Also, a deviation in the expansion rate of the early universe of 1 part in a billion in either direction would have caused the universe to immediately collapse, or fly apart so fast that stars could never have formed. And there are many more such examples. The only explanation that mainstream science can come up with is that either an uncountably huge number of universes are spawned every second (the Everett interpretation of Quantum Mechanics) or an uncountably huge number of universes are already out there, most of which are entirely benign and unable to support life or even the formation of matter.  Via the magic sleight of hand of the anthropic principle, we happen to be in the only perfect one.  It certainly seems that Occam's Razor heavily favors the simulation theory here.


4. THOSE PESKY ANOMALIES - The huge set of well-studied anomalies facing us in fields as varied as metaphysics, physics, philosophy, geology, anthropology, and psychology can all be explained only by the programmed reality model. The mathematics of coincidence, the perceived acceleration of society, OOPart, the truth about the paranormal, quantum entanglement, the existence of oil - they all fit neatly into this hypothesis. No other theory can make that claim.


Putting all of this together, we can actually make some predictions about our future.  Specifically, and for the purpose of the argument of this paper, Programmed Reality predicts the following:
Any impending civilization-ending trend will always reverse.

Here’s why:  If we are indeed in a programmed reality, we can say one of two things about the course of the program. 

 Either:

1. We will end this reality at some point and begin another one.

or…    

2. We will continue to “play the game.” 

In the first case, I would argue that the civilization-ending trend merely gets erased, which is an extreme example of reversal.  In the second case, there is an incentive for the “programmers” to maintain a construct that allows us to continue to play.  Such a construct is inconsistent with the idea of a civilization-ending event. 
Another prediction is:


The Singularity will not occur.


The Singularity, while not civilization-ending, is certainly a type of event that will destroy life, reality, and civilization, as we know it.  Therefore, by the argument above, it will not happen.  If it does, then I would have to concede that Programmed Reality is not a likely description of our reality.

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