Immerse yourself in a world where the idea that we are living in a simulation is gaining ground. Between philosophy, quantum physics and futuristic thoughts, discover the reasons why more and more people adhere to this theory.
Plato's famous allegory revisited
According to Plato, we live in a cave, chained, watching the shadows reflected on the walls and believing that this is the real world. In this vision, if one of us escaped and discovered the outside world, he would have difficulty convincing the others to leave. Today, this idea is resurfacing in the form of a possible computer simulation in which we would live without knowing it. To understand this reflection, we must go back to 1950, when the physicist Enrico Fermi asked the question: “Where are the extraterrestrials?” noting that there was a contradiction between the statistical evidence of their existence and our inability to find them.
Who is behind this simulation?
Among the hypotheses on the origin of our reality, the one of an advanced civilization that would have created a computerized simulation of our world occupies a prominent place. In 2003, the Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom put forward the idea that we could live in such a simulation. According to him, it could be a technologically advanced post-human civilization that has created ancestral simulations of ourselves. The simulated ancestors would then be much more numerous than the real ones.
Evidence of simulation?
Arguments in favor of this theory include the Mandela effect, which refers to collective memories that diverge from known reality. MIT cosmologist Max Tegmark has also pointed to the strict laws of physics in our universe as possible evidence that we are living in a video game. For others, paranormal events are really just programming errors, similar to déjà vu.
Can we prove or disprove the existence of a simulation?
The main problem is that it is difficult to prove that we do not live in a simulation, but it is even more difficult to prove that we do live in one. Theoretical physicists Zohar Ringel and Dmitry Kovrizhin have argued that a computer simulation of specific quantum phenomena would be impossible, because of the exponential increase in complexity with the number of simulated particles. Nevertheless, it is impossible to say what the future holds in terms of technology and scientific discoveries.
So, are we trapped in a modern “Matrix” without knowing it? For the moment, this question remains without a definitive answer. However, the reflection on this possibility continues to feed the debates among philosophers, scientists and visionaries of the future. Perhaps, sooner or later, we will find the answers to this enigma that challenges our understanding of the world and our very existence.
