Why You're Probably Not a Simulation

Have you ever have a dream you were so sure was real? The simulation argument challenges our very notions of reality by asking whether everything we perceive is nothing more than an elaborate computer simulation. Recently, we've even seen headlines like "one in a billion" probability that we live in the real world. Could this be right? How does this affect how we think about our lives? And are there any counter-arguments to save us? New research from the Cool Worlds Lab resolves.

Thank-you to Kevin Clark, Tom Widdowson, Denny Smith, Stephanie Hackley, Mark Sloan, Laura Sanborn, Kolos Kantor, Patrick Herman, Abel Aganbegyan, Claudio Bottaccini, Daniel Brunk, Douglas Daughaday, Scott Fincher, James Kindred, Andrew Jones, Jason Allen, Steven Baldwin, Jason Black, Stuart Brownlee, Shivam Chaturvedi, David Denholm, Tim Dorais, Glen Downton, Eneko Urrestarazu, Gordon Fulton, Sean Griffiths, Peter Halloran, John Jurcevic, Niklas Kildal, Jack Kobernick, Wes Kobernick, Valeri Kremer, Marc Lijoi, Sheri Loftin, Branden Loizides, Anatoliy Maslyanchuk, Blair Matson, Ocean Mcintyre, Laini Mitchell, Jeffrey Needle, André Pelletier, Juan Rivillas, Bret Robinson, Zenith Star, Lauren Steely, Ernest Stefan-Matyus, Mark Steven, Elena West, Barrett York, Tristan Zajonc, Preetumsingh Gowd, Shaun Kelsey, Chuck Wolfred, David Vennel, Emre Dessoi, Fahid Naeem, Francisco Rebolledo, Hauke Laging, James Falls, Jon Adams, Michael Gremillion, Pierce Rutherford, Trev Kline, Tristan Leger, Lasse Skov & Takashi Hanai.

::Our new paper upon which this video is based::

::Other references used::
► Poundstone, William (2019), "The Doomsday Calculation: How an Equation that Predicts the Future Is Transforming Everything We Know About Life and the Universe", Little, Brown Spark

::Chapters::
00:00 Prologue
01:39 Simulation Argument
05:34 Consequences
10:01 Counterarguments
20:32 Probability
28:01 Nulliparous
32:01 Finale

::Video clips used::
► Matrix code clip by thebiggsmith
► Unrealistic Engine 4 footage by PredCaliber
► Sierra supercomputer video by Verge Science
► Blackhole simulation by ESO/S. Brunier
► Atom visualization by Nature Videos
► Data center footage by G Suite/Google
► Elon Musk interview by Recode
► Neil deGrasse Tyson clip from StarTalk
► Simulation debate clip from AMNH

::Movies/TV scenes used::
► The Matrix (1999) Warner Bros.
► The Matrix Reloaded (2003) Warner Bros.
► Into the Wild (2007) Paramount Vantage
► The Grey (2011) Open Road Films
► The Truman Show (1998) Paramount Pictures
► Cloud Atlas (2012) Warner Bros.
► Dorian Gray (2009) Momentum Pictures
► Red Dead Redemption 2 (2019) Rockstar Games
► Tenet (2020) Warnes Bros.
► Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) EuropaCorp Distribution
► Pride and Predujice (2005) Focus Features
► Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999) 20th Century Fox
► Westworld (2016) HBO

::Music::
► "Painted Deserts" by Shimmer licensed via SS

#SimulationTheory #SimulationArgument #CoolWorlds

[artemis_smith]

If we're in a simulation, I'd really appreciate it if the God-programmer would fix my back pain, thanks.

[loostreaks]

"I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content.” - Conan Barbarian

[anthony]

Honestly your content is amazing and the way you narrate is so chilled and easy to listen to. Absolutely love this channel! Thankyou

[PhantomSavage]

If we are in a simulation I don't think it actually matters as much as people would think. What if we are in a simulation? What if we're not even human? What if we're entirely segments of code that an algorithm made up? The prospect seems startling at first, but then think about how much agency you have as a living, talking being.

Regardless of your memories... you have emotions.. you have anxiety... you care for some people, dislike other people, you have preferences about the kind of foods you like, maybe believe in some form of spirituality, you understand philosophy, you have the ability to be wrong about something and learn from your mistakes... does that sound like anything less than a person? A self aware, sentient being? Does it REALLY matter if a person is made of flesh VS pieces of code?

If we are in a simulation, people still die... we still hold funerals.. we don't respawn.. our avatars in whatever reality this is have a finite existence.
We're not NPCs from GTA. Our dialogue isn't pre-recorded. Our responses aren't pre-programmed. Flesh or not, we're still living creatures.

Once something is made with detail at this scale... I fail to see why one reality is more important than another.

The only thing living in a simulation really changes is a mission to figure out who made us and why, which... you could say, humans have been doing since the beginning of time.

[exoplanets]

Congrats for reaching *200.000 subscribers!* Great video and topic.

[ezra]

One thing I think is interesting is that the one base unsimulated reality would have no way of knowing they are not simulated, and in fact would probably think there was a > chance that they were simulated.

[joeshangout]

Love this guy. His theories are well thought out. Cool worlds is easily one of the best channels on YouTube.

[CoyoteOfSC]

Watching this after a good bong rip is great. Always a great presentation to ponder. Thanks Dr.

[badbenjy]

A lot of these assumptions are based on that the reality being created are of an earth based civilization.

But a simulation of a universe, without a human centric view, is surely more likely.

We always assume that humans are simulating humans.
But the simulation of the physical properties of a universe that can sustain life are surely more likely?

If we wanted to understand life then we would create life. And the same goes for understanding the physical reality required to form complex life?

[randomlabs]

This one is a masterpiece among all simulation related videos. I hope the all mighty programmer will give you more disk space. So you can live longer and create more content for your subs.

[steverempel]

When we talk about us living in a simulation, I always think of Conway's Game of Life. What if structures in that 2D cellular automata world could end up becoming sentient, and start thinking: "Am I living in a simulated reality?" These beings would likely imagine the "Higher" level of reality to look something similar to their world; two spacial dimensions, gilders and gilder guns being fundamental particles, etc. They would never be able to imagine our 3D world, with protons, electrons, and photons.

In the same way, if we are simulated, our "Higher" level of reality that is simulating us, is probably similarly far more complicated, and different, than our own universe. It would not be a simple Matrix program as depicted in the Movie, where one reality is making another one that looks similar to it. The simulated world (us) is very likely to be much simpler than the "real" world that is simulating it.

Using the logic of the simulated world hypothesis, every layer of reality would be a simulation from a higher level of reality, perhaps with a top level.

[teleprint-me]

Watching this now hits differently. I love and respect your presentation. It's the most respectable presentation I've seen so far.

[WynneL]

My father once wrote a paper in school called "I Shit, Therefore I Am, " because he thought that bodily functions were so disgusting that it made no sense for why anyone would imagine or program such a thing.

Loved the Inception reference at the end. Very well reproduced.

[vesuvius]

All of your content is just so unbelievably high quality. The best I've seen in my 12 or so years on this platform. Massively appreciate the work you're doing on this channel.

[ericthomas]

This idea never bothered me because I asked this question: "If I set you on fire, would it matter if the pain was simulated or not?"

[David-lcw]

I agree with the idea that simulation creators might purposely simulate only realities with pre-simulation technology, such as our own, to prevent an unwanted simulation hierarchy from arising. But this also means that if we are in a simulation, then creating our own simulations with conscious beings could force the creators of our simulation to pull the plug to prevent or prune a simulation hierarchy from developing and growing beyond the compute capabilities of the base reality.

[khatharrmalkavian]

Descartes would choke on the notion that being simulated makes us unreal. His whole point was: This is the world we're dealing with. If "existing" has any practical meaning to us then what else could it possibly be than the lives we're living, regardless of the underlying substrate?

I mean honestly, at the most fundamental level we're each living in a simulation created in our brain as it interprets and filters the physical reality which is radically different from our experiences.

[utnibub]

This video is so gold, I'm glad I finally discovered your channel!

[dismalthoughts]

Very well done. I just learned about Baye's Theorem a few weeks ago, and it has *completely* changed how I look at various probabilities and made me realize just how many proposed probabilities are very... assumptuous

[lawrencefrost]

Great video.
Ever since I started thinking about this I've said that there is only one way to increase our understanding about the probability of the question "are we in a simulation?" and that is to simulate universes. If we can do it, we will have proof that it can be done and we can observe if the simulated beings simulate universes and that should give us at least an idea about it's feasibility in the reality above us.