Computer generated Pixel City, a city which took 5 seconds for a computer to create. Image via theUTOPIANist
Dr. Rich Terrile, acclaimed Nasa scientist who has discovered several moons of Saturn, Uranus and Neptune has a new theory to propose. In an interview with Vice, Terrile said he believes it’s possible that a single programmer from the future formulated our current reality to imitate one which he considers an archaic past. He believes this is in part due to Moore’s Law, a law which states computer power doubles every couple years. This power will allow us to create billions of computer generated human beings, each with his or her own feelings, desires and beliefs, in the very near future.
He gives the example of Playstation, which releases a new model every 6-8 years. With the PlayStation 7, gamers will be able to create 10,000 human lives. With over 100 million PlayStation consoles already in use, and each one crafting 10,000 lives, this will develop one billion new human beings. Terrile believes the creation of these lives has already happened, and that we are the beings created from the programmers console. This theory explains why Scientists have been able to see pixels in the tiniest of microscopic images. He goes on to say:
“The other interesting thing is that the natural world behaves exactly the same way as the environment of Grand Theft Auto IV. In the game, you can explore Liberty City seamlessly in phenomenal detail. I made a calculation of how big that city is, and it turns out it’s a million times larger than my PlayStation 3. You see exactly what you need to see of Liberty City when you need to see it, abbreviating the entire game universe into the console. The universe behaves in the exact same way. In quantum mechanics, particles do not have a definite state unless they’re being observed. Many theorists have spent a lot of time trying to figure out how you explain this. One explanation is that we’re living within a simulation, seeing what we need to see when we need to see it.”
Terrile says that a creator of the universe is capable of changing the laws of physics and inventing a universe, something we are already capable of doing in a computer simulation. His arguement rests in the fact that we are getting so close to our own creator that we will soon become both God and servants of God. This theory, while depressing and unnerving, is something Terrile finds inspiring:
“What I find inspiring is that, even if we are in a simulation or many orders of magnitude down in levels of simulation, somewhere along the line something escaped the primordial ooze to become us and to result in simulations that made us. And that’s cool.” [Via Vice]
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Claudia McNeilly is an editorial intern at the Toronto Standard. You can follow her on twitter at @claudiamcneilly
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