Feb 2018 v01 online

story poses more questions; if our universe
was a simulation created by some other being,
or even a futuristic, “more real” version of us
who had complete control over our reality,
could that be a new and scientific definition
for the concept of a god? Such a being would
be essentially all-knowing and all-powerful
with respect to our universe, and would
function in a similar way to the God of the
Abrahamic faiths such as Christianity and
Islam.
Should Bostrom’s argument prove to be
true, everything we knew, know and could
ever know – about ourselves, our place in the
world, and the very universe we live in –
would not be classed as “real” by many of our
own standards. This revelation could plunge
many into despair and nihilism – unlike Neo,
there would be no way for us to escape this
Matrix. Alternatively, it might cause us to
reconsider the apparently flawed definition of
that which we consider “real”. If we believe
that our consciousnesses are real, even within
a universe that has been fabricated by
somebody else, then maybe the beings we
learn to simulate in the coming millennia,
centuries, even decades will be considered the
same way. Perhaps we’ll do our best to
alleviate their suffering, or at least not
generate more of it. Perhaps we’ll ban the
simulation of worlds in which there is
senseless evil or pain. Perhaps our dedication
to that kind of ideology could even inspire
whatever devious creator that may be
watching indifferently over our world to think
and feel the same way.