I think that's an interesting theory.
Ray Kurzweil and others suggest that we will reach a technological singularity where humans will be able to download consciousness into simulated
realities on say a quantum or super computer.
You then look at what people like Seth Lloyd, a professor of mechanical engineering at MIT.
He said this in an interview.
Technology Review:In your new book, you are admirably explicit: you write, "The Universe is indistinguishable from a quantum computer." How can that
be true?
Seth Lloyd: I know it sounds crazy. I feel apologetic when I say it. And people who have reviewed the book take it as a metaphor. But it's factually
the case. We couldn't build quantum computers unless the universe were quantum and computing. We can build such machines because the universe is
storing and processing information in the quantum realm. When we build quantum computers, we're hijacking that underlying computation in order to
make it do things we want: little and/or/not calculations. We're hacking into the universe.
www.technologyreview.com...
So the question is, are we in a quantum computer filled with simulated realities and earth is one of them or are we in a universe that just behaves
like a quantum computer? Seth Lloyd seems to suggest that the universe is a quantum computer.
Why would a race generate a simulated reality like earth?
Maybe we belong to this immortal race and the only way we could experience mortality is through earth like simulations.
Maybe earth is a simulated prison. When immortals began to abuse their immortality they are sent to an earth like simulated prison. You do your time
here and then you die. You either return to the race of immortals or you have to enter another earth like simulation.
I say it's a 30% chance that we are living in a simulated reality and maybe higher because if a race advanced passed the singularity they would be
able to simulate realities and you couldn't tell the difference.
Nick Bostrom Professor, Director, Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford University has some interesting papers on this.
ABSTRACT. This paper argues that at least one of the following propositions is true: (1) the human species is very likely to go extinct before
reaching a “posthuman” stage; (2) any posthuman civilization is extremely unlikely to run a significant number of simulations of their
evolutionary history (or variations thereof); (3) we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation. It follows that the belief that there is a
significant chance that we will one day become posthumans who run ancestor-simulations is false, unless we are currently living in a simulation. A
number of other consequences of this result are also discussed.
You can read more papers and articles here:
www.simulation-argument.com...
This would mean our bodies died years ago and our consciousness was downloaded into a computer that simulates these different realities.
I personally think we are an 0 civilization or a civilization that hasn't simulated yet but I could be wrong.
EDIT; Maybe we didn't die and these simulated realities are back ups to our biological immortality. We might be able to cure any disease through
things like nanotechnology and slow down aging but that wouldn't stop us from dying from accidents. Just speculation.
[edit on 17-8-2008 by polomontana]