Karl Hartkopf's Blog

A well-known scientist once gave a public lecture on the nature of reality. He described how there is a good chance that later generations might run detailed simulations of their forebears or of people like their forebears using super-powerful computers and that because of this, “it is then possible to argue that, if this were the case, we would be rational to think that we are likely among the simulated minds rather than among the original biological ones”. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: “What you have told us is rubbish. The world we are in now is real but our descendants might run those simulations you describe.” The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, “If the simulations are that good, how do you know where the real world ends and the simulations begin?” “You’re very clever, young man, very clever,” said the old lady. “But after us, it’s simulations all the way down!”