Simulation Hypothesis - Part I

Simulation Hypothesis as Perceived by a Hindu

A comparison with the ancient Hindu philosophy of 'Advaita'

Abstract:- Since time immemorial humans have pondered on one fundamental question, 'who are we?'. Over time, this question has then branched into many offshoots from 'why do we exist' to 'are we alone?'. But, the essence of the human inquisitiveness can be traced back to the realisation of self-consciousness and the one fundamental question. People have tried to find answers to this question using a gamut of approaches. Religion and Science are the two extremes between which all these approaches can be bracketed. In the last few years scientists, philosophers and visionaries have given serious thought to the idea of one of the possible solutions to the fundamental question and that is if this universe or reality is a simulation of some kind? This article tries to find some uncanny similarities between two seemingly opposing approaches to the fundamental question, i.e. science and religion. Without delving much into the background of the simulation hypothesis or discussing the possibility of it being true, we will explore the parallels between the Hindu philosophy of 'Advaita' and the 'Simulation Hypothesis'. This being a layman's view on the question, no rigorous scientific and mathematical treatment is given to the topic. The objective of this article is to give an objective comparison to the reader to draw their own inferences and conclusions. Also, to build on this and come up with some other interesting aspects of the comparison.

I. Introduction

Adi Shankaracharya [1], was a Hindu sage, philosopher and a religious figure in the 8th century (CE). He laid the foundations of the Hindu religious philosophy in a structured manner and is considered the most prominent exponent of the 'Advaita Vedanta'. Advaita literally means 'non-duality' and Vedanta loosely translates as the epitome of Vedas. The roots of this school of thought trace far back to the 1st century BCE in the most ancient of the Upanishads [2].

The guiding principle of this school of thought is "Brahma Satya Jagat Mithya (Sanskrit: ब्रह्म सत्य जगत मिथ्या)". If translated word to word, it translates as 'the world is an illusion, the only truth is the ultimate god or the creator'. The word Brahma is not to be confused with the god Brahma. In this context, Brahma or Brahman is the ultimate truth in Hindu philosophy.

The simulation hypothesis, without going into its validity, states that the entire universe is a computer simulation or illusion. If this is true, the simulation must have been 'created ' by a creator.

The glaring and uncanny similarity between the two entirely different schools of thought begs for a comparison between two. These two premises are compared and contrasted in the subsequent sections of this article. An effort is made to find the similarities and differences between the two.

II. Advaita Vedanta

The Advaita Vedanta starts with the principle given in the introduction of this article. In its simplest form, it means that the world or the reality as we perceive is an illusion. The only truth is the ultimate truth or the creator of this illusion, 'Brahman'. However, it does not end there. It also states that everyone is equal on the smallest level of equality and that equality is with the Brahman. The complete Sanskrit verse reads as, "Brahma Satyam Jagat Mithya, Jivo Bramhaiv Naparaha ( Sanskrit: ब्रह्म सत्यं जगन्मिथ्या जीवो ब्रह्मैव नापर:).

An interpretation of the latter half of this verse states that every individual has no separate existence on its own but it is a projection of Brahman in each being.

A Similar Philosophy exists in Mahayana Buddhism. It is known as 'Avataṃsaka Sūtra [3]. In essence, it means the world is a dream and Buddha is the enlightened being. The quest of life is to find this enlightenment.

III. Simulation Hypothesis

The Simulation Hypothesis proposes that the world we live in or the reality as perceived by us is merely a computer simulation. There are many versions of this theory including,

1. The Holographic Principle [4]

2. Mathematical Universe Hypothesis [5]

3. Digital Physics [6]

4. Simulated Reality [7]

5. Brain in a Vat [8]

In the nutshell, all these theories propose that reality is an illusion of some or the other kind. In 2003, philosopher Nick Bostrom proposed a trilemma in his paper, 'Are We Living in a Computer Simulation? [9]. He called the trilemma as the simulation argument. In that paper, he did not argue directly that the reality is a simulation but he argues that one of following three unlikely-seeming propositions is almost certainly true:

"The fraction of human-level civilizations that reach a posthuman stage (that is, one capable of running high-fidelity ancestor simulations) is very close to zero", or

"The fraction of posthuman civilizations that are interested in running simulations of their evolutionary history, or variations thereof, is very close to zero", or

"The fraction of all people with our kind of experiences that are living in a simulation is very close to one"

Through a series of meticulous arguments and anthropic reasoning, Bostrom arrives at a conclusion that we are almost certainly living in a simulated reality.

IV. Similarities

In both the approaches, 'Advaita Vedanta' and 'Simulation Hypothesis', one common element is the element of illusion. The reality is not real but an illusion. This is the main element that brings these two theories closer.

The Advaita Vedanta also proposes that at the very fundamental level of existence everything in this universe is equal or the same as Brahman or the eternal truth. This is very similar but (definitely not same) to the string theory. The string theory proposes that all the things in the universe are made up of one-dimensional objects called strings which are nothing but pure energy. So, in essence, it can be argued that what Advaita Vedanta addresses as the eternal truth or Brahman can be seen as the strings made up of pure energy in the string theory.

V. Differences

In reality, though these theories or approaches look intriguingly similar, there are some telling differences. The differences lie in the consequences of both the hypotheses being true, the method of verification and whether or not we should really seek the truth.

The Advaita Vedanta says the reality is an illusion and the only aim of a being should be to look beyond this reality and find the eternal truth. The path to that truth goes through spiritual enlightenment achieved by the meditation, yoga and learning from an enlightened master or guru. On the other hand, the simulation hypothesis looks to establish its validity through physical experiments and measurements to see the proof of a so-called 'pixelated' space-time. In seeking their respective solutions the hypotheses cannot differ more.

Another aspect of the difference is whether one should really go for the eternal truth. The Advaita Vedanta says it is the ultimate goal of every being. Whereas, the experts of the simulation hypothesis stand divided on that. Philosopher Preston Green in his 2019 article in the New York Times [10] suggested that it may be best not to find out if we're living in a simulation since, if it were found to be true, such knowledge may end the simulation. In simple terms, it might just end like a video game in which the quest has been completed.

Lastly, the Advaita Vedanta or any other religious school of thought does not imply the pixelated reality. This forms the basis of the stark contrast between the methodologies to seek the eternal truth in both the philosophies.

Despite the differences, the similarities in these two schools of thought are impossible to ignore and hence warrant serious research.

VI. Conclusion

As much as similarities, the differences in these two philosophies make the comparison interesting. It is intriguing to see that two seemingly opposite schools of thought have such similarities in their approach to seek the truth. Despite the differences, the thirst to seek the answer to the fundamental question remains the same. The article would meet its goal if it compels the reader to ponder on this very fundamental question for a while.

In upcoming articles, the author hopes to discuss more such questions which take himself and the readers to the extremes of reality and consciousness.

Further Reading

Holometer

Bibliography

[1] “Sri Adi Shankaracharya - Sringeri Sharada Peetham.” Sringeri Sharada Peetham, https://www.sringeri.net/history/sri-adi-shankaracharya.

[2] Wikipedia. “Advaita Vedanta.” Wikipedia, 15 Mar. 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advaita_Vedanta#CITEREFNakamura1950a.

[3] ---. “Avatamsaka Sutra.” Wikipedia, 21 Mar. 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatamsaka_Sutra.

[4] Susskind, Leonard. “The World as a Hologram.” Journal of Mathematical Physics, vol. 36, no. 11, 1995, pp. 6377–96. AIP Publishing, doi:10.1063/1.531249.

[5] Tegmark, Max. “The Mathematical Universe.” Found Phys, vol. 38, no. 2, 2008, pp. 101–50. Springer Science and Business Media LLC, doi:10.1007/s10701-007-9186-9.

[6] Schmidhuber, Jürgen. “Computable Universes & Algorithmic Theory of Everything: The Computational Multiverse.” IDSIA, http://people.idsia.ch/~juergen/computeruniverse.html.

[7] Moravec, Hans. “Simulation, Consciousness, Existence.” Carnegie Mellon University, 1998,https://frc.ri.cmu.edu/~hpm/project.archive/general.articles/1998/SimConEx.98.html.

[8] Harman, Gilbert. “Thought.” Princeton University Press, 19 Apr. 2016, https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691645117/thought.

[9] Nick Bostrom, Are We Living in a Computer Simulation?, The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 53, Issue 211, April 2003, Pages 243–255, https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9213.00309

[10] Greene, Preston. “Opinion | Are We Living In A Computer Simulation? Let’s Not Find Out.” The New York Times, 10 Aug. 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/10/opinion/sunday/are-we-living-in-a-computer-simulation-lets-not-find-out.html.