Many researchers have no doubts: the day will come and virtual reality will become an integral part of our life. Moreover, it will be difficult for us to distinguish the real reality from the simulated computer, futurologists promise. Meanwhile, does it exist, the "real" reality? What if she's modeled too?
Merging with virtual
In the early 90s of the last century, researcher Jaron Lanier predicted that in the near future we will not only have to play, but also work in virtual reality.
Today, several companies are simultaneously developing systems that imply "access" to the virtual space using a special headset. The sensors with which such headsets are equipped give a complete illusion of real action and sensations. So, they allow not only to see the virtual world, but also to move in it - to run, jump, sneak, crawl, and so on …
Last year, the British company nDreams focused on the development of next-generation games that use virtual reality headsets instead of the usual monitor and manipulators. CEO Patrick O'Luanay believes that by the end of 2015, immersive 3D virtual games will become so commonplace that they won't be seen as special.
And if you distract from games and entertainment and switch to something more serious? Albert Rizzo, Director of Medical Virtual Reality at the University of Southern California, and his colleagues are now considering using the virtual machine in psychology and psychotherapy. For example, the scientist believes that she can help children with attention deficit disorder or war veterans suffering from PTSD.
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In the latter case, a former combatant who has never been able to return to normal life after the past events can be immersed in a virtually recreated traumatic situation. Thus, he will "relive" it and work out various variations of its resolution, which will reduce the level of stress.
Is matter information?
And who said that the reality that we consider to be true is not also virtual? In 2003, the Swedish transhumanist philosopher Nick Bostrom developed this idea in his article "Are We All Living in a Computer Simulation?" He argues: theoretically, humanity is able to turn into such a powerful civilization that it will be able to model reality on a global scale. And therefore there is no certainty that our world is not the brainchild of some kind of supercivilization, a colossal "Matrix".
In 2007, mathematics professor John Barrow from Cambridge put forward a hypothesis that the discovered "failures" in the system of the universe could become proof of the existence of the "Matrix". Just in 1999, when the American blockbuster "The Matrix" was released, scientists discovered that fundamental constants are not really such at all. So, 10 billion years ago, the fine structure constant (an indicator of the intensity of electromagnetic interaction) was about a thousandth of a percent more than it is now. Maybe our "program" failed?
Digital scientist Jim Elvidge has found signs that the universe is actually a computer program based on a digital code. In fact, most objects are nothing more than empty space, Elvidge says. This is similar to how we click on icons on a computer screen. Some image is hidden behind each icon, but all this is just a conventional reality that exists only on the monitor.
Everything we think of as matter is just data, Elvidge believes. Further research in the field of elementary particles will lead to an understanding that behind everything that surrounds us, a certain code is hidden, similar to the binary code of a computer program. Perhaps it will turn out that our brain is just an interface through which we get access to the data of the "universal Internet".
The function of our brain is to process information. The latter is capable of being stored in it, similar to how a computer browser stores the data of the sites we visit while surfing the Internet in the cache. If so, Elvidge believes, then we can access data that is stored outside of our brain. Therefore, things like intuition or clairvoyance are not empty phrases at all. We can receive answers to our queries on the "space Internet". We can also ask for help. And it can come - from other people or the creators of our reality …
Death in this vein also looks not so terrible. If our consciousness is a simulation, then death is just an interruption of the simulation. And our consciousness may well be infused into another "simulator", which explains the phenomenon of reincarnation.
Is the universe made up of pixels?
In 2012, a physicist from the University of Bonn, Silas Bean, who studies the interaction of microparticles in the early Universe, said that if the world is arranged according to the principle of a computer model, then it should be broken up into separate sections - "pixels". Theoretically, the model can be improved, and sooner or later the intelligent beings "inhabiting" it will begin to ask the question: is their Universe artificial and how can this be verified?
British scientists believe that if the structure of the universe is divided into separate cells - "pixels", then the processes inside each cell should be determined by its size: the smaller the cell, the higher the energy level of the particles entering it. By the way, according to astronomical observations, the energy of cosmic radiation that reaches us from distant galaxies also has its limit. But if we assume that these galaxies are also a part of computer reality, then calculations show that the “resolution” of such a “cell” is approximately 1011 times higher than the parameters of a “pixel” in the most perfect model built by modern physicists. Therefore, it is not so easy to identify the "Matrix" at this level.
If we imagine that our universe is “glued” from separate “pixels” and is not a single environment, then this should also affect the trajectories of particles. Most likely, they will symmetrically repeat the shape of the original model. Thus, the theory of parallel dimensions is confirmed.
But one should not expect that the model of our world is ideal, adherents of the "Matrix" theory believe. Our "creators" may well "omit" details, and sooner or later the "wrongs" will become obvious to us. So, if the solar system could still be modeled at the micro level, then who can say the same about other objects in the universe, for example, about distant stars and galaxies? Modern quantum supercomputers will be able to reveal this error over time.
Is free will an illusion?
Here is another indirect confirmation of the theory of the "Matrix". Recently, a professor of mathematics from Oxford, Marcus du Sautoy, conducted an experiment that seemingly denies the manifestation of free will. During the filming of the BBC program, he asked Professor John Dylan Hines of the Bernstein Center for Neuroinformatics to scan his brain while he was to press a button on the device. He had to make a choice - to use his right or left hand to press. The scan showed that six seconds before the realization of the decision occurred, certain areas in the brain were activated, and in the case of choosing the right hand, the zones of activity differed from those that were involved in the case of choosing the left. It turns out that the decision of which hand to press the button was made not by consciousness, not by Sotoy's own “I”, but by the “gray matter” of the brain. Maybe we are not at all able to make decisions on our own and the authors of the “model” do it for us?
Of course, I don’t want to believe that we are just puppets in someone’s hands, but nevertheless this hypothesis cannot be discounted. Just in case…