VERSES: Well, there’s Adverse; Averse; Diverse; Inverse; Perverse; Reverse; and Universe. That’s the one we want – Universe.
PICK A UNIVERSE, ANY UNIVERSE: Well, they seem to come in a number of possible flavours.
STANDARD UNIVERSES: These come in three flavours. There’s the standard physical 3-D Universe and maybe a 3-D Multiverse of which it is a part of; there’s also the possibility of a physical 2-D universe disguised as 3-D illusionary universe – we call that a holographic universe. Finally, there’s that old sci-fi favourite, the parallel universe.
1) The 3-D physical Universe is the one we all know and love and are convinced represents the one true reality. It might however be part of a larger collection of universes that are connected either in a straight forward linear fashion or via wormholes or Black Holes. The key point is that there is a physical connection/relationship between our Universe and possible other universes that collectively make up a Multiverse.
2) A 2-D physical universe masquerading as a 3-D holographic universe.
3) There’s the parallel / shadow / alternate / mirror / many worlds universe – these are all pretty much variations on the same theme and that theme is grounded in physics’ (quantum and cosmological) theoretical musings. Basically, while they might exist, the key point here is that there is no real physical connection between parallel universes. There’s no ways and means of travel between them. There’s apparently no way we can detect them with our five senses (or instruments that are surrogates for those) so it’s fairly meaningless to talk specifics. The generality though is that collectively they represent the ‘anything that is not forbidden is compulsory’ mantra. That is, within that (probably infinite) set of parallel universes, all possible histories have, are, and will be enacted in all possible combinations coupled with as many variations to boot in the laws, relationships and principles of physics that can be allowed for (i.e. – the speed of light might be different in other parallel universes).
While existence in these sorts of purely physical realities is interesting, there are other possibilities even more interesting. Perhaps we exist in some form of simulation – in a simulated universe. Since that’s a way more interesting (albeit far out) proposal, I’ll spend the bulk of this essay discussing this possibility.
SIMULATED UNIVERSES: These come in two flavours too, but before we start, it’s worth noting that before you can have simulated universes, in all probability you had better have a real Universe that evolves and is bio-friendly and produces an intelligent entity with a mind that can at least dream and imagine and ideally evolves to produce a technology that can create software simulations.
1) Externally created simulated universes come in several varieties like theme park rides, video games and works of fiction like “The Wizard of Oz”, “Alice in Wonderland”, “Through the Looking Glass”, “Flatland” as well as a host of others. In fact just about every science fiction, science fantasy and dark fantasy (horror) story ever created – well in fact, every work of fiction, every novel and short story and poem and play, every tall tale, is really an imagined and externally created simulated universe. Clearly while the characters on a page aren’t a real simulation, the act of creating them and the plot via the author’s mind was clearly a simulation, albeit mental. Apart from that, in nearly all cases the translation from print (or for that matter from an oral story) to the reader’s mind’s imagination generates that individual’s lone interpretation of that universe contained within that work of fiction. However, when the scenario is made a bit more explicit, as in a video game, then the characters might be construed as leading quite a separate and more individualistic existence. In a video game featuring Alice of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ fame, might not Alice feel she has a real identity in what’s to us a simulated universe, but which to her is a really, real wonderland world? The key element here is being able to interact with the characters, like an interactive video game, or play mental gyrations with the literary characters within your mind. They dance to your tune. In that sense, a theme park ride, while a simulation of sorts, isn’t very interesting since the scenario never changes – just like a film or a TV episode, there’s just no variations in the interactions possible. In fact there are no interactions.
Video games (or mental scenarios) are quite unlike a TV episode or film or theme park ride where you can’t interact with the characters, though, as in the case with literary works, you can translate the characters from the screen (as with the page) into mental images within your mind which you can then manipulate. In that sense James Bond and Captain Kirk have an existence. Of course, as with literary ‘universes’, celluloid features can be translated into interactive game playing features, so again, James Bond and Captain Kirk might ‘exist’ in their respective video game universes (or maybe you could create a video game where both characters exist simultaneously) - which leads to the next flavour!
2) Internally (mentally) simulated universes also come in several varieties. I’ve already suggested that literary and celluloid characters can be given a form of simulated reality within your own mind.
There’s the normal brain chemistry that self-creates universes like the standard I’m dreaming universe and there’s the standard I’m-awake-and-conscious-and-engaging-in-an-active-imagination-thought-experiment universe/daydreaming universe. The upshot of this is that you (as a representative of the Universe) might in turn be the product of someone/something else’s dream or someone/something else’s imagination. The division between illusion and reality might not be entirely trustworthy. You know your dream universes and characters are illusionary, but if you are the product of someone else’s dream, as far as you are concerned, that’s your reality, though it’s not the reality you think it is.
Another variation on the theme – if you dream you are X, can you be sure it’s not really X who is dreaming of you dreaming of X!
Also, if you simulate a universe via a dream, that simulation doesn’t of necessity end when you wake up. Sometimes when you awake you recall the dream you were dreaming that was happening immediately before waking up. You can then take that dream scenario and carry it forward in your now awake mode imagination. So, invented mental images – dreams while asleep and the active imagination while awake aren’t all that different – if different at all. The saying ‘I think, therefore I am’ could equally be ‘I dream, therefore I am’, or maybe that should be ‘someone (something) is dreaming (thinking) of me, therefore I am’!
Then there’s the abnormal brain chemistry self-created universes – universes created within a mind that has been affected by drugs, from the legal to the illegal, the mild to the powerful; lack of food or oxygen, disease, injury, etc. One variation on this theme is the brain that’s stimulated by electrodes which can produce all sorts of apparently very real hallucinogenic images. A slightly futuristic version of this might be a computer-brain/mind interface, an advanced form of virtual reality. The upshot here is that I expect those with abnormal brain chemistry probably have atypical (weirder) dream scenarios that differ from those with normal brain functionality.
If there can be a simulated universe; and if it’s possible for there to be a holographic universe, then let’s go to extremes and say we’re in a simulated holographic universe! One would have to combine the probability of one with the probability for the other to arrive at some sort of likelihood of that possibility. But that possibility, of necessity, means that the hologram in this case is artificially generated – wetware or software - by an intelligent being. The entire holographic universe aside, we can downscale in the meantime to the best known software example in ‘fiction’ of simulated holographic scenarios. The example that comes to mind is the “Star Trek” holodeck or holosuite.
However, the best known wetware example in actual ‘reality’ is dreaming. Dreams are obviously simulations, the product of an intelligent mind (the wetware) but since a dream is but a 3-D illusionary image, that’s a hologram in all but name. That’s currently our best example of a simulated holographic ‘universe’. Dreaming, to use the analogy, is nothing more than your mind turning on its holodeck and acting out a simulated scenario.
But such wetware holographic simulations aren’t confined to just the human mind. Here the intelligent mind extends to other biological entities, although just how far down the evolutionary ladder isn’t clear. But higher animals (at least mammals and birds, maybe reptiles and amphibians, perhaps some invertebrates) dream too. Anyone who has observed their sleeping pet dog or cat can testify to that. Exactly what they dream no one knows, but probably of things most central to their mind set and world view and what matters most to their survival.
There’s also the question surrounding the possibility of near infinite regressions – a dream within a dream within a dream; a video game within a video game within a video game. To be honest, I’m not about to buy into that can of worms even if it is a possibility, but just because it just plain makes my head hurt! You can get into some weird shit here. I mean, let’s talk about our favourite couple, Clive and Jane. Say Clive dreams of Jane dreaming of Clive dreaming of Jane, ad infinitum.
Finally, there’s the mind as the universe. This is an interesting variation on the theme which says that the be-all-and-end-all of reality is your mind and only your mind, which has created for its amusement the everlasting illusion of life, the Universe and everything. The technical philosophical name for this is ‘solipsism’.
I have been assuming up to this point that the originator of a simulated universe was ultimately a biological being, even if said biological being programmed a computer to run a simulation. Now, what if a computer itself – the product of a highly advanced race of intelligent and technologically savvy life forms - was a self aware entity? What if instead of a CHON (carbon / hydrogen / oxygen / nitrogen) life form being the creator of a simulation, it was an iron and silicon artificial intelligence that’s behind that simulation? ‘Do androids dream of electric sheep?’ I believe is the title of a popular sci-fi novel. Does it ultimately matter what chemical elements the composer of a simulation is made of?
Before leaving simulated universes, somewhere between a realistically normal simulation (dream or video game) where ‘normal’ is taken to represent our day-to-day 21st Century environment and existence, and a supernatural universe (see immediately below) is a subcategory of mythological/fantasy universes (which admittedly have a fair share of representation in the video game market). In real life however, we tend to associate a mythological oriented world with our terrestrial ancient times through to the Age of Enlightenment. It was a lengthy era where unicorns and elves and dragons and witches and all other manner of things now consigned to mythological literature and texts devoted to the mythology of various past cultures were very real to the then inhabitants of those times. Now the question is, if all our history has been but a simulation, might there have been a time when unicorns, elves, dragons and witches were as actually real to our ancestors many times removed now, as real as horses and dwarfs and iguanas and old hags are to us? The simulation software might have morphed one into the other over time. Mythology might not be so mythical after all if that’s the case.
To be continued...
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