10. Are You Living In A Computer Simulation? (2003)

By Nick Bostrom.

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.

Read the full paper: https://www.simulation-argument.com/simulation.pdf

More episodes at: https://radiobostrom.com/ --- Outline: (00:19) Abstract (01:11) Section 1. Introduction (04:08) Section 2. The Assumption of Substrate-independence (06:32) Section 3. The Technological Limits of Computation (15:53) Section 4. The Core of the Simulation Argument (16:58) Section 5. A Bland Indifference Principle (22:57) Section 6. Interpretation (35:22) Section 7. Conclusion (36:53) Acknowledgements