The idea of simulated worlds captures the imagination of many scientists, science fiction writers, and ordinary people. It means creating an artificial reality so realistic that beings inside it do not realize they are living in a simulation. Can a superpowerful AI create such a world? Let’s try to find out in this article.
Theoretically, if we have enough computing resources and perfect programming intelligence, then creating a fully realistic virtual world does not contradict the laws of physics. Philosophers even suggest that there may already exist civilizations in the universe that have reached such a level of development that they can run countless computer simulations of reality. Nick Bostrom, in his famous simulation hypothesis, argues that if a civilization reaches a level sufficient to create absolutely convincing simulated worlds, it is likely to run a lot of them – perhaps millions. This means that the number of artificial intelligences in such simulations can far exceed the number of real intelligences in the underlying world. That’s why there is even an assumption (don’t be alarmed) that we may already be living in one of these simulations. This is, of course, only a philosophical hypothesis, but it emphasizes the main point: convincing artificial worlds are possible in principle if intelligence and technology are sufficiently developed.
If we can create the most convincing virtual reality in the future, aren’t we already part of it?
From the point of view of artificial intelligence, superintelligence could become the creator of such virtual realities.(We have already published articles on VR, so you can read them). Today, we have virtual reality with a fairly high level of graphics/detail, computer games with open worlds, and life simulators like The Sims. So far, all of them work according to pre-established rules and are not able to deceive a person to the point where he or she fully believes in the reality of the simulation. But let’s just imagine an AI that can dynamically generate environments, characters, and events that are indistinguishable from the real world. For example, you put on a VR headset, and at the same time, AI creates a whole world for you – with its own laws of physics, with characters that behave like real people, and with any environment of your choice. This world reacts to all your actions and even develops on its own. For the player or participant, this simulation can feel absolutely real – a hyper-reality not unlike our world.
Perhaps we can be a simulation of another super-intelligent civilization that has reached the level of the United States
Of course, it is extremely difficult to implement technically (for now). It requires incredible computing power and sophisticated models of everything from physics to human behavior. But superintelligence can easily manage such resources and models. It could design simulations for different purposes. For example, for science – to test hypotheses (by creating artificial models of universes and recreating different scenarios). Or for entertainment – a whole new level of video games and movies, where the viewer becomes a participant in a realistic story. + Educational simulations, where you can live through a certain historical period or get inside an atom to study physics.
So, the answer to the question of whether AI will be able to create fully convincing simulated worlds is, in theory, yes. If the development of AI and hardware continues exponentially, the moment may come in the near future when the reality created by a computer will be indistinguishable from the world around us. The question is why this will be used and how we will treat such technologies. Will people want to live in artificial worlds? Or will it be just a tool for science and entertainment? We’ll leave these philosophical reflections open for now, and in the next part of the article, we’ll move on to more mundane things: how strong AI and its superpowers can affect various areas of our real life, and we’ll look at the theory of simulation again in a more extended way in future articles. Stay with TechnoVision!
