Elon Musk Doesn't Think We are Real- Video

Elon Musk Doesn't Think You or He are Real

We cannot be sure we are living in base reality- Elon Musk
Odds are there are multiple simulations at different levels.

Is our life a simulation? Elon Musk has thought about this a lot.

The odds that we are not living in a simulated universe is "one in billions"

Musk's Rationale*

Given that technology keeps progressing, keeps becoming more and more efficient at what it is designed to do
this will eventually, simply a matter of time, result in video game technology being able to create virtual worlds indistinguishable from real life. So it is a question of when and not if; given that time and technology progresses.
in such a future, billions of people may be playing such hyper-realistic video games, meaning that there is not just the one, our physical universe, but a supplement of billions of virtual universa. Given that there are billions of worlds, the chance that we are in one particular of those worlds, ie the physical one, is incredibly small.

Simulations are Not Necessarily Video Games*

But the tech used in creating video games may create virtual realities. Musk seems to be saying that not only will the improvement of video game technology lead to the ability to create virtual realities indistinguishable from physical reality, which allows a physical real life player to move about, and think and feel in virtual reality as if there is no perceptible difference, but moreover, and this is the deeper claims he makes, although he seems to conflate the two, we will even be able to create virtual worlds with consciousnesses within them.

To understand this you have to know that many very intelligent mathematicians and physicists see nature as mathematics, that there is a mathematical structure underlying every phenomena in this universe, and that it is simply a matter of deciphering the code. Given this, it is not hard to see that a person who sees the world this way may understand consciousness as "a bunch of code".

* h/t panthamor

Nothing crazy there. We can live with all of that. It is the "seems" part that gives us pause.

Seems Scary to Us

"If you assume any rate of improvement..then games will become indistinguishable from reality"

What does he mean? That we could be in a video game? Or that the tech from Video Game advancement makes our chances of already living in a simulated reality more likely or ???

Musk had Better not be Thinking Life is a Video Game

A perfectly moral consciousness can justify killing in a video game. Because the character used is not a new consciousness, and the killed opponent does not really die. If Musk is blurring video games with simulations on some unconscious level then we are a little worried.

Play. Die. Respawn. > Fly to Mars. Crash. Reset.

But statements like this devoid of moral implications can be used to justify otherwise amoral or immoral actions. Not unlike a nihilist or hedonist. A person would have to be predisposed to this way of thinking to begin with. The thing is, morality is subjective absent knowing what the creator (or simulator's) absolute morals are. It is hard enough dealing with the relativism in subjective morality without now having to deal with the "none of this is real" crowd.

Billionaire Risk

Imagine subscribing to this concept in a world where others do not. The freedom it could give you to act, were you so disposed, in a way that makes morality a moving target. Now imagine being a hyper-successful businessman, whose success puts his compass at risk of hubris, messiah complex, or a plain old inflated ego.It is not a leap to use the "life is a simulation" concept to rationalize otherwise amoral behavior. And conversely, failures are not real either. They may be for you after losing your net worth in Tesla, but not for him.

The Man for Mars
Musk’s severe rationality and emotional detachment, as well as his preternatural ability to master complex subjects quickly, have led to an ongoing joke among denizens of certain Internet forums that he must be an alien..In fact, the man has all the attributes of a classic narcissist—the grandiosity, the quest to be famous, the lack of empathy, the belief that he is smarter than everyone else, and the messianic plan to save civilization.-by Sue Halpern

Just saying:

Life as simulation, like any philosophy, can be a salve for the soul. It can also be a tool for the psychopath to justify behavior. Perverting Stoic philosophy is a reason to kill for a mafioso.

The way a charismatic figure sells himself is often by learning something, and "owning it". He then incorporates it into his own "grid" for goal attainment From there it can be used as a tool in maintaining the cult of personality. "We are not Real" can be a nice tool to reinforce the wall between "reality" and some inflated image he has of himself. Businessmen don't philosphize for fun. They seek to challenge themselves for innovative or motivational purposes. Or they can do it to justify behavior. Narcisists do it to keep deserving the public adulation.

The author is not unfamiliar with adopting external constructs as guides and rules for attaining some goal. And when those external concepts become maladaptive, the healthy person seeks to evolve his "grid" for goal attainment consistent with values. The unhealthy person makes exceptions, changes rules and otherwise puts the goal before the values.

We are not fans of Elon Musk's business practices, and have said so in several posts.Our biases are based on evidence and belief the man has perpetrated a fraud on the US Government. We think he is similar to other successful businessmen with their psychopathologies and demons directed in a constructive manner, more or less. But he also isn't

For example: We first thought that a man of Musk's intelligence was being an Ayn Rand egoist when he cut the first Tesla deal with the U.S.- all the VC risk, none of the VC upside. Caveat Emptor comes to mind.

Now? He could be a total loon justifying any action since none of it is real.

Are we seeing what we want to see? Yes. We are biased. Until we see otherwise, we observe his behavior to almost always be in service of his public image and his personal goals. The simulation interview was in June. The same month he put in a bid to buy Solarcity which, if it went under, could take all three of his companies down with it. Is his behavior escapism, tactical confidence, or something else?

Elon Musk ruminating about simulations is not new. Read Nick Bostrom's work on it. Watch the Matrix. Or rent Animal house and watch that Donald Sutherland stoner scene. Not enough data is in, but somethingis going to give here. Success and the feeling of omnipotency. Or failure, which he won't admit to himself. Besides, its not real anyway.

Previously