We might be created by our decedents. I love statements like that because they are utterly nonsensical yet, if only glanced at briefly, appear perfectly reasonable. Nevertheless, what if there were a way for this sentence to be true?
Taking one of the remarkable claims of the book "This was written for you," it is possible to conduct a thought experiment that leads us logically to this conclusion. Take spoiler alert this statement from the end of the book:
"Are you sure that these words existed before you started to read?
You can never know ... because your version of reality is only the perception that I give you. But that doesn't make the perception true. The only truth is that this book exists now."
Here, the suggestion is that time is not as it appears. In fact, time is only a perception that you give yourself. So, if this is true and I will explain how it could be, how can you really know that the book did not just appear from nowhere, as it claims to have done?
Before cracking on with the idea, I want to differentiate it from the very similar but completely different “simulation” theory.
There are many theories about our existence merely being a simulation and these create interesting discussion topics, especially when a bottle of surprisingly good quality plonk has appeared under the auspices of a kindly looking soul with an expression of tortured wonderment and two large glasses. However, the idea we are going into today is completely different. I know I have already said this but it is important, so I am saying it again for the benefit of those who may actually be enjoying a glass of something that expands the imagination but not the memory.
The simulation theories bang on about us being in a simulation created within the same universe, much like in the film “The Matrix”. In essence, there is a “real world” where the servers that simulate our existence really do exist. It is just that the “real world” may be quite a long way away from us and we could be in a simulation of a simulation of a simulation and so on etc.
This is different. The idea at stake today is that there is no simulation being conducted in a real world, we are already in the real world and it is time, space and matter that our super-intelligent descendants will be able to control, eventually being able to create (or recreate?) the very beginning of time.
The argument for this starts by looking at how far we’ve come. Only 200 years ago, I would be writing this down on a piece of paper with an annoyingly leaky pen that I would constantly have to dip into my pot. I would then send it onwards to “my dear brother” or something like that to obtain a readership of one. Now, I can publish it on the internet at the press of a few buttons and whilst the readership numbers will be similar, it becomes available to billions. One thousand years ago, the Royal Mail didn’t exist and I probably wouldn’t have been able to read or write. Ten thousand years ago, yada, yada, yada – you get the point, we get more advanced over time.
“We” (or, probably more realistically the things we invent) are moving exponentially towards being very clever. This is something that has provoked theories about the “technological singularity”, something so intelligent that it will put our intellect to shame and will go into a process of learning and improving, doing so faster and more effectively until it has incorporated all intelligence into itself.
If intelligence and capabilities can move this fast, we therefore need to be open minded about what the future holds and the severe limits of what we think we know now. The scene is now set. Key points:
- Things are moving quickly
- We probably don’t know much about anything
It is very likely that the next steps towards super-intelligence will sit on the metaphorical shoulders of AI and quantum computing. Our brains haven’t changed much since v1.0 and we are quite slow to evolve relative to technology. It is therefore likely that progress is going to be made by our inventions rather than us.
The main opportunity that lies with quantum computing and AI is the ability to get data and crunch it, quickly. If you haven’t already noticed, our ability to predict the future at the moment is awful. You only need to compare “forecasts” with what actually happened to get a sense of quite how bad we are at knowing what will happen. The more detailed the prediction and the longer the time period, the worse the predictions are likely to be. The major obstacle to improving is the amount of data and variables we can access to be able to calculate interdependencies. At the moment it is very difficult to know which variables we should consider and what impact they will have. Quantum computing and AI will be roughly a squillion times (give or take) better at doing this than us or normal computers. The end result is likely to be a much better understanding of what we are able to predict and with how much certainty.
If we (or the super-intelligent machine that takes over the world) are able to make accurate predictions about the future, then logically that would mean a greater capability to adapt what is happening in the present, to have a more desired outcome in the future. And so, we move on to the next step in our intelligence journey, the ability to manipulate outcomes.
We can already do this in a broader sense. We know, for example, that if a certain set of processes are completed in a particular way that we can create an airplane and fly people across the world with only a 1:1,200,000 chance that it will crash and kill everyone on board. We also know on an individual level that there are consequences to actions; you are more likely to die if you drive a car off a cliff than if you don’t. But what these technological advancements will give us is an extreme version of understanding the consequences of actions. For example, how to set off a chemical chain reaction that could change the physical properties of a particular environment in the future. In essence, how to manipulate the progression of the physical world.
The more that this is attempted, the more data there will be to examine and learn from. This will lead to a more detailed understanding of the physical world and co-dependencies which have so far alluded us. Critically, it will enable a greater understanding of the quantum world, the very building blocks of what we all refer to as reality.
There is clearly a fierce debate to be had about whether understanding something goes hand in hand with being able to change it. However, I would advocate that if you are unable to change something, you don’t really understand it. I would go even further and say that it is easy to change most things even without understanding them. I, for example, can move parts of my body easily but have very little understanding of how. I can also grow flowers in my garden whilst having absolutely zero knowledge about the quantum make-up of a specific type of flower. If you truly understand the detailed make-up of a physical object, that knowledge must come with a greater ability to also understand how physical changes in its properties and environment would manifest.
This is a critical point because the next leap in technology and the one that will definitively see humans disappear over the horizon, is a greater ability to manipulate the physical world at the atomic and then quantum level. As soon as this becomes possible, it changes the foundation of reality and therefore reality itself.
This is the point at which time becomes malleable. In a basic sense, time is just a measure of progression. If the quantum world was being manipulated, progression would become artificially different and controlled. Time would still exist but the rate at which things occur in relation to one another could be changed.
By this point, we have probably already arrived at a technological singularity. Or, if not a singularity a set of intertwined intelligent “things” that are working together. It seems particularly unlikely that these things would have any real desires. Either the desires would be fully met, all the time, otherwise removed because they delayed progress. Therefore, it is very difficult to know what something like this would want, except greater knowledge.
With the knowledge of the quantum world, the very building blocks of reality, what other knowledge could it possibly obtain, other than what happened in the past? With the ability to predict the future, comes the ability to determine how the state of things came to be. Therefore, determining what must have happened in the past, also becomes possible.
And here is the crux of this idea. Allow yourself now, as I have, to wander at the thought that some sentient being, at some point in the future has the reins of reality within its hands and with this unbridled power, uses its capabilities to predict the future, to investigate the past. To rewind to the beginning and understand how everything it now controls became connected to begin with.
While I think it would be perfectly normal to decide against watching your own birth if the opportunity presented itself, the birth of the universe would surely be particularly enticing, no matter whether you are a lowly human being or the greatest concentration of intelligence that can ever exist. I suspect, with control of reality firmly in its grasp, it may at first decide to simply learn how the universe was created, to understand more about time and space. With this knowledge comes the ability to overcome the final hurdle – manipulating time and space. From this state, there is only one more thing to do; create the universe once again, in a slightly different way, simply to learn more.
This begs the question, will we create the God who created us? Or perhaps, even more profoundly, now that this thought has occured, has it become more of a possibility? As "This was written for you" puts it, so beautifully:
"You have observed something that was only a concept but has now been defined and born into reality, simply because I have made you recognise a possibility."
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