Bank Of America claims there’s a 50 per cent chance we live in The Matrix
Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts in a recent report have suggested that there is a 20-50% chance our world is a Matrix-style virtual reality created by a mysterious future civilisation. This means that the world we experience as “real” is actually just a simulation.
The report, which was distributed to clients, also suggests that even if our world was an illusion, we would never know about it.
The researchers backed up the claims by citing comments from leading philosophers, scientists and other thinkers.
The Bank of Americaโs report, which was looking at the inferences of virtual reality, described:
โMany scientists, philosophers, and business leaders believe that there is a 20-50% probability that humans are already living in a computer-simulated virtual world,โ it wrote last week, according to Business Insider.
โIn April 2016, researchers gathered at the American Museum of Natural History to debate this notion. The argument is that we are already approaching photorealistic 3D simulations that millions of people can simultaneously participate in.
โIt is conceivable that with advancements in artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and computing power, members of future civilisations could have decided to run a simulation of their ancestors.
โUnless we are now living in a simulation, our descendants will almost certainly never run an ancestor-simulation,โ the report stated.
The analysts took inspiration from inventor and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who is one of those certain that our world is run by artificial intelligence developed by a future civilization.
Philosophers dating back to the 16th century, notably Renรฉ Descartes had torn us from this kind of thinking in the 16th century when he stated, โI think therefore I amโ and had suggested we cannot depend on our sense experiences to perceive the world.
Fast forward to 21st century, recently in April, Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson suggested there is a โhigh chanceโ the universe as we know it is merely a simulation. Echoing Tysonโs views are Professor Nick Bostrom from Oxford University who made a very strong argument in his paper โAre You Living In A Computer Simulation?โ that we in fact are.
In the film โThe Matrixโ released in 1999, humans live in a simulated reality created by machines to control the human population.