Ron Peters's Reviews > The Simulation Hypothesis

Are we living in a computer simulation and are we, perhaps, not even “real people”? The topic is interesting enough that I sure hope there are better writings out there for the educated layperson, one which gives solid arguments for and against the simulation hypothesis. The author worked in the computer game industry, and a quarter of the book is spent giving a history of gaming that could easily have been condensed to ten pages if he had focused only on that which is pertinent to his subject. Many of the ideas involved are outré (UFOs anyone? Synchronicity?) and sometimes sort of cool, e.g., the analogy he draws between waveform collapse in particle physics and conditional rendering in video games. But most of the book is made up of analogies stretched to the breaking point, and terrible logic when it comes to deciding what constitutes “proof” of the simulation hypothesis. He has, at best, an amateur’s acquaintance with quantum mechanics and theology, two areas he expounds on at great length, offering mainly Wikipedia articles as references. If anyone knows of a better book on the topic, please let me know.