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The Infinite Monkey Cage

Are We Living in a Simulation?

The Infinite Monkey Cage

BBC

Comedy, Science

4.79.4K Ratings

🗓️ 31 July 2017

⏱️ 38 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Are we living in a simulation?

Elon Musk thinks we definitely could be, and it seems he is not alone. The idea that we might simply be products of an advanced post-human civilisation, that are simply running a simulation of our universe and everything it contains, has taken hold over the last few years. Brian Cox and Robin Ince are joined on stage by comedian Phill Jupitus, Philosopher Professor Nick Bostrom and Neuroscientist Professor Anil Seth to ask what the chances are that are living in some Matrix like, simulated world and more importantly, how would we ever know?

Producer: Alexandra Feachem.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This is the BBC.

0:04.0

Picture a physicist called Brian Cox, a human physicist with human hopes, human dreams, human hair.

0:11.0

Maybe not actually human hair, but be extraterrestrial hair.

0:14.0

But just a normal human or so he thinks.

0:17.0

Because today is the day that this human finds out that he may be a coder's dream,

0:22.0

just a simulation in a simulated world.

0:25.0

But where could you find this out?

0:27.0

In only one place, the twilight monkey cage.

0:31.0

Hello, I'm a simulation of Robin Inns.

0:34.0

And I'm a simulation of Brian Cox.

0:36.0

I suppose I could be a simulation of Robin Inns as well, which is where he is, isn't it?

0:39.0

How does that work out? I don't want to be you.

0:41.0

I like being bald and old and weird looking.

0:43.0

So, we expect them being pretty.

0:45.0

I mean, imagine when you lose your looks.

0:47.0

That's the end for you.

0:49.0

Whereas me, that's never...

0:50.0

I've never been employed, but we need someone with braces who's bald and looks old for you.

0:54.0

Jim, how clearly you'll get all your work once you're both bald.

0:57.0

So today's show, I suppose, in some ways, the good thing about it is that I've been an atheist for quite a few years.

1:03.0

And the worst thing about being an atheist is you lose a greater power to blame for everything that goes wrong.

1:09.0

You don't have those, mate.

...

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