Tech billionaire Elon Musk has said there is a “high probability” that humanity is living inside a simulation, arguing that rapid advances in video games and AI now make the idea hard to ignore. In a recent interview with Nikhil Kamath, Musk explained his view by pointing to how games have moved from basic screens like Pong, “two rectangles and a square batting back and forth”, to today’s photo-realistic, real-time games played by millions. Musk said that if this trend continues, games will one day be impossible to distinguish from real life, with highly intelligent characters built into them. That, he argued, raises the possibility that our own reality could be a simulation.This is not the first time Musk has shared this belief. Years ago, during an appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, he made a similar argument. “If you assume any rate of improvement at all, then games will be indistinguishable from reality, or civilisation will end. One of those two things will occur,” Musk said, adding, “Therefore, we are most likely in a simulation, because we exist.”The idea he refers to is known as the “simulation hypothesis,” a long-running debate in philosophy and science. The concept suggests that a technologically advanced civilisation could create countless simulated worlds, and the people inside them would struggle to know what is real.
