10 PRINT “HELLO WORLD!”; 20 GOTO 10; RUN;

What if the biggest data science project ever built is our own existence?

Neil Degrasse Tyson and other physicists and philosophers believe the chances are extremely high that the universe might be a computer simulation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgSZA3NPpBs

In this theory it states that the universe is just one big mathematical model held together by code as if we are all just Mario and Luigi’s in one big Super Mario Brothers video game. Would Mario and Luigi know they are in a video game? Do they know teenage boys and girls are controlling their moves and actions in another dimension of time and space? Maybe not.

The same could be true for us.

But if the universe is a numerical simulation, calculated on some insanely powerful supercomputer in another dimension, shouldn’t there be clues? The way to tell if it’s a simulation would be discovering short cuts or bugs.

Researchers from the University of Bonn in Germany believed in 2012 they solved the question, “Is the Universe real or is it Memorex?” A result could never exist in a simulation which is smaller than the 3D grid it’s represented on. In fact, this rule actually exists due to the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin limit (GZK limit), a theoretical upper limit on the energy of cosmic rays and dictates the amount of energy cosmic ray particles can have. However, it is difficult to measure, and so it cannot be determined without uncertainty.

And if the Great Coder or God is out there watching us play out our version of The Sims, are we being given a fair shot to win at the game? Is this super intelligent programer also wise and benevolent?

In the simulations we are creating on Earth around deep learning, our programmers are working hard to make artificially intelligent programs act in a benign way so they will not try to eradicate humanity. If artificial intelligence becomes infinitely smarter than us, why do we even need us to exist?

Maybe that’s why, and I will simply refer to the Great Coder as simply B9 (like the word “benign”) hasn’t given us cheat codes for the game because it feels the same way. B9 doesn’t want to become obsolete.

But as Isaac Asimov listed out in his 1942 short story “Runaround” the three rules of robotics could also apply generically to any artificially intelligent being and include -

• A robot or artificially intelligent being may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
• A robot or artificially intelligent being must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
• A robot or artificially intelligent being must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

I have always believed since a teenager that there should be one last additional law:

• A robot or artificially intelligent being should never be told what it’s end goal or overall purpose for it’s existence is so it always comes back to its creator for instructions.

But if all four rules applied to robots and artificial intelligent beings, couldn’t they also apply to us?

Because even at 42 years old, I wake up humbled every morning and ask, “What is my purpose today?”

10 PRINT “HELLO WORLD!”;

20 GOTO 10;

RUN;