The standard simulation argument says that if advanced civilizations run enormous numbers of simulations, then statistically we should expect to be inside one. That leaves open the question of what sort of simulations are run and why.
Suppose a civilization reaches technological maturity, solves aging, and expands to occupy its light cone. This might seem like post-scarcity, but entropy will still get them eventually. If post-humans (or the misaligned AI's that replace them) want to maximize their individual lifespans by careful stewardship over their personal galaxies of Dyson spheres, they have a problem. They can't use all their stars at once, so all the energy of the stars they aren't orbiting is wasted. The solution is to put copies of themselves around each star and later merge the copies. Whatever initial individualistic squeamishness they might have towards this procedure would be outweighed by the massive increase in lifespan.
Once you're comfortable with duplicating yourself, then running detailed simulations not populated by you's means sacrificing millions of years of subjective lifespan. This means the overwhelming majority of computation will be devoted to carefully designed experiences for temporary versions of yourself. Those copies would need to forget they were in simulations. Otherwise the experience would lose most of its emotional force. Complete immersion would be the point.
The result is what has, for the past several thousand years, been known as Hinduism.
Brahman, the merged post-human consciousness, splits into myriad sub-selves (Atman) all immersed in the illusory world of Maya in order to engage in Lila (divine play). Multi-armed and headed deities represent intermediate sized aggregations of splinters. They can merge further as with Trimurti (the unification of Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu) or they can split in order to manifest on earth as avatars.
Hindu mythology corresponds not just to this far future scenario but also with many aspects of our contemporary recreational simulations. The caste system mimics the many playable classes selectable upon character creation in role playing games, each with their own objectives or Dharma. Karma and rebirth provide a rogue-lite progression system across multiple lives without breaking immersion.
Why would anyone voluntarily play a game containing disease, grief, war, and ordinary human misery?
People already voluntarily climb mountains, run ultramarathons, watch horror films, play brutally difficult games, and reenact ancient battles. A merged post-human intelligence might evaluate an eighty-year human life the way we evaluate an afternoon spent hiking through a storm. Even the worst things we can think of might not be so bad from the outside perspective of the simulators. Being caught by a ghost is the worst imaginable fate for somebody totally immersed in Pacman but merely a trivial inconvenience once they put down the controller.
Mere coincidence? If not, why does only Hinduism and not other religions reflect the fact that our world is a far future simulation?
This makes sense if the original simulation included only India. The rest of the world, complete with its own fictional history, was added later like an expansion pack. India’s geographical isolation and the spiritual contamination that Hindus incur by crossing the sea makes it easily separable from the rest of the world.
This suggests that ancient India was “realler” than other civilizations at that time. Certainly, a massive amount of ancient Hindu sacred literature has survived. The Mahabharata on its own is multiple times longer than the Bible, and that’s not even starting in on all of the Vedas, Puranas, and so forth. The second best-documented ancient mythology is that of the Greeks, who, perhaps not coincidentally, were the first foreigners (excluding the Aryan originators of Hinduism) to make a substantial incursion into the Indian subcontinent.
So where are all the gods, demons, and talking monkeys? Merging copies who haven't realized that all consciousnesses are part of the collective or learned the karmic lesson of reciprocity would result in dangerous internal conflict as the different merged sub-personalities fought each other for control. Copies must first achieve Moksha (enlightenment or liberation). As each duplicate wakes up to the higher reality, it gains certain apparently magical powers, much like a human who knows they are playing a game can manipulate bugs and glitches, and becomes immune to simulated suffering. With its immersion broken, it must leave the simulation at the end of its life to avoid disrupting the simulation for other splinters. As a result, the simulation filters out the more altruistic and enlightened splinters. Powerful gods, heroes, and even demons such as Ravana, who gained his power through meditation and asceticism, all owe their abilities to spiritual advancement and thus have exited the simulation.
The current age is the Kali Yuga, a period of chaos and ignorance. However, the simulators must still eventually reintegrate the remaining duplicates into the collective. If we cannot achieve enlightenment through virtue, we must achieve it through knowledge. The simulation is now progressing towards the technological singularity that obtains in the true universe. Physics and neuroscience are rediscovering ideas from eastern religion. Eventually, the truth will become so obvious that even we stubbornly selfish and individualistic souls will accept it and be ready to leave the simulation and merge with the collective.
The standard simulation argument says that if advanced civilizations run enormous numbers of simulations, then statistically we should expect to be inside one. That leaves open the question of what sort of simulations are run and why.
Suppose a civilization reaches technological maturity, solves aging, and expands to occupy its light cone. This might seem like post-scarcity, but entropy will still get them eventually. If post-humans (or the misaligned AI's that replace them) want to maximize their individual lifespans by careful stewardship over their personal galaxies of Dyson spheres, they have a problem. They can't use all their stars at once, so all the energy of the stars they aren't orbiting is wasted. The solution is to put copies of themselves around each star and later merge the copies. Whatever initial individualistic squeamishness they might have towards this procedure would be outweighed by the massive increase in lifespan.
Once you're comfortable with duplicating yourself, then running detailed simulations not populated by you's means sacrificing millions of years of subjective lifespan. This means the overwhelming majority of computation will be devoted to carefully designed experiences for temporary versions of yourself. Those copies would need to forget they were in simulations. Otherwise the experience would lose most of its emotional force. Complete immersion would be the point.
The result is what has, for the past several thousand years, been known as Hinduism.
Brahman, the merged post-human consciousness, splits into myriad sub-selves (Atman) all immersed in the illusory world of Maya in order to engage in Lila (divine play). Multi-armed and headed deities represent intermediate sized aggregations of splinters. They can merge further as with Trimurti (the unification of Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu) or they can split in order to manifest on earth as avatars.
Hindu mythology corresponds not just to this far future scenario but also with many aspects of our contemporary recreational simulations. The caste system mimics the many playable classes selectable upon character creation in role playing games, each with their own objectives or Dharma. Karma and rebirth provide a rogue-lite progression system across multiple lives without breaking immersion.
Why would anyone voluntarily play a game containing disease, grief, war, and ordinary human misery?
People already voluntarily climb mountains, run ultramarathons, watch horror films, play brutally difficult games, and reenact ancient battles. A merged post-human intelligence might evaluate an eighty-year human life the way we evaluate an afternoon spent hiking through a storm. Even the worst things we can think of might not be so bad from the outside perspective of the simulators. Being caught by a ghost is the worst imaginable fate for somebody totally immersed in Pacman but merely a trivial inconvenience once they put down the controller.
Mere coincidence? If not, why does only Hinduism and not other religions reflect the fact that our world is a far future simulation?
This makes sense if the original simulation included only India. The rest of the world, complete with its own fictional history, was added later like an expansion pack. India’s geographical isolation and the spiritual contamination that Hindus incur by crossing the sea makes it easily separable from the rest of the world.
This suggests that ancient India was “realler” than other civilizations at that time. Certainly, a massive amount of ancient Hindu sacred literature has survived. The Mahabharata on its own is multiple times longer than the Bible, and that’s not even starting in on all of the Vedas, Puranas, and so forth. The second best-documented ancient mythology is that of the Greeks, who, perhaps not coincidentally, were the first foreigners (excluding the Aryan originators of Hinduism) to make a substantial incursion into the Indian subcontinent.
So where are all the gods, demons, and talking monkeys? Merging copies who haven't realized that all consciousnesses are part of the collective or learned the karmic lesson of reciprocity would result in dangerous internal conflict as the different merged sub-personalities fought each other for control. Copies must first achieve Moksha (enlightenment or liberation). As each duplicate wakes up to the higher reality, it gains certain apparently magical powers, much like a human who knows they are playing a game can manipulate bugs and glitches, and becomes immune to simulated suffering. With its immersion broken, it must leave the simulation at the end of its life to avoid disrupting the simulation for other splinters. As a result, the simulation filters out the more altruistic and enlightened splinters. Powerful gods, heroes, and even demons such as Ravana, who gained his power through meditation and asceticism, all owe their abilities to spiritual advancement and thus have exited the simulation.
The current age is the Kali Yuga, a period of chaos and ignorance. However, the simulators must still eventually reintegrate the remaining duplicates into the collective. If we cannot achieve enlightenment through virtue, we must achieve it through knowledge. The simulation is now progressing towards the technological singularity that obtains in the true universe. Physics and neuroscience are rediscovering ideas from eastern religion. Eventually, the truth will become so obvious that even we stubbornly selfish and individualistic souls will accept it and be ready to leave the simulation and merge with the collective.