Simulation Theory

For whatever reason, I have been having a lot of conversations lately about simulation theory so I thought I do my best to try to explore this concept from the perspective of massage and bodywork. Its a bit of a stretch but if you like these types of conversations please enjoy.

So first what is simulation theory? Simulation theory is the belief or idea that reality, as we understand it, is a video game like construct? Rapid and exponential evolution in computer technology has inspired this idea. Going from Pacman to World of Warcraft in less than 40 years is quite impressive, compared to the hundreds of millions of years dinosaurs took to become chickens. If this acceleration continues how long would it take before the games we play can confuse our nervous systems sufficiently to where we forget we are playing a game? Perhaps that why we do not remember being babies. Knowledge of the "real" world may be recent enough to remember during infancy, but so alien from our game world that we have no way of framing those memories. As babies new to this world we would have no idea of the logic of this world so we would have to mimic more experienced players to learn how the basic rules of this system.

Proponents of this theory argue if we can conjure such technology so could other worlds. People from these other worlds would use these technologies for all sort of hedonistic and Machiavellian reasons creating worlds within the world. What chance in this” Inception” like reality would this be the original world? So we are in a simulation. No other theory could possibly make sense according to the diehard believer of this theory.

Before I go on I want to make clear I am completely agnostic about this. I like the idea of a simulation theory for reasons I'll go into soon. I can understand how it could be true. I can also understand how it sounds crazy. Since there no actual way to know something of this nature I think it’s silly to argue it pro or con. Personally, I suspect the world whatever it is, is something so vast and other that our human brains are biologically incapable of grasping the true nature of reality. That all said I think it would be fun to explore simulation theory and somewhat tangentially relate it to health and bodywork.

So down the rabbit hole, we go.

Believing we are in a simulation is often criticized as spirituality with a scientific makeover. This spark resistance in some people. Spiritually certainly has its detractors, but many people do seem to benefit from some form of spiritual practice. Spiritual beliefs good or bad are part of all cultures to various degrees. I would argue that anything so pervasive has to have some evolutionary logic to it. So why would a spiritual practice not grow out of our scientific culture? Would people emerged in a scientific paradigm not be able to benefit from a spiritual practice? Why should modern mystics and story weavers not translate mythologies to make them cognitively accessible to the scientific minded? Of course, this also means people can become fundamentalist and bring about all the social problems fundamentalist of all beliefs and non-beliefs bring. So let's be careful about not doing that. I don't want a bloody crusade between those who think we are in a Linux reality and those who think we are in Javascript.

Now let's talk free will. If this world is real then everything can be reduced to one of 118 base elements. Each other their behavior will forever be determined by their characteristics. As complicated as chemicals can become they will never not be predictable, at least in theory. Water always goes down a hill in the most efficient way. It doesn't ever make a mistake. If we are merely chemicals we have no more choice in our lives than the path of water flowing down a hill. If this is a simulation we could be programmed for randomness allowing us to have some independence from the physical world. Mind over matter becomes possible.

Our senses: sight, hearing, feeling, taste, and smell all focus on the external world allowing us to manipulate our external environment. It becomes easy to ignore the internal world of our bodies as we concentrate outwards. If we submerge ourselves in the logic of simulation theory our bodies become an avatar that exists outside our consciousness. Viewing reality through this lens, we can be both more sensitive and attentive to our bodies. Its less of a mental leap to view ourselves objectively if, our body or avatar is a (most important from this perspective) object in the world rather than something we are perpetually perceiving the world out of out of. This detachment allows us to be more disciplined in giving what our bodies they need to stay healthy rather than what we (our bodies) want at any giving moment. I would also argue "what we (our bodies) want" is often not what we think it is which is why contentment induced by addictive behaviors have such a short shelf life. Perhaps this is a reason why spiritually is beneficial. It provides many people with a cultural template on how to obtain this vantage point.

So if this all is virtual reality are we here to learn something? Why would we submerge ourselves in a high-resolution game with so much pain?

There is a story of 2 fishes. Fish A asks fish B how the water. Fish B says what's water. Point being water is so common, so easy to take for granted that fish B doesn't even know of its existence. Yet fish A knows about water. Fish A is curious enough about the water to ask fish B about it. Water is knowable yet goes unnoticed by those that aren't actively curious. So what is our water? What do some of us strive to understand that others are completely ignorant of?

My guess as to what's our water is our breath. I see fish A as some yogic practitioner, trying to extend some knowledge to fish B.

Breathing is the only activity we are constantly engaged in, day night, sleep and awake. We have a lifetime of opportunity to become aware of how we breathe when we are stressed, happy, exhausted, nervous, overwhelmed, underwhelmed, or just whelmed. It the one aspect of our lives we have control over regardless of what else is happening. We develop our awareness and control of our breath we can learn to extend this control to the different aspect of our lives. We can calm our bodies in stressful environments and stimulate our bodies in tranquil situations

If this is all a weird video game on the next level we don’t automatically breath autonomically. Maybe we will have to consciously breathe in order to maintain life. Are we just here to develop consciousness around our breath so we can move on?

Anthony Bruni