29 January 2022 | New Scientist | 51reality. I call this our Garden of Eden picture
of reality, with solid coloured objects out there
in an absolute three-dimensional space. We
experience the “real” world like the original
Garden of Eden. In a virtual reality we think,
it’s not really like that, it’s a whole bunch of
digital circuits in a matrix – it’s different from
the Garden of Eden. But I think the same is
also true for physical reality.
Quantum mechanics and relativity and
a bunch of associated developments all very
strongly suggest that the physical world we
experience is not the Garden of Eden world. If
we’re in the world of quantum wave functions
that evolve in an abstract way and occasionally
collapse, or in the world of general relativity
where there’s no absolute space and time,
or in the world of string theory or some
other conception of quantum gravity where
there’s maybe not even space or time at the
fundamental level, then physical reality is very
different from our intuitive models as well.
What I try to argue is that virtual reality is at
least as real as that kind of physical reality.
What do you make of the idea that evolution
has blinded us to the truth about reality
because, as cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman
and others have argued, we experience only
what is necessary to survive?
In some ways, I’m sympathetic about the
idea that our model of the world is not exactly
the same as reality. But I think, at a more
fundamental level, we can still have accurate
beliefs about the world, even if we’re not in
the Garden of Eden, even if we’re in the world
of quantum mechanics, or relativity. A sort
of structuralist conception of reality – that the
world isn’t intrinsically the way we thought it
was, but still has a similar sort of structure – is
very strongly suggested by modern science.
Once you accept that, then the Hoffman-style
arguments fall away.One question you set out to answer in your
book is how we should build virtual societies.
What conclusions do you come to?
Social and political and moral philosophy
is not my speciality, and I would say my
discussion of these issues is very preliminary.
But it’s a question of what kind of societies
we want to live in. One major question that
comes up right now is the role of corporations
in setting up virtual societies. We’ve seen that
Facebook changed its name to Meta, and
corporations are running with the idea of
setting up metaverses, very large-scale
virtual realities.
If virtual worlds are genuine realities, as
I argue, then this raises the possibility thatcorporations are going to have a very large
degree of control over these genuine realities.
Another theme in the book is that the creators
of virtual realities are kind of like gods of those
realities with a whole lot of powers over them.
They’re all-powerful, they’re all-knowing. Do
we really want Facebook or its descendants to
be controlling every aspect of our reality when
we’re in virtual worlds?
It’s not as if I have a replacement model
in mind, but I think the corporate metaverse
is something we should try to resist. Maybe
something like the internet – where nobody
controls the whole – provides a better model:
there will be virtual worlds controlled by
corporations, but also the virtual worlds
controlled by governments and states, by
collectives of people and by individuals.
I kind of hope, at the end of the day, there’s
going to be a cornucopia of virtual worlds
run on many different models that people
will be able to choose their virtual world
with some autonomy.Is all the misinformation and strife we are
experiencing a sign that we are already living
in a virtual world controlled by an evil overlord?
Yeah, people speculate that it’s all a giant
experiment, and every now and then the
simulators throw a spanner in the works like
Brexit, or Donald Trump or a pandemic. It’s
easy to think that, but I don’t think there’s very
strong evidence. Even in an ordinary reality,
you expect unexpected things to happen
pretty often. But who’s to know? Insofar as
there are full-scale world simulations, they’re
probably going to want to simulate all kinds
of extreme conditions. Let’s put Donald Trump
in there and see if they even accept that, or is
that just going to be a step too far? ❚Richard Webb is executive editor
at New Scientist. Reality+: Virtual
worlds and the problems of
philosophy is out nowMARK
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MAGES Not just for fun: virtual
reality being used to
perform brain surgery