Leading the “Simulation Theory” is Nick Bostrom, an influential Swedish philosopher who has advised tech moguls and world leaders. In 2003 he published a paper called “Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?” which put forth this chilling scenario: In the future (if we survive the present) we will reach a “posthuman” stage wherein our descendants will use supercomputing power to create detailed simulations of past civilizations. According to Bostrom, “We are likely among the simulated minds rather than among the original biological ones.” If he’s right, then everything you are and everything you know is nothing more than computer code. As Neo would say, “Whoa.”
There’s even some evidence to back this up. While researching String Theory, theoretical physicist S. James Gates discovered something quite remarkable: buried deep in the equations that explain how the universe works are “error protecting codes,” series of ones and zeros that couldn’t occur randomly. In fact, they’re nearly identical to programs that browsers use to correct errors when transmitting data. “How could we discover whether we live inside a Matrix?” Gates asked at a science symposium in 2016. “One answer might be, ‘Try to detect the presence of codes in the laws that describe physics.’ ” And now he has.
So are we living in a simulated universe—or one of millions of simulated universes, as Bostrom theorizes? If so, that might explain a lot, like reincarnation (your past life was a past simulation). But could we ever know for sure? As another philosopher, New York University’s David Chalmers, noted, if we are part of a computer simulation, then “any evidence we could ever get would be simulated.”
“Heavier-than-air
flying machines are
impossible.”
—LORD KELVIN, PRESIDENT, ROYAL
SOCIETY, 1895
Odd Books
If Strange Science isn’t quite odd enough for you, here are some even weirder books to look for.
THE TOOTHBRUSH: ITS USE AND ABUSE, Isador Hirschfield (1939)
THE ROMANCE OF LEPROSY, E. Mackerchar (1949)
SEX AFTER DEATH, B. J. Ferrell and D. E. Frey (1983)
AMERICAN BOTTOM ARCHAEOLOGY, Charles John Bareis and James Warren Porter (1983)
THE RESISTANCE OF PILES TO PENETRATION, Russell V. Allin (1935)
CONSTIPATION AND OUR CIVILIZATION, J. C. Thomson (1943)
MAKING IT IN LEATHER, M. Vincent Hayes (1972)
THE FOUL AND THE FRAGRANT: ODOR AND THE FRENCH SOCIAL IMAGINATION, Alain Corbin (1986)
WHY PEOPLE MOVE, Jorge Balán (1981)
HANDBOOK FOR THE LIMBLESS, Geoffrey Howson (1922)
ETERNAL WIND, Sergei Zhemaitis (1975)
THE ROMANCE OF RAYON, Arnold Henry Hard (1933)
WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU TALK TO YOURSELF, Shad Helmstetter (1982)
HISTORIC BUBBLES, Frederic Leake (1896)
HOW TO FILL MENTAL CAVITIES, Bill Maltz (1978)
A DO-IT-YOURSELF SUBMACHINE GUN, Gérard Métral (1995)
NUCLEAR WAR: WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU? Ground Zero War Foundation (1982)
H. G. Wells, Futurist
In the final article in our series about the futurists, we examine what the future has in store…according to one sci-fi author.
British novelist H. G. Wells witnessed significant change in his lifetime. When he was born in 1866, cities were lit by torches and oil lamps, and there were no horseless carriages or air travel. By the turn of the century, cities were being lit by gas lamps, and automobiles were steadily replacing the horse. In 1901 Wells published his groundbreaking treatise on the future, Anticipations. In it, he foresaw the end of the steam age and the rise of oil. He accurately predicted that the entire region from Boston to Washington, D.C., would become one long system of suburbs, cities, highways, and traffic jams. He even predicted speed limits.
Yet for all his foresight, Wells got a lot wrong: He said that airplanes were just a passing fad and that moving sidewalks would be commonplace in cities. He also predicted that the world’s governments would merge into one “New Republic” ruled by scientists who would eliminate all but the white race and “establish a world state with a common language and a common rule.” That future hasn’t arrived.
The End
Talk about alarmist headlines. In March 2014, the Guardian ran this whopper: “Nasa-funded study: industrial civilization headed for ‘irreversible collapse’?” Similar headlines followed. The study in question was led by University of Maryland applied mathematician Safa Motesharri, and through it was financed in part by a grant from NASA, no one from NASA participated in the study. And they made that clear, stating, “NASA does not endorse the paper or its conclusions.”
Motesharri’s goal was to create a “universal model of social collapse” to explain why so many thriving civilizations—the Romans, the Mayans, the Mesopotamians—suddenly went kaput. He came up with four equations (full of strange symbols and Greek letters) that defined humans as “Predators”—divided into “Elites” and “Masses”—and nature as simply “Prey.” Because nature can’t be quantified, damage is measured in “Eco-dollars.” The study’s conclusion: “Given economic stratification, collapse is very difficult to avoid and requires major policy changes, including major reductions in inequality and population growth rates.”
The good news: a whole bevvy of statisticians and scientists took Motesharri to task for his methodology (he provided no empirical evidence) and his overgeneralizing of complex systems. The bad news: Motesharri still might be right.
Index of Stories
3-D Printing a New You
81
7 Natural Wonders of the World
321
Accidental Discovery: Insulin
57
Accidental Discovery: Penicillin
378
Accidental Discovery: Photography
316
Accidental Discovery: Safety Glass
276
According to the Latest Research
56
Albert B., The Lab Rat
192
Albert Einstein Says
364
Amazing Amber
341
Analytical Ada
142
Anatomy of a Hiccup
337
Ancient Art
329
Ancient Dating Technique
285
Ancient Soapmaking
381
Animals with Heart
258
Another Virgin Birth
274
Antarctic Jargon
13
Bad Movie Science
219
Balloon Bombs Awaaay!
345
Biohack U
14
Birth of E-mail, The
267
Bloodstream
72
Bombing Mars
357
Brainput
355
Brush Talks
159
Canada’s Oddest Museum?
232
Can’t Say He’s Heartless
294
Can You Dig It?
324
Cause for ConCERN
281
Chemicals Are Cool!
49
Chicken Science
17
Cloning John Lennon
215
Cow Egg Man, The
379
5
Curious Cure, A
288
Cyber Cowboys
92
Dance of the Dung Beetle, Part 1, The
122
Dance of the Dung Beetle, Part 2, The
123
Dangerous Aphrodisiacs
293
Darwin’s Mystery Moth
64
Dirty Trix
332
DNAliens
228
Doctor Strange, Love
203
Doing Science in
the Dark
139
Dream Discovery: Insulin
106
Dream Discovery: Lead Shot
145
Dr. Yesteryear
356
Dune Tunes
255
Earth’s Caretakers
191
Edison the Executioner
344
Einstein’s Blouse
221
End, The
410
Expendable Organs
20
Expendable Organs
196
Expendable Organs
284
Famous Fetus
27
Fecal Matters
403
Five Freaky Facts About Albert Einstein
299
Five Freaky Facts About Ecology
217
Five Freaky Facts About Fro-Yo
369
Five Freaky Facts About Global Research
148
Five Freaky Facts About Inventions
42
Five Freaky Facts About Microwaves
400
Five Freaky Facts About Minerals
101
Five Freaky Facts About Mummies
161
Five Freaky Facts About Neil deGrasse Tyson
173
Five Freaky Facts About the Nobel Prize
282
Five Freaky Facts About Outer Space
247
Five Freaky Facts About Tesla
127
Five Major Extinctions, The
205
Flora Facts
319
Flowers of the Black Sea, The
314
Four Ethnic Groups, The
160
Frankenfoods
116
Frozen in Time
225
Generating a Regeneration Theory
320
Genius School
350
Government Waste
210
Great GPS Treasure Hunt, The
95
Great Moon Hoax, The
147
Great Shakespeare Hoax, The
87
Green City: Copenhagen
151
Green City: Curitiba
309
Green City: Reykjavik
233
Green City: Vancouver
202
Greenhouse Helmet
156
Grifters, The
236
Hand of Glory, The
25
Hangover “Remedies”
229
Hangover Science
97
Hat Trick
132
Hawking Wormhole, The
59
Heart History
372
Heart to Heart
104
He Did It Himself
47
H. G. Wells, Futurist
409
Hockey Science
212
Hollywood Physics
107
How Color Vision Works
108
How to Cremate a Body
61
How to Hypnotize a Chicken
15
How to Make Ice
362
How to Make a Mummy
208
How a Microwave Works
117
How P2P Works
335
How Soap Is Made
243
How to Win a Nobel Prize
131
How an X-ray Machine Works
149
Human Body and the Earth’s Crust, The
303
Humourous Story, A
78
Iceman Cometh, The
53
Indecent Ducks
291
Inspired by Fiction
163
Instant Drunkenness- Reversing Pills
385
It Really Is a Melting Pot
58
It’s the Bloomin’ Algae
253
It’s Elementary
404
It’s Not Rocket Science
77
It’s Primal
242
It’s Raining Amphibians!
199
It’s Reigning Dinosaurs
152
It’s Sexy Time
88
It’s Science!
46
It’s Science!
273
“I Was at Home, Asleep!”
380
Jiffy, A
214
Journey into Space
136
Jules Verne, Futurist
223
Jurassic Farts
312
Kinetic Sculpture Triathlon
272
Leech Therapy
347
Let There Be Light
251
Life on Mars?
113
Lighting Up the Dark
89
Lounge Lizards
366
Love Potion #9
120
Mad Dogs and a Deadly Disease
368
Maggot Therapy
80
Magic Chip
171
Magic Man, The
129
Manhattanhenge
157
Manimals!
37
Manimals!
180
Manimals!
352
Matrix Has You, The
405
Mead’s Creed
99
Meaning of Li-Fi, The
402
Meteorologists’ Jargon
384
Microchip Man
301
Milk and Microbes
325
Mixed-Up Heritage
240
Mohs Hardness Scale
390
Monster Study, The
83
Moon Came from the Pacific, The
124
More Dream Discoveries
211
More Frankenfoods
238
More Hollywood Physics
353
More Movie Mad Scientists
181
More Movie Mad Scientists
283
More Pop (Culture) Science
339
More “Real” Aphrodisiacs
183
More Science Behind Toys
227
More “Science” Museums
128
More “Science” Museums
328
More Trek*nology
260
More Used-Less Inventions
292
Movie Mad Scientists
67
Mr. Bell’s Assistant
176
Mummies Rise, The
36
Musical Ailments
370
Mutton and a Little Liver
68
Mystery Manuscript
21
Mystery of the Stradivarius, The
155
Mythunderstandings
91
Mythunderstandings
198
Mythunderstandings
306
Nano-Gold
43
No Time Like the Present
70
Nuclear Boy Scout, The
263
Nye’s Ballet Shoes
26
Odd Books
408
Oh, Baby!
141
Old History, New Theory
110
Patently Weird Vehicle Patents
246
Perfect Firestorm, The
84
Pop (Culture) Sci
ence
201
Progeria
397
Project Blue Beam