The Simulated Multiverse:
An MIT Computer Scientist Explores
Parallel Universes, The Simulation Hypothesis, Quantum Computing and
The Mandela Effect
“Refining his impressions first introduced in The Simulation Hypothesis, with the progress of AI since his research at MIT, in The Simulated Multiverse, Virk has expanded his thesis in the wider scope of the multiverse, building on the framework of pioneers such as Nick Bostrom and Kurzweil. The result is a new challenge not only to theories of simulation, but to what constitutes reality itself, and human illusions of our rightful place within it.”
—Jacques Vallée, venture capitalist,
author of Forbidden Science
"How am I unreal? In The Simulated Multiverse, Riz Virk counts the ways ... So many ways we might all live in one (or more) simulated worlds. Palpable 'reality' may be as delusional as our old notion that the heavens revolved around Earth. And just like Galileo did then, Virk may help open our eyes to a greater (if humbling) cosmology.”
—David Brin, author of EXISTENCE,
The Postman and EARTH.
“Virk … makes a cogent, clear-eyed guide to the head-spinning science of parallel universes, quantum indeterminacy, and the possibility—terrifying or relieving—that our perceived reality is in fact part of a great simulation.”
—Publishers Weekly
“In The Simulated Multiverse, his second book on the subject of simulation, Rizwan Virk walks us through the concept of a computer-generated reality that Philip K. Dick posited in the speech that he delivered in Metz, France, in 1977 ... Perhaps The Matrix is more than a science fiction film; perhaps it reveals some truth about our world and our lives in this world. Read this book, if you dare.”
—Tessa B. Dick, wife of Philip K. Dick and
author of Conversations with Philip K. Dick
Do multiple versions of ourselves exist in parallel universes living out their lives in different timelines?In this follow up to his bestseller, The Simulation Hypothesis, MIT Computer Scientist and Silicon Valley Game Pioneer Rizwan Virk explores these topics from a new lens: that of simulation theory.
If we are living in a simulated universe, composed of information that is rendered around us, then many of the complexities and baffling characteristics of our reality start to make more sense. In particular the two most popular interpretations of quantum mechanics, the Copenhagen Interpretation and the Many Worlds interpretation, which are thought to be mutually exclusive, can be unified in an information based framework. Quantum computing lets us simulate complex phenomena in parallel, allowing the simulation to explore many realities at once to find the most "optimum" path forward. Could this explain not only the enigmatic Mandela Effect but provide us with a new understanding of time and space?
Bringing his unique trademark style of combining video games, computer science, quantum physics and computing with lots of philosophy and science fiction, Virk gives us a new way to think about not just our universe, but all possible timelines in the multiverse!