CAJ: The Simulation Theory – 1.) René Descartes would have been in favor of the Simulation Argument

René Descartes (born: 1596 in La Haye en Touraine, France – died: 1650 Stockholm, Sweden) philosopher and mathematician. Most famous quote: I think, therefore I am. Founder of the Cartesian philosophy. One of the precursors for the Enlightenment. Father of Modern Philosophy.

Ever since, the thought that our reality might actually not be real has concerned many philosophers. One concept which I find particularly interesting is the idea of René Descartes’ “Evil Demon” or “Evil Genius”. In his book “Meditations on First Philosophy” he plays with the idea that an evil demon exists which he describes to be “as clever and deceitful as he is powerful, who has directed his entire effort to misleading [him]”. Basically, the demon presents to Descartes an illusion of an external world and of his body but in reality none of the two things does exist. Many followers of Descartes philosophy also believe that the demon is capable of altering mathematics and the fundamentals of logic. 

When René Descartes published this concept in 1641several of his contemporaries at the time accused him of blasphemy. His idea was seen to be the opposite of the general believe that there exists an optimal God. 

However, if he had lived in the 21^st century, people would have appreciated his way of thinking. Doubtlessly he would have been one of the modern philosophers sitting in a café and analyzing the Simulation Argument of Nick Bostrom published in 2003. Why? In both concepts the main message is that there is someone out there who is in control of our life. Nevertheless, the Simulation Theory is a more futuristic approach to find out if we are living in a simulation. Descartes was not aware of computers and their processing power at that time. 

This leads to two terms that will be explained very shortly in my next blog posts: Computationalism and Transhumanism.