Are we in a simulation?
It's a perfect logic question to ask.
Are we living in a simulation? It’s a question that’s been bouncing around tech circles for years. Elon Musk made it mainstream about a decade ago, but the logic is simple: if we can build a simulation ourselves, there’s a damn good chance someone already built one—and we’re inside it.
My friend Mike pointed out this morning that tech people pushing the simulation idea are just rationalizing God. They don’t want to believe in God, so they believe in the simulation instead. Solid take. I’m not here to argue with it. I just want to lay out why the simulation thing actually makes sense to me.
Unlike God, the simulation hypothesis is built on pure logic, not belief.
Here’s the logic: if I can put you in a simulation, how do you know nobody put me in one? The whole argument only falls apart if we can’t actually build a good simulation. So let’s look at what we can already do today.
Computers are writing code that writes code. They’re creating full games, understanding video, generating video, understanding audio, generating audio. They can spin up a living, breathing video game that builds itself as you play.
We also have Neuralink-style tech that reads your brain signals and writes signals back in. People already control computers with pure thought. If your brain can talk to the machine, the machine can talk straight back to your brain.
At the same time, companies are training AI models to give robots real senses—smell, touch, the whole package. Right now a robot grabbing a cup has zero idea what glass, ceramic, or metal actually feels like. It follows rules (“be gentle with glass”), but it doesn’t feel it. We’re actively teaching machines the exact sensation of slippery glass, soft velvet, fresh-cut grass, the smell of roses. If we can teach robots, we can teach computers. And if we can teach computers, we can code an entire believable world—sight, touch, smell, gravity—and pipe it straight into a human brain without the body ever moving.
You could literally be floating in a Matrix pod right now. The computer is telling you you’re staring at a keyboard, feeling its keys under your fingers. You’re holding a mouse, sensing its shape and weight—all of it beamed directly into your brain, bypassing your real body completely.
If we’re about to pull this off (and we are), how do you know it hasn’t already been done to you?
Cheers,
Kirill
If you liked this, you might also like to read my take on forecasting memories based on memories from other people -
If that was of interest, then you’d also want to read about self driving, and why the age of AI is going to radically change how you think about technology -
Lastly, I am about to release a new version of Postal. If you are a Mac user, grab the current version, and we will automatically upgrade you to the next when it’s ready. It’s going to be VERY different, but also super AI. It’s rad. I Promise.