2012-02-29
Explanation
This comic explores the simulation argument -- the philosophical idea, popularized by Nick Bostrom, that our reality might be a computer simulation. Two characters discuss whether we live in a simulated reality. One says the real question is whether we can simulate reality here. They reason that if we can make a simulation, we'''re not in the least complicated reality, and if that simulation can contain another simulation, we'''re at least two from the bottom.
The comic then takes the argument further with a mathematical calculation. If each simulation is at most one-thousandth the size of the universe it'''s in, and the smallest possible volume from our universe'''s perspective is one Planck volume, then we are "61st from the bottom" -- meaning there could be about 61 layers of simulation below us. They then ask whether there are simulations above us, and note that we'''d have to find signs that our universe is "optimized for good computation" -- like a minimum temperature, a maximum speed, or a rule that position and momentum are only knowable to certain tolerances. These are, of course, real features of our universe: absolute zero, the speed of light, and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.
The punchline comes when one character has an existential crisis: "Oh my God! I'''m just a program! And I'''m not even a good one!" The other tries to console them: "Hey now, that'''s not true. The universe is a program. You'''re just a subroutine." This is meant as comfort but is actually even more deflating. The votey shows the character saying "I'''m gonna delete myself!" -- a darkly humorous play on the programming concept of deleting code, mapped onto existential despair.