Simulation theory in new sci-fi films is a warning to believers

If a stranger told you that the whole world was a hoax and you were living in a computer simulation, would you believe them?

Movies often don’t choose their moments, so it’s a happy accident that two films about simulation theory, the notion that the world we consider to be real is actually virtual, dropped the day before this year went. Both are Amazon’s sci-fi movies Ecstasy More documentaries A mess in the matrix Consider the consequences of actions in a simulated world, and execute behavior when everything around you is the product of source code. They are less about simulation theory itself and more about the people who hold it. in A mess in the matrix, Featuring Paul Goody, Alex Levine, Jessie Orion and Brother Léo Mistwood, Ascher’s lead interviewers, each depicted through a colorful Gonzo avatar; in Ecstasy, This is Greg (Owen Wilson) and Isabel (Salma Hayek), two “real” people living in a fake reality where they suspiciously enjoy the telekinetic powers bestowed upon them by ingesting innocuous yellow crystals .

They may have drug problems. Or they can actually live in a simulation. But what Ecstasy Signs without engaging in deep search, what else A mess in the matrix Plainly in front, is this the fundamental question: does it matter?

Photo: Darko Krobanza / Amazon Studios

Ecstasy And A mess in the matrix Approach this quandary from very different angles. in Ecstasy, Greg, a down-on-his-luck divorce, Isabel (Hayek), meets Magic Pixie cyber crust punk, the worst day of his life: he’s just fired from his job, and he’s also just his boss. Is killed. With this comes Isabel, who informs her of the world and its inhabitants, helps her cover the death of her boss, then takes her to roller skating, where they complete with just a few tufts of wrist. They delete the arena. Bodies left and right, some worthy, others not, until only Greg and Isabel are erected, laughing, cheering, as they might at the widespread incompatibility of their violence. To his credit, Greg needs reassurance before he lets loose. He is new to this reality, which is not reality at all, and he is still clinging to his old cultural hangup.

But when he Does Let loose, he makes pistol fingers and with his thumb-hammer happily drops people like dominoes. He became free He can do what he wants, and he doesn’t have to feel bad about it. He has no regrets over the death of his master. Nothing matters other than personal satisfaction, a deal that comes at the cost of the life and reputation of a few dozen NPCs.

In the end Ecstasy Where to shine on morality A mess in the matrix Fixes on that. Paul Gude, represented as a crack on Lion-O with a twinkling ruby ​​mane and Kendra’s armor, tells Ascher about a conversation he had with his uncle in about 50 minutes as a child did. A mess in the matrix: “What if all this is fake?” Do you know? What if none of it is real? ‘And he said,’ Well, then I have to go from house to house and just keep shooting people in the head? Or do I want to keep you from shooting? ‘By the time it is finished, the sequence has thrown the dark side of simulation theory into sharp relief. It depends on whether the world is real or a computer program, but for his uncle, there is a strong belief in the knowledge that our reality is the only reality, depending on whether Gude’s moral calculus does not change. ours Moral calculus.

Picture: Magnolia Picture

Speaking to Rude, Mam feels impressed by Smriti and her human implications. If the only thing stopping people from breaking the law and putting an end to heinous acts is that people are real, the world is real, and actions have consequences that say what about your character? Is it morally good, or even just neutral, to take action against “fake” people, according to Isabel? They are not real. Who cares? Leave a light consistency on them. Hit them with the car. Programmed intelligence has neither emotions nor spirits. Go crazy! The problem, as Ecstasy This, incidentally, implies that it plays into the wish fulfillment component of the simulation theory: fantasy allows people to escape from their disgruntled lives or escape The responsibility For the dissatisfaction of his life. If their actions do not result in any consequences, they do not mistake for their state of life, and that valid recognition allows people to break all kinds of laws and actions.

in Math question, Neo realizes that he is not a swamp in a machine, and that he is the savior of mankind, the kung fu of Jesus in a black trenchcoat; in total Recall, Douglas Quade takes leave from himself and is embroiled in a civil war on the surface of Mars; in Thirteenth floorThe primary cast gradually realized that their world is a VR simulation, and therefore a Nurish entanglement of backstabbing and murder; in Existenz, VR Game Testing Killer Spies Corporate. The worst examples of VR are falsely exposing fake violence unethically, while the best examples are – Math question And total Recall – Prepare violence under the guise of action cinema. Specially, Math questionThere is still peace in the famous lobby shootout that looks cool even 22 years after the fact. Neo and Trinity are not just reducing hostile mobs in a video game, they are killing real people who are working in the Matrix as security guards in a fake world. Even defeating an agent means killing an innocent person, whose consciousness is influenced by artificial intelligence.

It is striking that Gude, Ascher’s first and most vocal A mess in the matrix The interview topic, clearly, identifies the great ethical dilemma of simulation theory: the logic of simulation theory differs from the argument that action, even simulated, is the result. It takes the story of Joshua Cook, who explained to his parents in February 2003 that the Matrix is ​​real, to explain how yet believing alternative realities can push people, and that is murder, regardless Be it in the flesh or in the 0s and 1s, indulges our most dreadful base instinct.