Are We Living in a Super-Computer Simulation with Aliens Beings?

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Diane Tessman's picture

One of the more mind-boggling theories is that we live in a computer simulation. Our world, our universe, might be a virtual reality matrix, programmed by the super-computer of a civilization of beings more advanced than we can possibly imagine. We wonder, where do the aliens and their UFOs fit in this?

While our computers have a long way to go to equal the human mind in overall ability, computer science is leaping ahead, every year, every month, every day. Think back ten years: We could not have imagined then what computer technology does for us today. Think back 20 years: Who would have guessed that computers in general and the Internet specifically would play such a pivotal role in all of our lives! Computers are wiping out the U.S. Postal Service, for goodness sakes!

Now think ahead 50 years: Where will computers be then, if our human race still survives?

How about 500 years? How about 2 million years? What will super-computers be doing by then? Yet, 2 million years is a drop in the cosmic bucket.

Nick Bostrom is a professor at Oxford University, faculty of Philosophy. I will not try to recreate his entire argument here, but he feels "the probability that you are living in a matrix is quite high." He backs up his argument very convincingly. His matrix is not that of "The Matrix" films, but if you found that premise interesting, you will find Nick Bostrom’s theories absolutely mind-bogglingly fascinating and possible! You can also enjoy hearing about Bostrom’s theory on

"Through the Wormhole," DVD, Season One, with Morgan Freeman.

Here is his Simulation Argument: You exist in a virtual reality simulated in a computer built by some advanced civilization. That civilization is most likely to be our own human descendants, although they may no longer be of the species Homo sapiens. They may run simulations of the past, studying their ancestors.

Your brain, too, is merely a part of this simulation. One of the preliminaries of this assumption is that of "substrate independence." This is the idea that conscious minds could in principle be implemented not only on carbon-based biological neurons (such as those in your head), but also on some other computational substrate such as silicon-based processors.

Are you thinking this is way too far out? Let me ask you, how do you tell if something is computer-generated? You look for the pixels, yes?

What is our world, our universe, composed of? Quantum physicists tell us it is composed of sub-atomic particles which are composed of strings. Look at an illustration of this phenomenon: It is exactly like pixels.

Given substrate independence (consciousness in silicon, not carbon), it is in principle possible to implement a human mind on a sufficiently fast computer. We do not have powerful enough hardware yet. We do not yet have programming ability, either, that can upload scans of the human brain into a super-computer but there are no real barriers to doing this, it is only a lack of technical advancement.

If you are such a simulated mind, there is no way to tell it; your virtual reality looks and feels perfectly real. This is the reality you have always known.

The core of the simulation argument - we should accept one of these propositions as true:


2) Almost no technologically mature civilizations are interested in running computer simulations of minds like ours

3) You are almost certainly in a simulation

If the Simulation Argument is correct, at least one is true, according to Professor Bostrom. If you wish to read his reasons for the above argument, google his work! It is fascinating, including his reasoning that, for instance, if you are a contemporary Christian fundamentalist, you might conjecture that those who programmed your life, set up the simulation in such a way that you will be rewarded or punished in the afterlife, according to Christian criteria. And for non-Christians as well, an afterlife would be a real possibility for a simulated creature; you could be continued in another simulation after death, or you could be uploaded into the simulator’s universe and perhaps provided with a body there.

So how do aliens and their UFO fits into this theory? Of course it might be a highly advanced alien race who is running the master computer. It seems more likely Future Humans are fascinated with their root species and original home world (Earth), and are running the virtual world.

However, the UFOs in our skies, and the Grays (fetuses), Reptilians, Tall White humanoids, and all those occupants seemingly within the saucers, would be just as much computer simulations as we are in this Simulation Argument.

Abductions by these aliens would be part of the simulation, experienced by a relatively few virtual human minds. Some would have good experiences, some would have bad experiences. This theory certainly proves that a good encounter experience is as real and as valid as a bad abduction experience.

It seems unlikely that plasma experiments in the skies, by earth militaries, would be seen all over the world, in the skies of countries which do not even have much of a military. However, those colorful orbs in our skies could be part of the simulation, and thus intelligently controlled not by the human military but by the programmers. And, I bet UFO landings would have to be in the program! Why stop at fly-overs to see the virtual human reaction? Let’s have the aliens and humans meet face to face!

And look at how these UFOs fly! Yes, probably they have gravity-nullifying technology, but why are they flying so low these days? After all, it seems advanced UFO occupants could use "zoom"

technology which we humans have these days, thus spy satellites can pick up human movement in a tiny shack and Big Brother, from way up high, can pick one face out of a huge crowd of protestors. Why don’t the aliens use "zoom" to observe us and not send lumbering strange triangles just a few feet over our heads? Perhaps the low-flying craft are just a feature of the simulation as "time" goes along.

And those UFOs covered by clouds? What a great computer simulation! "Quick, I’ll put a cloud around my UFO so that military jet misses me!" The ultimate computer game?

Or, maybe it is more serious than that. What if this simulation ends in 2012?

Some of us feel we belong somewhere in the future, and that we are "star people." Maybe this sounds very conceited or naïve or whatever, to those who don’t understand. Might we have inklings of being uploaded back home? That is, might our consciousness feel a pull to migrate back to our source?

Perhaps this advanced race doing the simulation is very enlightened. This would seem to be a foregone conclusion if they have managed to survive all this time. Maybe they are running this simulation to make sure our world (our simulation) does not crash entirely but rather can be restored in a new and better program.

I am not a "believer" of this theory but it makes sense in a lot of ways. How about glitches in our reality, like déjà vu and crazy coincidences? Sounds like a computer to me.

I’m not a solid believer in any one theory regarding UFOs and/or human origins, but I do believe in the force of consciousness itself. I also believe that most aliens are of goodness and decency. I am a bit tired of fear, demons, and parasites, but that’s just me.

I find this "matrix theory" remarkably freeing. Nick Bostrom states that he finds this theory to be proof of deities, in a literal way (those who created our world). He finds it inspirational and positive. To me, it is not frightening; it is in fact fascinating and makes some sense. Welcome to the matrix. Diane’s web site:

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