Even though it may have been one of the most controversial titles of 2016, I have a sneaking suspicion that the best video game science fiction plot last year was in No Man's Sky.
No Man's Sky is an acquired taste. It's not a space combat simulation, or a hardcore physics simulator. Its standard mode isn't even really a challenging survival game, although it does have some survival elements. Instead, No Man's Sky is a combination of the mission statement from Star Trek and a restful camping trip: it gives the player an entire galaxy to explore, without any time limits or urgency. It may not be for everybody, but for somebody like me (particularly with how badly 2016 turned out), wandering around alien planets and playing Charles Darwin is a much needed relaxing game experience.
But, there is a story there, if one is inclined to follow it - and it's even a brain-breaking one, which the ending complements perfectly. Unfortunately, in large part due to a misstep by Hello Games that made the entire Atlas storyline look like the beginning tutorial, it's one that many players missed. And it's all about the simulation hypothesis.
The simulation hypothesis is the theory that our entire reality is a simulation of a universe in an alien computer. Variations on this theme - reality as an illusion - have been around for a very long time. The modern theory began with a paper titled "Are You Living in a Computer Simulation" by Oxford University philosopher Nick Bostrom.
Bostrom's argument was, in his words:
A technologically mature "posthuman" civilization would have enormous computing power. Based on this empirical fact, the simulation argument shows that at least one of the following propositions is true: (1) The fraction of human-level civilizations that reach a posthuman stage is very close to zero; (2) The fraction of posthuman civilizations that are interested in running ancestor-simulations is very close to zero; (3) The fraction of all people with our kind of experiences that are living in a simulation is very close to one.
It's an interesting argument, and one that has found support in a some surprising places - both Elon Musk and Neil DeGrasse Tyson have expressed support for it (although, to be fair, a closer reading of both Musk and Tyson suggests that they have not adopted the idea beyond a thought experiment). The question is how to prove it, with the best suggestion being to look for glitches in our reality that can only exist because of imperfections in the simulation, and the most common proof being considered our creating a simulated universe of our own (based on point #2 of Bostrom's argument).
I am not a supporter of this hypothesis, and I think there are problems with it on just about every level. For one thing, it represents a reintroduction of mysticism into science after centuries of removing it, with God being swapped out for an alien computer. For another, the proof of creating a simulation ourselves begs a massive question of just how many simulations deep we are. It also makes huge assumptions about what a post-human society would look like and do - simulating a universe to understand our own makes perfect sense right now from a pure research point of view (consider for a moment how many things we simulate today), and that's not likely to change for any civilization with sufficient curiosity about how their universe works. Or, put another way, as we develop better tools for theoretical research using simulation, those tools will invariably be used.
And then there's the issue of games and gamers, which might best be illustrated by a scene from the Ender's Game movie. There is a moment where, facing a simulation where a giant offers Ender a choice between two poisoned chalices, Ender brutally murders the giant instead. The administrators monitoring the simulation are shocked because nobody has ever done this before - except this holds no water. Anybody playing the game would have seen the giant as a puzzle to be solved, and once it was clear that both chalices were poisoned, would have moved on to other solutions. In reality, the administrators would have been inundated with cadets finding new and creative ways to kill and otherwise get around this giant, because that's what people do when they play games.
Likewise, if you look at video games as an example, we've simulated almost everything one could imagine. Alien planets - done that (Alpha Centauri). The Medieval past - meet Shadowlands, Total War, and any other number of historically based Medieval games. The entire Milky Way galaxy - meet Elite Dangerous, whose galactic model is so sophisticated that it has successfully predicted exoplanets. The entire history of a world created at the beginning of each playthrough - welcome to Dwarf Fortress. We don't just simulate things and places for pure research, we do it for recreation. The only reason we have yet to create an entire simulated universe to play in is that a computer powerful enough to do so has not hit the general market.
And this is where the story built into No Man's Sky becomes an amazing and brain-breaking piece of science fiction. As the player progresses through the game, they discover that not only is the entire galaxy a computer simulation, but that the player character is an AI created by the Atlas, the program controlling the simulation, for the express purpose of mapping and expanding it. Because the galaxy is a simulation, there is no possible escape - the best the player character can hope for is to be freed after serving the Atlas' purpose and/or to be bounced into the next simulated galaxy after reaching the galactic core.
But because it is a story of a simulated galaxy in an actual simulated galaxy, it reaches into the real world in a meta level that no other game has ever attempted, much less achieved. If you believe in the simulation hypothesis, No Man's Sky is the first step to proving that our reality is nothing more than an illusion. If you don't believe in it, the game affirms reality in a perfect example of why the hypothesis doesn't work - it is a simulation of a galaxy made for no other reason than recreation that by its mere existence explodes the idea that nobody outside of a simulation would ever have a reason to create such a thing. And that is simply breathtaking.
Robert B. Marks is the author of Diablo: Demonsbane, The EverQuest Companion, and Garwulf's Corner. His newest book, An Odyssey into Video Games and Pop Culture, is available in print and Kindle formats. He also has a Livejournal and is on Facebook.
Garwulf's Corner is made possible by the support of readers like you (and I want to categorically deny any rumours that Patreon funds are being used to fund both sides of the Sentinel-Vykeen war). If you would like to see more content like this, please visit the Patreon, and if you can, contribute.
Read the rest here:
No Man's Universe - The Escapist
- The Surprisingly Long History of Auto-Tune, the Vocal-Processing ... - Open Culture - December 3rd, 2023 [December 3rd, 2023]
- Drowning in Potential The Guardsman - The Guardsman Online - December 3rd, 2023 [December 3rd, 2023]
- Portraits of the Posthuman: Jon Rafman and AI | Berlin Art Link - December 26th, 2022 [December 26th, 2022]
- 7 Bio-Artists Who Are Transforming the Fabric of Life Itself - Gizmodo - December 23rd, 2022 [December 23rd, 2022]
- Book giveaway for Posthuman by M.C. Hansen Nov 14-Nov 30, 2022 - December 14th, 2022 [December 14th, 2022]
- Metahuman - Wikipedia - November 23rd, 2022 [November 23rd, 2022]
- More Posthuman Glossary | BibSonomy - November 23rd, 2022 [November 23rd, 2022]
- Paul Shapera Continues The Story Of The Fictional City New Albion In His Latest Concept Album, 'Jill's Psychedelic Sunday' - Broadway World - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Sacred Nature Review: Back to the Garden - The Wall Street Journal - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- Harm's Way (band) - Wikipedia - August 23rd, 2022 [August 23rd, 2022]
- Timothy Alberino - Author, Explorer, Filmmaker - August 23rd, 2022 [August 23rd, 2022]
- The Writing Seminars | Princeton Writing Program - August 23rd, 2022 [August 23rd, 2022]
- Five Brilliant Books of Aussie Spec Fic - tor.com - August 23rd, 2022 [August 23rd, 2022]
- The Best Electronic Music on Bandcamp: July 2022 - bandcamp.com - July 27th, 2022 [July 27th, 2022]
- Post-Human NarrativesIn the Name of Scientific Witchery - Announcements - E-Flux - July 27th, 2022 [July 27th, 2022]
- Transhumanism: Savior of humanity or false prophecy? - Big Think - July 27th, 2022 [July 27th, 2022]
- Physicist: Why the Alien Simulation Hypothesis Is Bunk - Discovery Institute - July 13th, 2022 [July 13th, 2022]
- More than 120 titles are coming to Prime Video today (July 1) - Amazon Adviser - July 4th, 2022 [July 4th, 2022]
- Ad agency news you need to know July 1, 2022 - AdAge.com - July 4th, 2022 [July 4th, 2022]
- 'Proof' We're Living In A Computer Simulation, According To TikTok And Elon Musk - YourTango - May 23rd, 2022 [May 23rd, 2022]
- Stranger Things to Obi-Wan Kenobi: the seven best shows to stream this week - The Guardian - May 20th, 2022 [May 20th, 2022]
- 'Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 Sustainable War' Ending Explained: Is Togusa compromised? - MEAWW - May 15th, 2022 [May 15th, 2022]
- 'A Baby at Any Cost' on Lifetime: 5 things you didn't know about Sarah Fisher - MEAWW - May 15th, 2022 [May 15th, 2022]
- The Biggest Asian-wide Mobile Game Developer DINO GAME Released A New Version of the Sci-Fi Action-RPG Punishing: Gray Raven - Digital Journal - April 15th, 2022 [April 15th, 2022]
- Sorry Grimes, Your Ex-Boyfriend Won't Save Us - Jacobin magazine - April 11th, 2022 [April 11th, 2022]
- Mapping Memory in the Wake of the Posthuman: India and ... - March 17th, 2022 [March 17th, 2022]
- The rise of robot dogs - Domus - March 15th, 2022 [March 15th, 2022]
- Simulation hypothesis - Wikipedia - March 11th, 2022 [March 11th, 2022]
- Neocolonialism, a History of Death and Richterian Melancholia: the Best Arts and Culture this February - ArtReview - February 5th, 2022 [February 5th, 2022]
- Transcendent (novel) - Wikipedia - January 19th, 2022 [January 19th, 2022]
- A Biohacker Implanted 50 Chips in Their Body to Become ... - January 7th, 2022 [January 7th, 2022]
- Posthuman Ensemble - Announcements - e-flux - December 22nd, 2021 [December 22nd, 2021]
- Stream another new Arca album, KiCK iiii - Treble - Treble - December 3rd, 2021 [December 3rd, 2021]
- The Public Theology of Noreen Herzfeld | Public Theology and Technology - Patheos - December 3rd, 2021 [December 3rd, 2021]
- The War Over Life, Liberty And Privacy Rights: From Abortion To COVID-19 And Beyond OpEd - Eurasia Review - December 3rd, 2021 [December 3rd, 2021]
- The sci-fi thriller on Amazon Prime Video with a big twist at the end - CNET - November 28th, 2021 [November 28th, 2021]
- The Posthuman Dog | MetaFilter - November 23rd, 2021 [November 23rd, 2021]
- Who could dogs become without humans in their lives ... - November 21st, 2021 [November 21st, 2021]
- Into the Metaverse | Samuel D. James - First Things - November 19th, 2021 [November 19th, 2021]
- Why dogs might actually be better off without humans - New York Post - October 26th, 2021 [October 26th, 2021]
- Trees Speak fuse krautrock with post-punk on Vertigo of Flaws - The Vinyl Factory - October 26th, 2021 [October 26th, 2021]
- The vinyl straw: Why the vinyl industry is at breaking point - Mixmag - October 26th, 2021 [October 26th, 2021]
- Apocalypse Yesterday: The Graphic Novel in the Anthropocene (Wednesday, 3rd November 2021) City, University of London - City, University of London - October 21st, 2021 [October 21st, 2021]
- You can only appreciate art when you're not worried about putting food on your plate: Abhay Deol - Times of India - October 3rd, 2021 [October 3rd, 2021]
- Conceptions of God - Wikipedia - September 29th, 2021 [September 29th, 2021]
- Anthropogenic transitions from forested to human-dominated landscapes in southern Macaronesia - pnas.org - September 29th, 2021 [September 29th, 2021]
- AWAY: The Survival Series Glides Onto PC and Console Today - GLYFE Nation - September 29th, 2021 [September 29th, 2021]
- Physicist's Kickstarter To Test Whether We Are Living In A Simulation Raises $236000 - IFLScience - September 16th, 2021 [September 16th, 2021]
- Bring Me the Horizon Wins Grand Prize at Heavy Music Awards 2021 | Music - Pennsylvanianewstoday.com - September 10th, 2021 [September 10th, 2021]
- AI Art: Kolkata Exhibition to Showcase Artworks Created With Assistance of Artificial Intelligence - Gadgets 360 - September 10th, 2021 [September 10th, 2021]
- Mayuri, or The New Human Chelsea Theatre, London - The Reviews Hub - August 14th, 2021 [August 14th, 2021]
- Story-based sugar glider adventure AWAY: The Survival Series is coming to PlayStation 5 in late Summer - - Mygamer.com - July 16th, 2021 [July 16th, 2021]
- Beyond Integralism and Progressivism | Michael Hanby - First Things - July 14th, 2021 [July 14th, 2021]
- Are Clothes Made From Mushrooms, Bacteria And Yeast The Way Forward For Fashion? - ELLE India - July 12th, 2021 [July 12th, 2021]
- Ian Volner on the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale - Artforum - June 28th, 2021 [June 28th, 2021]
- Posthumanist Criticism Literary Theory and Criticism - June 20th, 2021 [June 20th, 2021]
- Citizen Sleeper is a dystopian slice-of-life RPG on a space station - Rock Paper Shotgun - June 15th, 2021 [June 15th, 2021]
- Trees Speak prep 'PostHuman' watch the trippy Elements of Matter video - Brooklyn Vegan - May 20th, 2021 [May 20th, 2021]
- Splatoon 3 release date, trailer, news, and what we want to see - Texasnewstoday.com - May 20th, 2021 [May 20th, 2021]
- Point of Contact Gallery Announces the Opening of 'Carrying the Thick Present: Fabulation,' Syracuse University's 2021 M.F.A. Thesis Exhibition -... - March 31st, 2021 [March 31st, 2021]
- Posthuman | Tardis | Fandom - March 21st, 2021 [March 21st, 2021]
- Are We or Arent We? - National Review - March 21st, 2021 [March 21st, 2021]
- Connections and inspirations between science fiction, tech, and games - VentureBeat - March 3rd, 2021 [March 3rd, 2021]
- Has 2020 really been real? Or are we all living in a computer simulation? - Daily Maverick - November 15th, 2020 [November 15th, 2020]
- Futureshock: Herbie Hancock and the Body Politics of Pop - PopMatters - November 15th, 2020 [November 15th, 2020]
- Bring Me The Horizons Oli Sykes: Yungblud is a new breed of rockstar - NME.com - September 7th, 2020 [September 7th, 2020]
- Caitlin Cherry on digital abstraction and Black femininity - Artforum - July 21st, 2020 [July 21st, 2020]
- Posthuman | Discography | Discogs - June 15th, 2020 [June 15th, 2020]
- Posthuman | Transhumanism Wiki | Fandom - June 15th, 2020 [June 15th, 2020]
- posthuman | The Chicago School of Media Theory - June 15th, 2020 [June 15th, 2020]
- Noourbanographies of the Information Age: Your Real Estate Interior - ArchDaily - May 4th, 2020 [May 4th, 2020]
- We Are Probably Living in a Simulation, Here's What You Need to Know About Simulation Theory - Interesting Engineering - April 21st, 2020 [April 21st, 2020]
- ICYMI: A wrap of the week's arts news - ArtsHub - February 28th, 2020 [February 28th, 2020]
- FAITH AND VALUES: Where does the buck stop? - Aiken Standard - January 26th, 2020 [January 26th, 2020]
- Architecture professor invents wearable garden - Daily Trojan Online - January 18th, 2020 [January 18th, 2020]
- Best of 2019: Harm's Way Pick 5 Favorite Albums of Year - Revolver Magazine - December 25th, 2019 [December 25th, 2019]
- Moscows Garage Museum Starts Pioneering Online Art Venueand Its More Than a Museum on the Internet - ARTnews - December 13th, 2019 [December 13th, 2019]
- 'The Expanse' Season 4 Review: Hard science, biological conflicts laced with emotions and action makes space d - MEAWW - December 13th, 2019 [December 13th, 2019]
- David Blandy and a Cadre of Essex Gamers Introduce us to a World After Homo Sapiens - frieze.com - November 30th, 2019 [November 30th, 2019]
- Ethics, Truth and Post-Truth: Political and social implications - Modern Diplomacy - November 30th, 2019 [November 30th, 2019]