Is the Universe a Code? with Nick Bostrom 

Is the Universe a Simulation? Let John know what you think below. The first 100 people to download Endel by clicking the link below will get a free week of audio experiences! eu.endel.io/try-for-free-en?

I am paralyzed from ALS and sleeping is a problem when my mind has nowhere to go. Your discussions, interviews, and essays help my mind get lost until my body finally sleeps. Thank you for what you do! And thanks for the unintended consequences of your hard work. And of course, the topics are as awesome and profound as any this arm of the Milky Way.

You know, it’s not that your content puts me to sleep. Rather, it’s your subjects are so amazing and profound that they put my mind at ease. I can sense being part of a greater whole - that the universe is so far beyond my minuscule concerns - beyond even the mightiest earthly powers. It’s as much comforting as it is enlightening. There is a place wandering souls can find solace even if only in our imaginations. Thanks for taking us there with you.

Nick is my favorite guest on any podcast let alone EH. He is a perfect guest for this podcast. He’s not afraid to speculate on different scenarios

The last thing I hear every evening before bed is John's show! Great stimulating but relaxing content! The voice and celestial music at the end of each show signals my brain is night night time! Thanks to your Team!

Perfect timing @Event Horizon. There aren't very many long format programs and interviews on topics that interest me so it is always great when you post. The discussions that you have here are generally second to none and they are very much appreciated by many. I am looking forward to this.

I fall asleep to event horizon every chance I get. It truly helps with my anxiety and insomnia. Jmg had a soothing voice, the audio is spot on. Additionally as a bonus I'm learning.

Truly you are an excellent interviewer. You don't know how much I appreciate you asking about singleton-ethics. It's great to see Nick Bostrom elucidating his philosophy about the convergence point after these insightful questions.

If there is a code, my cat needs debugging. He just fell in the toilet bowl... again.

On the topic of sleep, I usually don't have too many issues but I highly recommend the music genre of "Slushwave" for sleeping aid. desert sand feels warm at night,. televape, telepath, Days of Blue, and 2814 to name a few artists. I highly recommend them for relaxing yet intellectually stimulating music. Anyways, Nick Bostrom! What a get. Very excited for this episode. Thanks as always JMG!

Alright guys, well done. That right there is the best episode yet. And that’s saying something.

I'm listening to this instead of the meeting I'm currently in. I regret absolutely nothing.

Very interesting interview. I am always fascinated with Nick Bostrom’s philosophical ponderings. Thanks both of you.

Wow what a guest and episode! 👍

I sometimes suffer from insomnia. During those times, a good night's sleep is a godsend. EH and JMG often help with that. So thank you! 👍

Another great interview. I love this subject it's a creepy thought that we might all just be NPCs in someone's RPG. Thanks for the episode.

I struggle with sleep and always have. I have a very active mind. I find your shows help my mind to focus on 1 subject, relax, then start to feel tired. I may not understand the more complex science you talk about, but I do walk away learning something new every time, or allow me to rethink what I already know. Multiverse , Fermi paradox, and space exploration subjects grasp me the most. Your content is fantastic and educational. I look forward to many more years

Awesome...I always like listening to this guy and trying to understand

Hope you all had a good summer at Event Horizon. Another great interview, thanks!

Acording to Penrose some logical statements are impossible to arrive at through computation alone. and yet we are able to understand them. This would mean the basis for existence cannot be computational. That's a great topic for a video, by the way :-)

If I counted how many times I fell asleep listening to the Fermi paradox playlist on event horizon. It would add up to every day for six years.

John, your channel is one of the best examples of how to bring future thinking to the public. Im afraid though, the public, as a whole, cannot swallow such forward thinking. But god bless you for bringing it to all of us. Not all of us fall asleep to you, some of us lay awake, and dream of what may come.

So while physicists are working on the bridge between Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity, philosophers are bridging the gap between the enlightened, ‘God is dead’ and God is running the simulation crowds. Beautiful poetry.

Quality video per usual. John, you really are great at what you do and I hope you know how much I and your supporters appreciate these videos. Keep up the great work brother

Nick Bostrom? Well played sir. Well played.

Smolin's Cosmological Natural Selection idea is lent a little credence by James Gate's discovery that error correcting codes can be found in the supersymmetric equations associated with string theory (how ironic). Error correcting 'codes' are found in DNA to prevent too much mutation from happening. Maybe error correcting codes are part of the fabric of the universe to control the mutations during reproduction of universes. You would not need error correcting codes if mutations were not happening at all. Error correcting codes control the rate and manner of mutations - too much and too little mutation is not good. Error correcting codes in DNA are also subject to evolution, meaning that the proper amount of error correction is selected for.

I look forward to these videos every week I'm the only person I know who is interested in science as I am I watch a video every night before bed and these are my favorite. I'm a general manager at a pizza restaurant in columbus indiana and I overheard a customer talking about artificial intelligence achieving what seems to be sentience and he was quoting your interview with that guy from Google! It was cool as hell to meet another one of your listeners in person your channels (both of them) are AMAZING thank you!

Right off the bat the first few questions were so profound ! Amazing interview John !!

Back when clocks were the newest and most advanced technology, people said the universe works "like clockwork." People like Nick simply equate the most advanced technology and correlate the universe with it. When - or if - a more advanced technology emerges, they'll no longer say the universe works like a computer/code Having said that, I always enjoy your videos!

Can't sleep without these vids, keep them up

If you want your civilization to last for untold eons, you cannot simply sit still and conserve resources. You must expand outward as fast as possible to either enlighten, contain, or wipe out all other civilizations that might make a different choice. If you don't then any one of them may someday start squandering galactic resources at an exponential pace.

I’m glad you mention that, I don’t always fall asleep to event horizon but I’m not going to pass up an episode even if I’m sleepy. Just means I get to watch it again and see what I missed. Taking my mind off all the short sighed instant gratification psycho crap society runs on certainly relaxes me. A good choice when I want to take my mind off the word at any time and relax.

Living in a simulation brings me the relief that existence will be snuffed out in a simple unplugging event.

Exellent questions as usual, and the existential dread the answers elicited was both palpable, and weirdly enjoyable

It’s funny how long I have been thanking John for helping me fall asleep and now it’s an actual thing!

This has been playing in my headphones in the gym, playing in the car. This is fascinating stuff.

Thank you JMG!! When I see an event horizon notification I know that it will be a great day.

I don't see how someone can fall asleep while listening to your videos. They are way to interesting for that .

Anna's Filter seemed off today, have you turned down the snarkiness and omniscience settings again?

Thanks for all you do JMG!

Lol I also fall asleep to event horizon as well. Didn’t realize it was a thing until now. It’s great content, don’t get me wrong, just the perfect balance of soothing sound and subject matter that allows you to drift into a dream. Thanks John!

I've been falling asleep to this show or isaac Arthur for a few years now.

Hey Nick! Great to see you on this show.

Nick Bostrom and JMG together is a good Thursday afternoon indoors in this 100f/38 c weather where I am at.

Wow! That was a really good one!! Thankyou!!

Hey John! Nice to see a philosopher as a guest in your show. It would be great to see more of this! And talking about philosophy and science, do you know Marcelo Gleiser? He is a professor of physics and astronomy at Dartmouth and also a very open minded thinker that reunites both of these areas in his works. Recently, he even won a Templeton prize for this. I would love to see him in your program!

What an honor to have Bostrom as a guest here

Whoa, great booking sir! Immediate like and comment for the algorithm. Can't wait to listen tonight.

I am from Honduras and I love the fermi paradox topics or anything related: please let me know the craziest theorys that you buddys know please!! Have a good one.

I think I have a reasonable explanation for the question “why would one run an ancestor simulation?” Imagine it’s ~10k years in the future and humanity hardly resembles its former self. All forms of suffering have been bred out of existence, not so differently than how our treatment options have changed in the past few hundred years, but on a massive scale. Something about our existence just doesn’t feel right- the absence of sorrow and loss and the unknown on a primal level is something we wish to vicariously experience. So we plug in to see what it was like before, and leave with an appreciation of where we are currently. Its the same reason we love to play war games without ever actually wanting to be in a war- the adrenaline rush gives us a glimpse but at the end of the day we get to walk away.

I love these interviews. I love the content on JWST too.

Wonderful interview today. I have to say, though, I was a little disappointed that when talking about global commons and global public goods, there was no discussion of how those collectively irrational outcomes were arrived at by individually rational behaviors. It’s the fundamental point of Mancur Olson’s work that everyone always seems to miss…

I should have been listening to these vids years ago. Helps a lot with my human issues.

You and SFIA are the best to chill with.

I also very much agree with this guest that..... This fine-tuning. It may very well be that the laws of physics more or less falls into place the way it is every time. Because it just has to be like that. And maybe that will become apparent to us once we manage to figure out a unifying equation for it all. All-in-all a very grounded guest.

Thank you for this great video!!

Thank you for your amazing work

YO! NO WAY! You got Bostrom? Fucking fantastic dude, I dropped my other stuff to watch this immediately.

Best channel on RU-vid!! 💯💙

Great episode. One solution to the Fermi paradox that I've sometimes contemplated is the prospect that civilizations eventually invent backwards time travel. If weaponized in a sort of arms race, it would most likely trigger a disastrous outcome for a species since any timeline could be altered albeit with unpredictable and probably negative outcomes.

Oh I was so waiting for s new episode 🥺 about the code... Even cooler... Guest star ⭐ 🙏 thanks 👍

It strikes me as amusing that John Michael Godier is a hardcore skeptic when it comes to UFOs, but is quite okay with simulation theory, ie. the idea of a magical, superior being creating and toying with what we know as the "universe." There is far more evidence of UFOs than there is for that of the universe being a simulation. It's interesting how people's minds work.

❤ Nick Bostrom! Great interview!!!! ❤

Great video !

Yep, I do fall asleep to your videos. Excellent sponsor concept :-)

I didn't like his answer about time. I see what John was getting at and I don't see why time couldn't run at a different rate for us inside the simulation. When we create games or simulations we can run them at any speed we choose to. It doesn't have to relate to the speed of time we experience. Anyway just my thoughts. This guy obviously knows far more than me.

I love this stuff cheers guys watching and listening in Ireland 🇮🇪

Yesssss! Gonna be a good one

John Michael G is my favorite speaker by far! I can sleep to this. Him and AJ from the why files.

I like when you do time stamps in long videos so i can rewatch certain topics,can you do that again for the next videos if its not to much of a bother

Very good questions.

I think the Drake Equation pretty much proves that the reason for silence throughout the universe is because there’s nothing out there in the way of intelligent life. The Drake Equation uses humanity as it’s 1 and only example of intelligent life to fill in the parameters of the equation, so if humanity is not used in the equation it would prove that life couldn’t possibly exist anywhere in the observable universe. If we can use the Drake Equation to predict the amount of planets that contain intelligent life, we can also use it to predict the amount of planets that don’t contain intelligent life and that would be 100% of the observable universe.

great podcast.

Another great one. Still, I don't see the evolutionary case for space colonization. On evolutionary timescales descendant species would be selected strongly towards those who focused on species longevity rather than energy harvesting. Space farers go off like fireworks - a brief flash and then gone, no matter how spectacular. Evolution plays the long game, and right now, those microbes that can survive inside a rock KMs under ground have us all beat.

If you need help falling asleep just watch or listen to one of John’s videos. Awesome

Hah, for me falling asleep during Event Horizon episode is impossible, because topics are too interesting :D

Like, Comment and Share.. quality content

Please invite Nick Bostrom once again I find him to be a great mind.

This will be a fun one 🍿

This 'boutta be good. Damn.

YES, IT CERTAINLY DOES... A segment from 'Saved by the Light of the Buddha Within'... My new understandings of what many call 'God -The Holy Spirit' - resulting from some of the extraordinary ongoing awakenings since my NDE... Myoho-Renge-Kyo represents the three-part 'Great Universal Mystic Law' and the identity of what some scientists are now referring to as the unified field of consciousnesses. In other words, it’s the essence of all existence and non-existence - the ultimate creative force behind planets, stars, nebulae, people, animals, trees, fish, birds, and all phenomena, manifest or latent. All matter and intelligence are simply waves or ripples manifesting to and from this core source. Consciousness (enlightenment) is itself the actual creator of everything that exists now, ever existed in the past, or will exist in the future - right down to the minutest particles of dust - each being an individual ripple or wave. The big difference between chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo and most other conventional prayers is that instead of depending on a ‘middleman’ to connect us to our state of inner enlightenment, we’re able to do it ourselves. That’s because chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo allows us to tap directly into our enlightened state by way of this self-produced sound vibration. ‘Who or What Is God?’ If we compare the concept of God being a separate entity that is forever watching down on us, to the teachings of Nichiren, it makes more sense to me that the true omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence of what most people perceive to be God, is the fantastic state of enlightenment that exists within each of us. Some say that God is an entity that’s beyond physical matter - I think that the vast amount of information continuously being conveyed via electromagnetic waves in today’s world gives us proof of how an invisible state of God could indeed exist. For example, it’s now widely known that specific data relayed by way of electromagnetic waves has the potential to help bring about extraordinary and powerful effects - including an instant global awareness of something or a mass emotional reaction. It’s also common knowledge that these invisible waves can easily be used to detonate a bomb or to enable NASA to control the movements of a robot as far away as the Moon or Mars - none of which is possible without a receiver to decode the information that’s being transmitted. Without the receiver, the data would remain impotent. In a very similar way, we need to have our own ‘receiver’ switched on so that we can activate a clear and precise understanding of our own life, all other life and what everything else in existence is. Chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo each day helps us to achieve this because it allows us to reach the core of our enlightenment and keep it switched on. That’s because Myoho-Renge-Kyo represents the identity of what scientists now refer to as the unified field of consciousnesses. To break it down - Myoho represents the Law of manifestation and latency (Nature) and consists of two alternating states. For example, the state of Myo is where everything in life that’s not obvious to us exists - including our stored memories when we’re not thinking about them - our hidden potential and inner emotions whenever they’re dormant - our desires, our fears, our wisdom, happiness, karma - and more importantly, our enlightenment. The other state, ho, is where everything in Life exists whenever it becomes evident to us, such as when a thought pops up from within our memory - whenever we experience or express our emotions - or whenever a good or bad cause manifests as an effect from our karma. When anything becomes apparent, it merely means that it’s come out of the state of Myo (dormancy/latency) and into a state of ho (manifestation). It’s the difference between consciousness and unconsciousness, being awake or asleep, or knowing and not knowing. The second law - Renge - Ren meaning cause and ge meaning effect, governs and controls the functions of Myoho - these two laws of Myoho and Renge, not only function together simultaneously but also underlies all spiritual and physical existence. The final and third part of the tri-combination - Kyo, is the Law that allows Myoho to integrate with Renge - or vice versa. It’s the great, invisible thread of energy that fuses and connects all Life and matter - as well as the past, present and future. It’s also sometimes termed the Universal Law of Communication - perhaps it could even be compared with the string theory that many scientists now suspect exists. Just as the cells in our body, our thoughts, feelings and everything else is continually fluctuating within us - all that exists in the world around us and beyond is also in a constant state of flux - constantly controlled by these three fundamental laws. In fact, more things are going back and forth between the two states of Myo and ho in a single moment than it would ever be possible to calculate or describe. And it doesn’t matter how big or small, famous or trivial anything or anyone may appear to be, everything that’s ever existed in the past, exists now or will exist in the future, exists only because of the workings of the Laws ‘Myoho-Renge-Kyo’ - the basis of the four fundamental forces, and if they didn’t function, neither we nor anything else could go on existing. That’s because all forms of existence, including the seasons, day, night, birth, death and so on, are moving forward in an ongoing flow of continuation - rhythmically reverting back and forth between the two fundamental states of Myo and ho in absolute accordance with Renge - and by way of Kyo. Even stars are dying and being reborn under the workings of what the combination ‘Myoho-Renge-Kyo’ represents. Nam, or Namu - which mean the same thing, are vibrational passwords or keys that allow us to reach deep into our life and fuse with or become one with ‘Myoho-Renge-Kyo’. On a more personal level, nothing ever happens by chance or coincidence, it’s the causes that we’ve made in our past, or are presently making, that determine how these laws function uniquely in each of our lives - as well as the environment from moment to moment. By facing east, in harmony with the direction that the Earth is spinning, and chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo for a minimum of, let’s say, ten minutes daily to start with, any of us can experience actual proof of its positive effects in our lives - even if it only makes us feel good on the inside, there will be a definite positive effect. That’s because we’re able to pierce through the thickest layers of our karma and activate our inherent Buddha Nature (our enlightened state). By so doing, we’re then able to bring forth the wisdom and good fortune that we need to challenge, overcome and change our adverse circumstances - turn them into positive ones - or manifest and gain even greater fulfilment in our daily lives from our accumulated good karma. This also allows us to bring forth the wisdom that can free us from the ignorance and stupidity that’s preventing us from accepting and being proud of the person that we indeed are - regardless of our race, colour, gender or sexuality. We’re also able to see and understand our circumstances and the environment far more clearly, as well as attract and connect with any needed external beneficial forces and situations. As I’ve already mentioned, everything is subject to the law of Cause and Effect - the ‘actual-proof-strength’ resulting from chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo always depends on our determination, sincerity and dedication. For example, the levels of difference could be compared to making a sound on a piano, creating a melody, producing a great song, and so on. Something else that’s very important to always respect and acknowledge is that the Law (or if you prefer God) is in everyone and everything. NB: There are frightening and disturbing sounds, and there are tranquil and relaxing sounds. It’s the emotional result of any noise or sound that can trigger off a mood or even instantly change one. When chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo each day, we are producing a sound vibration that’s the password to our true inner-self - this soon becomes apparent when you start reassessing your views on various things - such as your fears and desires etc. The best way to get the desired result when chanting is not to view things conventionally - rather than reaching out to an external source, we need to reach into our own lives and bring our needs and desires to fruition from within - including the good fortune and strength to achieve any help that we may need. Chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo also reaches out externally and draws us towards, or draws towards us, what we need to make us happy from our environment. For example, it helps us to be in the right place at the right time - to make better choices and decisions and so forth. We need to think of it as a seed within us that we’re watering and bringing sunshine to for it to grow, blossom and bring forth fruit or flowers. It’s also important to understand that everything we need in life, including the answer to every question and the potential to achieve every dream, already exists within us.

I think the concept of the Boltzmann brain is that it is created with all the memories of all time and the progress of time as we experience it is just the entropic decay of those memories. Think of it as the decay of current or voltage in a circuit as its switched off.

Regardless of existential questions such as why the universe is as it is, an even more fundamental question that is deeply troubling to me is: Why does anything exist at all? What is the source of reality itself? Regardless of any answer you come up with, for example theism or the simulation argument, you could always keep asking the same question, like an eager child, asking what's the source of the answer. To me, this represents a causality paradox. What is the prime mover and why does it exist? What I find truly disturbing about this question is that I find it difficult to even frame it in a way, let alone begin to try to answer it, that does not lead to a logical paradox due to its infinitely recursive nature.

this is my favorite topic on this show. or any show lol.

"Be excellent to each other."

Remember that time Nick demonstrated godlike patience while trying to get Joe Rogan to understand PROBABILITY. Good times

I like these, I saw one on cool worlds something along the lines of does math explain the universe or is math what the universe is? Does math explain every aspect of everything, is that the final core of all that is. Interesting idea.

If the universe had “no code”, it would have zero structure. So the question is: what kind of code underwrites the universe? This is, to some, an open question.

Absolutely, it is a code, much like if we design a chess algorithm to learn from past mistakes. Now give that program 6-12 billion years and you've got something that can even regenerate itself in near infinite pemutations.

An intelligent civilization will focus on longevity and a manageable sized population across a few star systems. That's all you would ever need.

John, about the Fermi "paradox", I think I have a simpler explanation: almost all our radio signals become indistinguishable from noise after around 2 to 3 lightyears. The stronger ones, perhaps after 100 to 200 lightyears, with rare exceptions. Like the Arecibo message. But how many of those did we sent until today? Strong enough radio signals are expensive and need big antennas. And you need to choose a direction as well, so it can be detected. Also, see the debates about METI. We can't seem to decide if we send a message, which what content, in what direction... Why would alien civilizations be more decided? And there are the risks... We don't know what is out there - if anything at all. So... I don't think a wise and advanced civilization would do that. Unless they have a pretty bad case of god complex, but then... Would they even see a point? Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

Trying to "freeze in place" what is humanity now, is antithetical to life itself. That's one of the best reasons to colonize other environments on other planets -- separating all the possible paths from interfering with one another to destruction.

@ 20:55 I came up with a similar theory 30yrs ago as a kid. What if every thought every spark generated here in our now , creates micro universe to us it last a blink of an eye but for those in these quantum universe it last a quntillion years.

There’s nothing I like to do more than to fall into event horizon with John Michael Godier

The observation is a moment within dilated time and distance. Quantum physics doesn’t run at the same rate of time as we are limited to.

If anything the fine tuning argument should be used in support of a multiverse, as with innumerable rolls with 10¹²⁰ sided dice you have all the chances you need to get the fine tuning. With a multiverse, the fine tuning is inevitable, and we certainly shouldn't expect to be observing a universe that is incapable of supporting life or even matter as we know it.

This guest is very, very smart. He agrees with my views on everything Fermi Paradox-related. So he is clearly a very clever person. We dont need to put too much emphasis on the whole thing, Because while basic bacteria or algae might be on every third planet for all we know, life that walks around and runs its own space program, is probably infinitely rare. As in... Once or twice a galaxy-kinda rare.

I never understood fine tuning. We find ourselves in a universe that supports life because we in fact find ourselves anywhere. If the universe wasn’t tuned for life then it wouldn’t contain life. It’s what we got and we are possible because of it, there’s no need for design or need for a diff set of rules to exist or even be able to exist

If we are in a simulation, are there cheat codes? If so, how do you activate them. Prayer?

Amazing work! I really wanted to become a channel member but having issues signing up :(