Elon Musk's artificial intelligence
Elon Musk's artificial intelligence

Twitter has been aflame with a pronouncement from Elon Musk. According to the visionary entrepreneur, the odds are very high that we're all living in a version of the Matrix.It's an old chestnut of computer science speculation. The logic goes something like this: If it's possible to create consciousness out of a computer, someone, either human or alien, will have done it. If they've done it, they've probably done it a number of times (since after all computers can run infinitely many programs). If that's true, then the number of consciousnesses that are simulated is probably much higher — even orders of magnitude higher — than the number of consciousnesses that aren't. Therefore, the odds that any given consciousness — you, me, Elon Musk — is simulated are much higher than the odds that it's not.

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A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.comPascal-Emmanuel Gobry is a writer and fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. His writing has appeared at Forbes, The Atlantic, First Things, Commentary Magazine, The Daily Beast, The Federalist, Quartz, and other places. He lives in Paris with his beloved wife and daughter.