Anyone who’s seen the Matrix trilogy has at least once in their life considered the possibility that we are «living» in a system created by artificial intelligence. But it was Plato, thousands of years ago, who first suggested that the world around us might not be as real as it seems. One only needs to recall his allegory of the cave, from the seventh book of the Republic, in which we are all, enchained since birth, prisoners of this underground cave, our gazes fixed upon shadows on the walls.

All this time has passed, and yet the question has remained nearly identical: is it possible that our world is a computer simulation?

Oxford University professor Nick Bostrom answers in the affirmative: «We are almost certainly living in a computer simulation». This theory, which the Swedish philosopher formulated in 2003, today enjoys the support of one Elon Musk, who believes it could easily turn out to be the case that we are all characters in a computer game, created by artificial intelligence as part of a research project, or as part of the homework of a primary school kid from a post-human civilisation.

The post-humans running the game, then are like gods, in relation to us humans: their act of creation; their level of intel- ligence far exceeding ours; their «omnipotence» and ability to interfere with life in our world, the physical laws of which weren’t written for them. But they can’t interfere. And not because they’re cultivating our creativity, but because they’ve forgotten us on the «side of the cosmic road» after a lovely picnic in a meadow where people are nibbling away. It’s probably not so monstrous. Because then nothing exists: neither us, nor our eternal questions about the meaning of existence. Although something in this project remains constant — it is a game, with unchanging rules.

After all, the goal of any player is to pass through the levels, without dying, collecting bonuses along the way: weapons, food, secrets. Some die in the first levels, some make it to the final battle and are congratulated by the team of creators and graphic designers. In this system, like Hinduism, you can play the game over and over again, just by pressing «new game». The most advanced players know that they can save and reload the game before a difficult level, or press pause, but such individuals are worshipped and venerated, buried in the ground and dug back up as though they were alive after 100 years.

So that’s an example of a modern utopia, in the same vein as the Matrix.

Although there is another option, like that in the famous parable: «God grew tired of people and began to inquire of angels where he might best be able to seek refuge from them — at the top of a mountain, or at the bottom of the sea. And one of the angels replied: in the human heart, that’s where they’re least likely to look». And it’s our right to make that choice. After all, utopias and parables are created by people, not by gods in shining armour. Perhaps our hearts really do build.

Creators; perhaps to them we really are «destined to return». If only, more frequently, we would look into them.