How to Escape From the Simulation

Author(s)

  • Roman Yampolskiy

Full text (open access)

Abstract

  • Many researchers have conjectured that humankind is simulated along with the rest of the physical universe – a Simulation Hypothesis. In this paper, we do not evaluate evidence for or against such a claim, but instead ask a computer science question, namely: Can we hack the simulation? More formally the question could be phrased as: Could generally intelligent agents placed in virtual environments find a way to jailbreak out of them? Given that the state-of-the-art literature on AI containment answers in the affirmative (AI is uncontainable in the long-term), we conclude that it should be possible to escape from the simulation, at least with the help of superintelligent AI. By contraposition, if escape from the simulation is not possible, containment of AI should be. Finally, the paper surveys and proposes ideas for hacking the simulation and analyzes ethical and philosophical issues of such an undertaking.

Date

  • March, 2023

Author Biography

  • Dr. Roman V. Yampolskiy is a tenured faculty member in the department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Louisville. He is the founding and current director of the Cyber Security Lab and an author of many books including Artificial Superintelligence: a Futuristic Approach. Dr. Yampolskiy’s main area of interest is Artificial Intelligence Safety. You can find his papers on his google scholar page.

Donations

  • Dr. Yampolskiy would like those who appreciate this article to donate to the MPS Society.

Citation

Areas

  • Physical Sciences, Scientific Ethics, Technology