This notion that we may be living in a simulation is kind of horrifying to a lot of people, right? Somehow less so to kids. Maybe because you think that if we're in a simulation, none of this is real. But yeah, I think that's the wrong way to think about it. It doesn't mean that nothing here is real. We can get that meaning just as well in a simulated world, as in an unsimulated world.
Last year, Rufus sat down with philosopher David Chalmers to talk about the allure of virtual reality, whether robots will ever achieve consciousness, and the likelihood that we’re living in a simulation (David thinks it’s about 25 percent). It was a fascinating, freewheeling conversation, and we left large chunks of it on the cutting room floor. Now, though, with ChatGPT and other generative AI platforms taking the world by storm, those unaired sections, many of which were about the ethics of artificial intelligence, feel super relevant. So today, we’re sharing our complete interview with David. Buckle up. It’s a wild ride.