David Chalmers

David Chalmers leaves behind the hard problem of consciousness for an adventure tour of computer-simulated worlds and virtual reality. Paul Doolan interviews him about his new book, Reality+: virtual worlds and the problems of philosophy.

- Paul Doolan

In his new book, Reality+, David Chalmers leaves the well-trampled garden of human consciousness and travels in a new direction, taking readers on a techno philosophy adventure tour of computer-simulated worlds and virtual reality. He has penned a philosophical page-turner that cascades from Aristotle to Zhuangzi, from Plato’s Cave to Robert Nozick’s Experience Machine, while wrestling with the big questions of knowledge, reality and mind. Discussions of epistemology and metaphysics are as likely to reference the Netflix drama Black Mirror, as the ideas of Daniel Dennett. The Matrix receives more attention than the works of Kant. Sci-fi classics like Snow Crash and Speak Player One stand shoulder to shoulder with Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy and Putnam’s History, Truth and Reason. Scores of humorous philosophical illustrations drawn by Tim Peacock help to push the argument forward. Chalmers is arguing that we should take seriously the likelihood that we are simulated beings living in a simulated universe. Our creator could be a teenage hacker one universe up from ours, although it seems more likely that some form of AI-generated our simulated universe. The fact that we are conscious beings does not negate the idea that we are sims, since consciousness is substrate independent, emerging from the organisation of a complex system, whether biologically- or silicon-based. Chalmers reveals himself to be a virtual realist, arguing that the ‘entities in virtual reality are real’ (p.105) – they are digital objects, made of information or bits. He concludes that we should not be afraid of migrating into a virtual world, as we can live genuine, fulfilling lives there. In October 2021 I met with him for a virtual (of course!) talk.