Simulated Morality

Editorial Note: What follows is fakakta speculation. It has noting to do with reality and if you think it does then that's on you.

Consider for a moment the idea that what we call our universe and our life within that universe is  a computer simulation of a "real universe". We do not live in the "real universe" anymore than a player-character in a "Massive Multi-Player On-line Role Playing Game {MMORPG]" is a "real person". We may or may not actually be "real". Just as there are "player-characters" [PCs] there are "non-player characters [NPC]s

Is it REAL or Memorex?
Photo by the Author

Assume that the simulation we live in has physical rules and that is about it. Other rules or limitations may [or may not] be imposed within it by the "rules of the simulation" [i.e. The Programmer of the simulation places limitations on acceptable behavior] or what the players have accepted as "commonly accepted principles'. Being a "free form" simulation, we are allowed to make up our own "in-game" rules.

Most belief systems, whether they be religious or philosophical, have a "base line" for acceptable or "approved" behavior. Some of the rules are optional. Some are cultural rules which designed to maintain a cultural grouping. Sometimes moral codes conflict. Sometimes moral codes are effected by economics.  Some are impossible  to prove in that they pertain to things which happen after death or how a "deity" will act or react to a believer. What ever they are, they cannot be ignored with impunity.

The mandatory rules of social behavior becomes the morality of the social system that developed it. Each community or nation or even group of nations has some kind of "morality". Normally we consider the precepts of our moral code as a "foundational issue" [i.e. a requirement] for a modern civilized society. These are precepts which must be obeyed [or at least acknowledged]. Usually the accepted moral code gets written into the legal code of a society. You can be sure that if you fail to be a "moral" citizen, that law enforcement will show up at your door.

BUT --

What if we are living in a Simulation?  If we are living in a "Simulated Universe" one of the most disturbing issues is the question: What happens to "Morality"?  Is "Law" and "Morality" relative to whether you live in reality or live in a simulation?

Take for example the Massive Multi-Player On-line Role Playing Games {MMORPG]" we mentioned above--  In a MMORPG you can kill another player or kill an NPC and "take their stuff". There is no repercussion for that act other than that same harsh action may befall you. There is no "moral" or legal punishment.

In a game like this you can:

Steal a car. Visit a brothel. Sell drugs. Commit genocide. Destroy other people's property. Shoot, stab, burn, blow-up or otherwise harm other people or animals. Do things to other people that you would not do to your mother or even tell your mother about. All without falling afoul of a moral or criminal code [unless the behavior spills into the "Real World"]..  The "Programmer's Rules" may get rid of players that are annoying or abusive by removing their access to the game world or send the abusive player on a one-way trip to a Coventry [or Hell] node never to return to the main game.

Now consider that old question:

"If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to witness it, did the tree fall?"

Now consider it in a new light:

"If a crime is committed in a simulation, and no real entities enacted these crimes or suffered harm from these crimes, was a real crime committed? 

One might simplify that question to: Is a "simulated crime" actually a crime?

 A number of philosophy books which were published after the release of The Wachowski's "The Matrix." cover this topic. Dancing through the pages of those books one will find a number of views and the answer comes down to  Yes and No.

I think that when one simply answers "Yes" to such a question, one is insisting that the simulation is equal to the original. That may not be the case. When one answers simply "No" to such a question, one is insisting that Morality can only exist is the "real world". Again that may not be the case.

My Rabbi once told me that the favorite rabbinical answer to any question is "Yes and No" spoken at the same time. "Is it permitted to [fill in question]?  "Yes and no." After which one can expect a lecture on both the "Yes" and the "no" of the topic at hand.

So how does our legal system answer the question?

Games are just games. Simulations are just simulations. Our legal system says that no "in game" crime(s) are actually crimes unless they have an actual real world effect [actual crimes such as monetary loss, theft of service, etc.]. So if we're in-game and have no way to effect the outside, what does it mean?

Again lets ask that question:

If we are living in a simulation [a game, a MMORPG], is there such a thing as "real" Morality in our simulation? Or is our Morality "an illusion agreed upon" and have "no basis in reality"?

Let's add one last bit of strangeness... the cherry on top of this strange thing we call the world:

Ever noticed how UFOs slide across the sky like a mouse cursor on a computer screen? What if that is what they are? What if UFOs are from "reality"? Now ask your self: If UFOs are "visitors from reality" is what they are doing in our simulation "Moral"?