Elon Musk famously popularized the simulation hypothesis, suggesting there is a “one in a billions” chance we are living in base reality. His argument hinges on the rapid pace of technological advancement: noting that video games evolved from simple 2D shapes into photorealistic, immersive 3D simulations in just forty years, he concludes it is statistically highly probable that future generations will create vast, indistinguishable virtual worlds.
Musk has added a unique, somewhat humorous twist to the theory. He suggests that the entities running our simulation are likely keeping things running because we are “interesting.” He jokingly speculates that if our reality gets too boring, the higher-level operators might simply terminate it or cut funding, likening it to paying a cosmic cloud-computing (AWS) bill. He also frequently points to the ironic naming of technology and AI companies (like Anthropic, OpenAI, or xAI) as evidence of the universe having a sense of humor, which would fit into an interesting, ironic simulation.
