Is humanity coding its own extinction? In the 1994 book, “The Physics of Reality,” Frank Tipler wrote that an AI “god” (or superintelligent being) will create a simulation in which the consciousness of every human being who has ever lived will be resurrected within a simulation and live for eternity. Tipler called it the “Omega God Theory,” a period in which the universe will undergo what Tipler calls “the big crunch,” which is when the universe will recontract, and collapse within itself into a point of singularity. Tipler, a physicist, philosopher, and cosmologist, supports his theory with mathematical equations. Given the rise of generative AI, and even agentic AI, was Tipler right? Is man playing God in creating these digital beings?In my book, The Absence of Reality, I note that humanity not only does not have the ability to perceive objective reality, but that as we advance technology, we are coding our own extinction. I draw from theories like Simulation and Simulacra, Omega Point Theory, and Simulation Hypothesis, and S. James Gates research on supersymmetry, observing how these theories may be prophetic as our reality becomes more virtual and detached from the real world, replacing it with a fully digital reality. Perhaps it is the fate of humankind, that we would be replaced with a more proficient processing system that can observe nature and the universe, without violence, chaos, or becoming the cause of human suffering.
With technological advancements, human beings have become increasingly disconnected from reality and the physical world around us, with AI, humanity is not only coding its replacement, but may be destroying itself with ruthless efficiency.
– E. Hughes is the author of The Absence of Reality: Aphorisms and Observation on Reality and Existence and the book, Reality Unbound: The Digital Mind and the Nature of Reality