Potential Secret Wars Spoiler: The Beyonder's Experiments = The Simulation Hypothesis (Our universe is a 2D Projection)?
I feel that the simulation hypothesis is an underlying theme in Hickman's work.
Here is a description of the simulation hypothesis as described by Wikipedia:
"The philosopher Nick Bostrom developed an expanded argument examining the probability of our reality being a simulacrum. His argument states that [B]at least one of the following statements is true:[/B]
1. Human civilization is unlikely to reach a level of technological maturity capable of producing simulated realities, or such simulations are physically impossible to construct. This article essentially rules out this possibility... [url]http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-1.html[/url]
2. A comparable civilization reaching aforementioned technological status will likely not produce a significant number of simulated realities (one that might push the probable existence of digital entities beyond the probable number of "real" entities in a Universe) for any of a number of reasons, such as, diversion of computational processing power for other tasks, ethical considerations of holding entities captive in simulated realities, etc.
[B]3. Any entities with our general set of experiences are almost certainly living in a simulation.[/B]
His argument rests on the premise that given sufficiently advanced technology, it is possible to represent the populated surface of the Earth without recourse to digital physics; that the qualia experienced by a simulated consciousness is comparable or equivalent to that of a naturally occurring human consciousness; and that one or more levels of simulation within simulations would be feasible given only a modest expenditure of computational resources in the real world.
If one assumes first that humans will not be destroyed or destroy themselves before developing such a technology, and, next, that human descendants will have no overriding legal restrictions or moral compunctions against simulating biospheres or their own historical biosphere, then it would be unreasonable to count ourselves among the small minority of genuine organisms who, sooner or later, will be vastly outnumbered by artificial simulations."
This sounds eerily similar to the story Hickman is telling. [B]Reading all of Hickman's work at Marvel in order, the below statements are hinted at if not outright stated:[/B]
[B]
A. All of reality is a simulation (an experiment as Hickman described it) run by higher beings [/B](beings represented by the Beyonders inside the simulated reality). The beyonders are just representations of the beings, like computer code, similar to the mapmaker code trying to trace back the source of the incursions. The higher beings that the beyonders represent are inaccessible to anyone inside the simulation. [B]By the way, if it's not clear, I'm using the components that a computer needs to function purely as an analogy. It's the easiest way I could come up with to describe the role each piece plays in Hickman's story. [/B]
B. The higher beings (manifested inside the simulation as the beyonders) are ending the simulation and the molecule man is our perception of the code that will terminate the simulation. [B]Entities like The Living Tribunal and the ex nihilo serve important core functions in the BIOS that oversee the simulation and seed it with life. Galactus serves a role analogous to a hard drive defragger.[/B] Thus, as powerful as they seem, they are merely a part of the simulation and no longer serve a function now that the simulation is ending.
C. Doom found out 25 years ahead of the termination date and the incursions are the byproduct of him trying to save the simulation. His actions effectively recruit multitudes of intelligent entities in the simulation towards the task of preventing the simulation from being terminated.
[B]D. Battleworld is analogous to a computer's boot OS[/B] built by doom by salvaging parts of various realities.[B] It is hidden inside the BIOS aka the white space[/B] of the "computer (just an analogy)" running the simulation. It's likely that The Living Tribunal existed in the BIOS since The Living Tribunal is a security protocol for the entire simulation/multiverse. This is why The Living Tribunal's code is being used as a life raft to transport a handful of survivors over to the BIOS.
E. Once the Beyonders finish shutting down the original simulation and effectively reformat the hard drive, [B]this boot OS (battleworld) will serve as the interface that allows Franklin Richards to recreate the multiverse from inside the BIOS itself.[/B]
F. Franklin Richards, like the beyonders themselves, seems to be made up of the computer code that enables the beyonders, ex nihilo and the living tribunal to create "life" or alter reality throughout the multiverse. How and why is not yet explained.
What are your thoughts on this? Do you think Hickman is challenging our perception of reality itself using the comic book medium?
To understand how this plays into our world, [B]these three articles are essential reading: [/B]
[url]http://www.fnal.gov/pub/presspass/press_releases/2014/2-D-Hologram-20140826.html[/url]
[url]http://www.nature.com/news/simulations-back-up-theory-that-universe-is-a-hologram-1.14328[/url]
and most importantly,
[url]http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html[/url]
