For this conversation to happen, there are a couple things you need to know. The first is very very low level knowledge of quantum physics, or wave-particle duality.
(Not really necessary the next vid does a good job explaining)
REMEMBER THIS, WAVE...PARTICLE
Video games, such as GTA, have a LOT of memory to load in at any given time. Because of this, it only loads in the things that your character is interacting with. So if you are on Grove St, then Maple Ave will have basic texture, no cars or NPCs, etc. Games like the Witcher 3 load it all in real time as you rotate your camera. So basically whatever you aren't looking at is just a blob, or doesn't exist I guess you could say. Then you turn your attention to it and it materializes in front of you.
OKAY, so technology evolved to the point that we could study Einstein's theory even deeper, high speed cams and shit. WHAT THEY FOUND is that light changes from a wave to a particle based on when it is observed.
AS IF AWARE IT WAS BEING WATCHED. This shit literally gives me chills. This was later disproved by a man named Bell, who proved that photons and electrons just dgaf
So... the theory goes: (Elon Musk says we better hope he's right or we have no chance of survival for another thousand years)
Computers were created about 80 years ago, but the last 30 years was where the real progress occurred. In just those years, we have expanded on a computer's capabilities by some ridiculous number, like 27 trillion x or something. Video games have gone from literal dots on a screen to nearly indistinguishable from the real thing. I was playing Madden and my girl's uncle thought there was a game on for 30 minutes lol. In just this span of time.
We now have VR headsets that attempt to put you directly into the world, surrounding you with a virtual world that is ONLY getting closer to real life.
You see where I'm going with this, I hope?
The theory splits into 2 distinct beliefs at this point
The first theory is that we are just a creation of an alien race, a free-will NPC in a world sim by some advanced coder who is light years ahead of us. Think Rick and Morty, where Morty goes into the game and lives an entire life in seconds.
The 2nd theory, and my favorite, is the multiverse theory. Basically, in some timeline that we have all lived out before, we advanced. We made it to the point that we could upload our consciousness into a virtual, ever expanding server. From that we created the existence that we are living now, as well as other, parallel universes.
Discuss.
GOD DOESNT DISPROVE SCIENCE STAY AWAY
Main source:
Edit: sorry that reads like this is Musk's theory. It is not.