Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am a dual PhD student (theoretical physics + computational science) with an interest in this particular topic. I was very excited to get this book. Let me start by noting a known law of nature: The quality of thinking done by an MIT graduate is inversely proportional to the number of times they mention that they studied at MIT. The author mentions his MIT past a LOT! What he doesn't mention is that he only did an undergrad degree, which is very deceptive given how often he trots out his MIT past as if it made him an expert on the topic. Virk (the author) seems to conflate the simulation hypothesis with the old brain-in-a-vat trope. That is, he essentially argues that the life we experience could be an advanced video game that is being fed into our physical brains. This is not what is meant by researchers and thinkers (like Bostrom) when they talk about the simulation hypothesis. In the actual simulation hypothesis, our consciousness is not being fed a lie, rather, our consciousness is part of the simulation. There is no part of us (body or mind) that exists outside the simulation. This actual meaning of the "Simulation Hypothesis" has much larger implications for life, physics, computer science, information theory, philosophy of mind, etc., than the simple brain-in-a-vat video game idea. Those implications, which I personally find profoundly interesting, are what I was hoping to read about when I ordered this book. Virk frequently refers to spiritual interpretations as if religion deserved equal time with science. At one point he even says, "We don't know which, the spiritual or the material, is closer to 'reality'." Umm, yes, we do. It was at this point that I packed it in and dropped the book in my trash can. If you actually want to learn about the simulation hypothesis, study Nick Bostrom's original paper on the topic. You can find it online. Second, read a few of the articles on the topic by the well-known popular science/tech sites. You'll learn a lot more about it than you will from this book.