Rizwan Virk

Virk says he leans toward the spiritual RPG version of simulation theory, partly because of pre-birth memories reported in near-death experiences.

“I tend to lean more towards the spiritual version, the RPG version, that we're inside a video game”

Digital Social Hour: New Simulation Theory Evidence Has Experts Shocked... | DSH #2022 (Jun 17, 2026) · Listen from 15:53

Virk recounts that a 2016 VR ping pong game was so realistic it briefly fooled his body, prompting his interest in simulation theory.

“it was so realistic that my body forgot for a second or 30 seconds that I wasn't really playing a real game of table tennis”

Digital Social Hour: New Simulation Theory Evidence Has Experts Shocked... | DSH #2022 (Jun 17, 2026) · Listen from 4:31

Virk estimates the probability that we live in a simulation at about 70 percent, up from his 2019 estimate of at least 50 percent.

“And in 2019, I said it's at least 50%. Now I say it's closer to 70%. That's not a precise number, though”

Digital Social Hour: New Simulation Theory Evidence Has Experts Shocked... | DSH #2022 (Jun 17, 2026) · Listen from 11:11

Virk suggests AI may have played a role in creating our world, likening divine creation by speech to prompting.

“that's why I say AI may have played a role in the creation of our world itself because it can maintain this seemingly infinite universe”

Digital Social Hour: New Simulation Theory Evidence Has Experts Shocked... | DSH #2022 (Jun 17, 2026) · Listen from 26:25

Virk argues that AI can generate worlds that appear infinite, which bears on simulation theory.

“the way that this relates to simulation theory is that I think AI can be used to generate a world that looks like an infinite world”

Digital Social Hour: New Simulation Theory Evidence Has Experts Shocked... | DSH #2022 (Jun 17, 2026) · Listen from 3:20

Virk describes karma as a database of thoughts and actions whose effects one must later experience.

“it would show you that karma is basically a database where as you do things, because in the West, karma is often thought of as you killed somebody, they kill you”

Digital Social Hour: New Simulation Theory Evidence Has Experts Shocked... | DSH #2022 (Jun 17, 2026) · Listen from 53:29

Virk relays that researcher Diane Hennacy Powell told him an information-based reality was her best explanation for autistic savants' abilities.

“the only good explanation I can come up for is there's some kind of an information-based reality, and they're just looking it up in the database”

Digital Social Hour: New Simulation Theory Evidence Has Experts Shocked... | DSH #2022 (Jun 17, 2026) · Listen from 47:44

Virk relays a Sufi imam's view that scripture is memorized because jinn can alter physical objects but not memory.

“there are beings that are allowed to go back and change reality and change physical objects because they don't live in space time like the rest of us”

Digital Social Hour: New Simulation Theory Evidence Has Experts Shocked... | DSH #2022 (Jun 17, 2026) · Listen from 40:30

Virk says he initially dismissed the Mandela Effect as bad memory but came to consider it possible evidence of reruns of a simulation.

“if you were in a simulation and you re-ran it more than once, get it back to the butterfly effect. You would get slightly different versions”

Digital Social Hour: New Simulation Theory Evidence Has Experts Shocked... | DSH #2022 (Jun 17, 2026) · Listen from 36:39

Virk argues a multiverse is more plausible if simulated, because unnecessary timelines can be pruned rather than all instantiated physically.

“But it turns out if it's simulated, then it is possible because you don't have to do all of them”

Digital Social Hour: New Simulation Theory Evidence Has Experts Shocked... | DSH #2022 (Jun 17, 2026) · Listen from 32:14

Virk contends the delayed choice experiment shows the past may not be fixed until a measurement is made.

“basically what the delayed choice experiment is saying is that the past may not be as fixed as we think it is”

Digital Social Hour: New Simulation Theory Evidence Has Experts Shocked... | DSH #2022 (Jun 17, 2026) · Listen from 29:42

Virk argues UFOs need not be aliens or human tech and could be projections from outside the simulation or time travelers.

“They could be projecting from outside the simulation. They could be time travelers”

Digital Social Hour: New Simulation Theory Evidence Has Experts Shocked... | DSH #2022 (Jun 17, 2026) · Listen from 27:11

Virk says spiritual traditions across cultures present incarnation as a journey into forgetfulness.

“incarnation in the spiritual traditions is often presented as a journey into forgetfulness”

Digital Social Hour: New Simulation Theory Evidence Has Experts Shocked... | DSH #2022 (Jun 17, 2026) · Listen from 17:29

Virk argues that even a deterministic system can be unpredictable, and that in the RPG version free will comes from players outside the system.

“And in the RPG version, free will comes from outside the system. Your character, your player is controlling the avatar, so you're telling it what to do”

Digital Social Hour: New Simulation Theory Evidence Has Experts Shocked... | DSH #2022 (Jun 17, 2026) · Listen from 15:15

Virk argues that quantum mechanics and computer-graphics optimization share the principle of rendering only what is observed.

“the golden rule in quantum mechanics seems to be render only that which is observed. And the golden rule for compression and optimization in computer science is you render only that which is observed”

Digital Social Hour: New Simulation Theory Evidence Has Experts Shocked... | DSH #2022 (Jun 17, 2026) · Listen from 11:58