Reality: A persistent illusion

Stage 10 Downloadable Consciousness, from the augmented human brain to a computer, (digital immortality). The Matrix!

"This topic scenario of all these redundant people being entertained, which is basically a matrix right? being pacified and entertained as well living lives in a closed environment."

The Matrix, the iconic 1999 sci-fi film, depicted a world in which humanity is unknowingly trapped in a matrix of illusion a system controlled by outside entities-maybe even aliens.

You may be incredulous when you learn that this has become a topic for serious discussion among scientists. The theme was picked up by Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom, who wrote in a 2003 paper, "we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation." It's not so much that scientists are buying in to the "extraterrestrial" thing. Tomas Laurenzo believes we live in a matrix, so does Elon Musk and Rizwan Virk thinks we all may be part of a massive computer game.

ROBERT IRELAND in Hong Kong