"the idea of Ancestor Simulation has been around for quite some time. However it did not receive widespread publicity until 2001 when Nick Bostrom from the Depa

"the idea of Ancestor Simulation has been around for quite some time. However it did not receive widespread publicity until 2001 when Nick Bostrom from the Department of Philosophy at Oxford University in England wrote a paper entitled 'Are you living in a computer simulation'?" A slightly less well known version of the idea was written around 400 BC by some guy named Plato. https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Allegory_of_t... Of course Plato couldn't hold a candle to the likes of Nick Bostrom. And we mustn't forget an even earlier version of the idea that's been around for thousands of years even before Plato. The Hindus believed the world was illusion. This was echoed later by the Buddha (around the same time as Plato). https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Maya_(illusion) https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Maya_(illusio...