{"id":1757,"date":"2023-06-14T13:37:31","date_gmt":"2023-06-14T17:37:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/?page_id=1757"},"modified":"2025-05-12T11:08:56","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T15:08:56","slug":"no-we-dont-live-in-a-fing-simulation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/education\/no-we-dont-live-in-a-fing-simulation\/","title":{"rendered":"Mini course &#8211; No, We Don\u2019t Live In A F%#*ing Simulation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Thank you for your interest in <i>No, We Don\u2019t Live In A F#%*ing Simulation<\/i>. Registration for this year\u2019s mini-course has closed.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">No, We Don\u2019t Live In A F%#*ing Simulation is a mini-course created by David McNeill and Emily Tucker for the Center on Privacy &amp; Technology. The Privacy Center hosts both in-person and virtual editions of the course according to an ad hoc schedule, and Emily and David also occasionally offer the seminar through other organizations and institutions. Indicate your interest in receiving information about the next <i>No, We Don\u2019t Live In A F#%*ing Simulation <\/i>by completing <a href=\"https:\/\/forms.gle\/6fXQa4dzLenNjJjt5\">this form! <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Past participants in the course have included undergraduate and graduate students, lawyers, non profit workers, journalists, computer scientists, tech industry professionals, policy makers, K-12 teachers, university professors, and people who were just curious! We have had participants from over a dozen countries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">You can find out about upcoming dates\/locations for the seminar by checking this website. If you are interested in hosting the course at your home institution, you can inquire by email at: privacy@law.georgetown.edu<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Upcoming NWDLIAFS Mini-course Dates<\/strong><br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Friday March 7, 2025, 10 am &#8211; 5 pm at <\/span>Georgetown University Law Center<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This edition of the seminar will be an all day, in person event, with no live stream option. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. The course is free and open to anyone, but in order to register you must <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/forms\/d\/e\/1FAIpQLSeMAopc-XFYKl6_UqqbsKq6tSxurHsGcWJaErLOHoz32LlyaA\/viewform?usp=sharing\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">fill out a brief application<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. In order to preserve a true seminar format, enrollment will be limited to 35. Please note that there will be a short reading list for the course, and discussions go best when everyone actually does the reading. You can see an example of a reading list from the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1O3ff59bK0ygiVdJh5yrJns8IWVOwo2Sy\/view?usp=drive_link\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">three-day version of the course<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The readings for the one-day version of the course are shorter.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you don\u2019t think you will have time to do the reading and participate actively, please consider applying for a future edition of the course instead.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>The deadline to apply is February 14, 2025 11:59pm EST. <\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>Course Description<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWhat if we are all living in the Matrix?\u201d As anyone with access to the internet knows, this trippy question, once an opening for reflection on the difference between what is real and what is artificial, has in recent years morphed into something different and less benign:<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Simulation_hypothesis\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cthe simulation hypothesis.\u201d<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The simulation hypothesis presents itself as an <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">argument<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that it really is pretty likely that we human beings are just bits of code in a computer simulation \u2014 or at least, that there is no way of knowing that we are <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">not<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> living in a computer simulation. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For proponents of the simulation hypothesis, among them many a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/tech-billionaires-want-to-break-humans-out-of-a-computer-simulation-2016-10\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">tech billionaire<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, sloppy terminology is key to plausibility, as for example in their use of the terms \u201csimulation\u201d (they treat using a computer to study how a mathematical model of a physical system responds to randomly generated inputs as essentially the same as using a computer to play Grand Theft Auto V) and \u201chypothesis\u201d (which a supposition that by its own lights is unfalsifiable cannot be).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In order to make the simulation hypothesis appear to hold together, its defenders ignore or mischaracterize the technical and scientific reasons for doubting the models they offer of human cognition and language, and present their own techno-futurist hunches as if they qualified as valid starting points for probabilistic reasoning. If you want to follow along, you have to accept these elisions unquestioningly, along with any number of unsupported assertions about, for example, the ease with which the human consciousness can be replicated in a computer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Many of the same people who propound and defend the \u201csimulation hypothesis\u201d are also behind \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2022\/nov\/20\/sam-bankman-fried-longtermism-effective-altruism-future-fund\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">longtermism<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">,\u201d the exceptionally well-funded \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Longtermism#:~:text=Longtermism%20is%20an%20ethical%20stance,reduce%20existential%20risks%20to%20humanity.\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">ethical stance<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201d which has become a dominant force in philanthropic and academic spaces over the last decade. \u201cLongtermism\u201d sells itself with the seemingly benign maxim that the lives of future human beings matter as much as those alive today.\u00a0 Less benign are its actual arguments (e.g. trying to convince us to worry less about the climate crisis and more about self-aware superintelligent robots) and the speculative \u2018solutions\u2019 it offers (e.g., \u2018uploading\u2019 our brains to the \u2018cloud\u2019 and space-colonization).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In spite of the ink spilt by people with advanced degrees on these concepts, the \u201csimulation hypothesis\u201d is cognitively empty. Neither a scientific hypothesis, nor a coherent philosophic theory, it is the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">simulation<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of an argument\u2013what used to be called sophistry. It does nothing to help us think about the nature of reality. It only serves to weaken our sense that the difference between <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/books\/2022\/jan\/19\/reality-by-david-j-chalmers-review-are-we-living-in-a-simulation\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">reality and dissimulation matters after all<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and to distract us from the real threats posed by increasingly sophisticated, and automated, corporate control of information. If you want to really <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">think <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">about these issues, this course is for you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0&#8211;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">No, We Don\u2019t Live In A F%#*ing Simulation<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is an extended seminar in which participants will learn to identify, critique and escape from the particular sophistry represented by the simulation hypothesis and its pseudo-philosophical cognates. The course consists of three 45 minute lectures, followed by a 45-60 minute discussion period after each lecture. There is a short reading list that goes with each lecture, which includes representative samples of \u2018simulation\u2019 and \u2018long-termist\u2019 fabulism alongside actual arguments from contemporary science and the history of philosophy.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Instructor Bios<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1767 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/06\/IMG_3821-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Image of David McNeill smiling and wearing a grey sweater while sitting on tan rocks.\" width=\"292\" height=\"219\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/06\/IMG_3821-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/06\/IMG_3821-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/06\/IMG_3821-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/06\/IMG_3821-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/06\/IMG_3821-500x375.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/06\/IMG_3821-740x555.jpg 740w, https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/06\/IMG_3821-980x735.jpg 980w, https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/06\/IMG_3821-1220x915.jpg 1220w, https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/06\/IMG_3821-1440x1080.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/06\/IMG_3821.jpg 2016w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 292px) 100vw, 292px\" \/>David McNeill is a <a href=\"https:\/\/independent.academia.edu\/DavidMcNeill16\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">philosopher<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and scholar of the history of European philosophy, now working as an independent researcher and writer. He formerly served as the Robert Aird Chair of Humanities at Deep Springs College, prior to which he taught for ten years at the University of Essex in the UK. The broad focus of his work is the relation between practical and theoretical reason. He is the author of <\/span><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.psupress.org\/books\/titles\/978-0-271-03585-7.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"cx_external_link\"><span class=\"cx_external_hyperlink\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><i>An Image of the Soul in Speech: Plato and the Problem of Socrates (Penn State University Press, 2010)<\/i><\/span><\/span><span class=\"visually_hide\">(This link opens in a new tab)<\/span><span class=\"cx_external_icon\"><\/span><\/a><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and his peer-reviewed publications include articles on ethical deliberation, human autonomy and social freedom, engaging a range of thinkers from throughout the history of philosophy and political thought. Since 2020 he has been working on projects in the philosophy of law and philosophy of mind. His current working paper\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/papers.ssrn.com\/sol3\/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4441685\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"cx_external_link\"><span class=\"cx_external_hyperlink\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThe Shape of Citizenship: Extraordinary Common Meaning and Constitutional Legitimacy\u201d<\/span><\/span><span class=\"visually_hide\">(This link opens in a new tab)<\/span><span class=\"cx_external_icon\"><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (co-authored with Emily Tucker), argues that constitutional principles must be understood as deliberative principles of political association and communal self-determination. Professor McNeill is currently working on a book project that shares the title of this seminar.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1768 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/06\/IMG_5998-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Image of Emily Tucker wearing a horizontally striped shirt and standing against a light blue wall.\" width=\"292\" height=\"219\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/06\/IMG_5998-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/06\/IMG_5998-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/06\/IMG_5998-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/06\/IMG_5998-500x375.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/06\/IMG_5998-740x555.jpg 740w, https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/06\/IMG_5998-980x735.jpg 980w, https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/06\/IMG_5998-1220x915.jpg 1220w, https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/06\/IMG_5998.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 292px) 100vw, 292px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Emily Tucker is the Executive Director of the Center on Privacy &amp; Technology at Georgetown Law, where she leads a research and advocacy program dedicated to exposing and mitigating the impact of surveillance technology on historically marginalized communities. The Center has published groundbreaking studies on law enforcement use of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.perpetuallineup.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"cx_external_link\"><span class=\"cx_external_hyperlink\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">face recognition<\/span><\/span><span class=\"visually_hide\">(This link opens in a new tab)<\/span><span class=\"cx_external_icon\"><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and government surveillance of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/americandragnet.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"cx_external_link\"><span class=\"cx_external_hyperlink\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">immigrant communities<\/span><\/span><span class=\"visually_hide\">(This link opens in a new tab)<\/span><span class=\"cx_external_icon\"><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Her individual <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/papers.ssrn.com\/sol3\/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4047082\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"cx_external_link\"><span class=\"cx_external_hyperlink\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">scholarship<\/span><\/span><span class=\"visually_hide\">(This link opens in a new tab)<\/span><span class=\"cx_external_icon\"><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/techpolicy.press\/artifice-and-intelligence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"cx_external_link\"><span class=\"cx_external_hyperlink\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">popular writing <\/span><\/span><span class=\"visually_hide\">(This link opens in a new tab)<\/span><span class=\"cx_external_icon\"><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">critiques carceral technology from an abolitionist perspective. Her current working paper\u00a0 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/papers.ssrn.com\/sol3\/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4441685\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"cx_external_link\"><span class=\"cx_external_hyperlink\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThe Shape of Citizenship: Extraordinary Common Meaning and Constitutional Legitimacy<\/span><\/span><span class=\"visually_hide\">(This link opens in a new tab)<\/span><span class=\"cx_external_icon\"><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201d (co-authored with David McNeill), argues that constitutional principles must be understood as deliberative principles of political association and communal self-determination. Tucker also serves as an adjunct professor at the Law Center, where has taught a range of courses addressing the impact of digital-era technologies on democratic society, including the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Surveillance &amp; Civil Rights<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> fieldwork practicum. Before coming to Georgetown, she worked for over a decade as a movement lawyer, supporting grassroots groups to organize, litigate, and legislate against the criminalization and surveillance of poor communities and communities of color. She is a 2021 Soros Justice Fellow.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thank you for your interest in No, We Don\u2019t Live In A F#%*ing Simulation. Registration for this year\u2019s mini-course has closed.\u00a0 No, We Don\u2019t Live In A F%#*ing Simulation is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11480,"featured_media":0,"parent":40,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":""},"class_list":["post-1757","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"ticketed":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11480"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1757"}],"version-history":[{"count":59,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3680,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1757\/revisions\/3680"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/40"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/privacy-technology-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}