Maybe Could Be Possible
I started to feel that I may have discovered the user interface reality
The reason that I thought that is that my life was working out so well
That I couldn't explain it in any ordinary way
I tried to become a cartoonist with no experience in cartooning
Without any experience, I was the hottest cartoonist in the country
At about the same time, I had written my first book
It was a number one New York Times, runaway bestseller
With no experience at writing books
And there were a number of things that I was touching and doing and it seemed as if I could manipulate reality
But here's the thing
But here's the thing
Was I manipulating reality to get these ridiculous results or, was I simply good at my job?
How can I tell?
How would I know if I were manipulating reality, 'cause that's sort of what it felt like
But that didn't seem right, right?
Or was I just good at my job and I didn't realize how good I was so I performed better than I expected
[Chorus]
Maybe
Could be
It's possible
Maybe
Could be
It's possible
And it seemed as if I could manipulate reality
But I wanted to test it
Maybe
Could be
It's possible
And so, in 1997, I did a bold experiment and the experiment was this
I very publicly and annoyingly made a prediction and I chose an area in which I had no expertise
I thought I would try something that was just impossible
I would make the most unlikely prediction and then wait as long as it took for it to become true
And if indeed I could get the most unlikely prediction, then maybe other people would believe me when I explained to them the user interface for reality
I predicted that in my lifetime, the theory of evolution would be debunked in scientific terms
Not in religious terms but in scientific terms
You can imagine how well that went over
Obviously, I'm a nut and I should not be listened to and you shouldn't listen to anything else I ever say
That was 22 years ago, 23 years ago
So something happened today that was a very big deal in my life
And it was that there was a podcast, Patrick Courrielche, he told a story, he heard of my prediction about evolution being debunked and then he, he brought the story into the question of the simulation
Now of course, if the simulation is true, then what we believe about evolution probably isn't
‘Cause you don't need evolution, if you have the simulation
We just are here and our history is created on demand whenever we go looking for it
[Chorus]
Maybe
Could be
It's possible
Maybe
Could be
It's possible
And it seemed as if I could manipulate reality
But I wanted to test it
Maybe
Could be
It's possible
What Patrick did is told you something that I couldn't do myself
I couldn't tell you that my prediction had actually came in
I've been trying to, but I feel like I failed at it because I'm not credible about judging my own predictions
Obviously, I'm mistaken
If the simulation is true, evolution is, so 22 years later, there's now a competing theory that serious scientists buy into and, although you can't tell which one is the true one if either one is, maybe neither, maybe they're just filters
What you can tell is the odds
Maybe a billion to one for the simulation
[Chorus]
Maybe
Could be
It's possible
Maybe
Could be
It's possible
And it seemed as if I could manipulate reality
But I wanted to test it
Maybe
Could be
It's possible
So, having nailed my 22 year gamble
That I could make a prediction so unlikely
That the best explanation is that somehow I'm authoring the reality just as filter, again, that doesn't mean that I can actually change reality, it means that if I put that filter on it, I get good results
And if you just think you're happy but you're not, are you happy?
Yes you are
If you think you're happy, you're happy
If you thought you went through life as a billionaire but you were just crazy and you weren't, still good?
Still good
'Cause you're happy, you thought you were a billionaire
So, accept your subjective life
[Chorus]
Maybe
Could be
It's possible
Maybe
Could be
It's possible
And it seemed as if I could manipulate reality
But I wanted to test it
Maybe
Could be
It's possible