The Simulation Argument proposes that one of the following statements must be true:

1. Civilizations that have reached our modern era of technological development go extinct before reaching technological maturity (e.g. reach a 'post-human' state), or;

2. As civilizations approach technological maturity they lose interest in developing "Ancestor Simulations" that would, in a technologically mature civilization, be advanced enough that entities within the simulation would have consciousness, or;

3. We are almost certainly living in a computer simulation.

The Simulation Argument was originally developed and published in an article by Oxford Professor Nick Bolstrom titled "Are you Living in a Computer Simulation?" in 2003. It has since generated much discussion in the philosophy community, and in 2011 it started to generate discussion in physics as well.