[vonklaus]

I have been giving this a lot of thought lately, especially after reading Superintelligience. I actually think that it is somewhat likely, or even highly probable given how we would model out our own behaviour and hardware. Further, to use a video game analogy, we may actually be non-primary characters, that are being modeled by a different, more sophisticated, group of actors.

[ThomPete]

Which still doesn't solve the whole first cause question (and doesn't have to of course)