Do we live in a computer simulation
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This made my head hurt... Do we live in a computer simulation[^]
I've always said if there is a god then he is a software developer who had to hard code a couple of exceptions after his original model wouldn't let life develop in his test runs.
Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends. Shed Petition[^]
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No.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
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This made my head hurt... Do we live in a computer simulation[^]
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This made my head hurt... Do we live in a computer simulation[^]
It made me laugh;
He also held that "the belief that there is a significant chance that we will one day become posthumans who run ancestor simulations is false, unless we are currently living in a simulation."
That's a spaghetti-monster :)
Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^] They hate us for our freedom![^]
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Nature doesn't have pop-up ads every time you view a natural wonder. That is how we know we aren't in a computer simulation.
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MehGerbil wrote:
Nature doesn't have pop-up ads every time you view a natural wonder.
...Yet. Once they find a way... you'll be looking at Niagra Falls and suddenly an advertisement for toilet paper will appear in your sunglasses.
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This made my head hurt... Do we live in a computer simulation[^]
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This made my head hurt... Do we live in a computer simulation[^]
I read all the foundational literature on that one. Then I couldn't stop thinking about it, and rereading stuff, and forming ideas for adopting the point of view that we do live in a simulation. That fat question gets in the way of much more enlightening and constructive and very interesting thought experiments. I have a constant input into my thoughts on what is this all, and it allows a very patterned view of our experiences, making tweaking that into alternate experiences of reality.
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This made my head hurt... Do we live in a computer simulation[^]
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That is just regurgitation of a common and old philosophical view. And result is that it just doesn't matter if it is or isn't. Because we can't prove it one way or the other. So we might as well just assume (believe) it to be false.
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This made my head hurt... Do we live in a computer simulation[^]
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That is just regurgitation of a common and old philosophical view. And result is that it just doesn't matter if it is or isn't. Because we can't prove it one way or the other. So we might as well just assume (believe) it to be false.
Ian M Banks novel Algebraist has a religion called "The Truth" which says that the universe might or might not be a simulation but it we don't know so you have to treat reality as real and get on with it.
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Nature doesn't have pop-up ads every time you view a natural wonder. That is how we know we aren't in a computer simulation.
Ok, I admit it, it's been a while since I've been on the lounge. How do I give this 5?
Er, I can't think of a funny signature right now. How about a good fart to break the silence?
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Ian M Banks novel Algebraist has a religion called "The Truth" which says that the universe might or might not be a simulation but it we don't know so you have to treat reality as real and get on with it.
In one of his Culture books called 'Matter' a character argues that we are not in a simulation because any entity advanced enough to able to host such a convincing simulation is likely to have an advanced moral ethic and could not be so immoral as to engineer so much suffering.
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In one of his Culture books called 'Matter' a character argues that we are not in a simulation because any entity advanced enough to able to host such a convincing simulation is likely to have an advanced moral ethic and could not be so immoral as to engineer so much suffering.
Every society has to have at least one sadist...
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This made my head hurt... Do we live in a computer simulation[^]
Hmm... We may have to reformat and reinstall this simulation. The simulated people have started to realize that they're simulations. Strange. They do so many stupid things and yet they're still able to figure out it's not real.
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That is just regurgitation of a common and old philosophical view. And result is that it just doesn't matter if it is or isn't. Because we can't prove it one way or the other. So we might as well just assume (believe) it to be false.
jschell wrote:
So we might as well just assume (believe) it to be false
Or assume it is true and call the One or ones who run it, a deity. And religion is born.
To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems - Homer Simpson ---- Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction - Francis Picabia
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This made my head hurt... Do we live in a computer simulation[^]
There's some circumstantial evidence we do live in a simulation: The universe behaves differently when we observe it, than when we don't. For example, when shooting a single subatomic particle at two slits, it appears to go through BOTH of them simultaneously. (The evidence is that the "single" particles form an interference pattern that you'd expect from two particles or waves.) But when you place sensors nearby to observe this curious phenomenon, the interference pattern STOPS, as if our simulation is providing more detail because we're looking at it. The analogy is to computer graphics/virtual reality, where objects that are currently in the distance aren't rendered in as much detail as objects we're observing nearby. Objects not in the viewport aren't even rendered, for efficiency.
"Microsoft -- Adding unnecessary complexity to your work since 1987!"