Enter the Matrix
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There is a (slightly) more up to date discussion here: http://discovermagazine.com/2013/dec/09-do-we-live-in-the-matrix#.UqnpfvRdWAH[^] which includes some speculation that it may be possible to tell - Barrow suggested it should be possible back in 2007.
Interesting just scanned it but will look at it later...I've actually started the project I've been putting off forever. Went and got materials yesterday and started the actual project today!
VS2010/Atmel Studio 6.1 ToDo Manager Extension Relax...We're all crazy it's not a competition!
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Gregory.Gadow wrote:
I do sometimes feel this is all just a computer simulation, but then the mice hamsters come along and tell me otherwise.
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Good point! :)
VS2010/Atmel Studio 6.1 ToDo Manager Extension Relax...We're all crazy it's not a competition!
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mikepwilson wrote:
It's like Tyson, the dude has become nothing more than a professional interviewee.
And cameo appearances on B movies.
VS2010/Atmel Studio 6.1 ToDo Manager Extension Relax...We're all crazy it's not a competition!
Mike "Cheese Wiz" Hankey wrote:
And cameo appearances on B movies.
I didn't think Neil had progressed beyond TV? :confused: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1183205/[^]
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer
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The Hamsters were an upgrade, after the Mice discovered Brockian Ultra-Cricket and lost interest in the Question to the Ultimate Answer.
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I don't know about y'all but I feel kinda simulated? :) clickity[^]
Quote:
The theory basically goes that any civilisation which could evolve to a 'post-human' stage would almost certainly learn to run simulations on the scale of a universe. And that given the size of reality - billions of worlds, around billions of suns - it is fairly likely that if this is possible, it has already happened.
VS2010/Atmel Studio 6.1 ToDo Manager Extension Relax...We're all crazy it's not a competition!
In any simulation of an infinite universe the simulation would run into finite limits since the simulation, being smaller than the real universe, would have limits. Fortunately, our universe has no such number of smallest resolution ... so we know that we are not in a simulation ... oh.
Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost "All users always want Excel" --Ennis Lynch
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I don't know about y'all but I feel kinda simulated? :) clickity[^]
Quote:
The theory basically goes that any civilisation which could evolve to a 'post-human' stage would almost certainly learn to run simulations on the scale of a universe. And that given the size of reality - billions of worlds, around billions of suns - it is fairly likely that if this is possible, it has already happened.
VS2010/Atmel Studio 6.1 ToDo Manager Extension Relax...We're all crazy it's not a competition!
So post-human automatically means universal-scale? Any species that evolves to a universal scale could be able to predict what such a universe could be without having to develop one. Maybe they could create their own pocket universe instead. Since it's all conjecture, I conjecture that I am right.
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Physicists really need to get a hobby. This is getting stupid now. It's like Tyson, the dude has become nothing more than a professional interviewee.
mikepwilson wrote:
Physicists really need to get a hobby.
They should start working on the infinite improbability drive .
I'd rather be phishing!
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In any simulation of an infinite universe the simulation would run into finite limits since the simulation, being smaller than the real universe, would have limits. Fortunately, our universe has no such number of smallest resolution ... so we know that we are not in a simulation ... oh.
Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost "All users always want Excel" --Ennis Lynch
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So post-human automatically means universal-scale? Any species that evolves to a universal scale could be able to predict what such a universe could be without having to develop one. Maybe they could create their own pocket universe instead. Since it's all conjecture, I conjecture that I am right.
Bassam Abdul-Baki wrote:
could be able to predict what such a universe could be without having to develop one
Not so sure about that: emergent properties can be extremely unobvious. Take the game of Life for example - the rules are extremely simple and fully known.
Every cell interacts with its eight neighbours, which are the cells that are horizontally, vertically, or diagonally adjacent. At each step in time, the following transitions occur:
Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbours dies, as if caused by under-population.
Any live cell with two or three live neighbours lives on to the next generation.
Any live cell with more than three live neighbours dies, as if by overcrowding.
Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbours becomes a live cell, as if by reproduction.Despite the rules being fully known, the existence of Gliders, Destroyers and Glider Guns are not obvious unless they actual game is run - these are emergent properties of a system. Life is a simple game, with simple rules. Assuming that the universe run of rules at least as complicated as the ones we currently believe it does (or even if there are an order or two of magnitude less complex) the emergent properties of such a system are going to be even less obvious. Dinosaurs for example, or us, or quasars. Sometimes, you do have to run the code just to see what happens!
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I don't know about y'all but I feel kinda simulated? :) clickity[^]
Quote:
The theory basically goes that any civilisation which could evolve to a 'post-human' stage would almost certainly learn to run simulations on the scale of a universe. And that given the size of reality - billions of worlds, around billions of suns - it is fairly likely that if this is possible, it has already happened.
VS2010/Atmel Studio 6.1 ToDo Manager Extension Relax...We're all crazy it's not a competition!
Mike Hankey wrote:
I don't know about y'all but I feel kinda simulated?
In some ways, I wouldn't mind that, because that would rather change the concepts of things like God, death, re-incarnation, and so forth. And maybe those psychics are actually somehow connecting with "the real world." Regardless of which it is, I still am left with the uncomfortable feeling that someone forgot to turn off the experiment before they went home for the night. ;) Marc
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Mike Hankey wrote:
I don't know about y'all but I feel kinda simulated?
In some ways, I wouldn't mind that, because that would rather change the concepts of things like God, death, re-incarnation, and so forth. And maybe those psychics are actually somehow connecting with "the real world." Regardless of which it is, I still am left with the uncomfortable feeling that someone forgot to turn off the experiment before they went home for the night. ;) Marc
Marc Clifton wrote:
Regardless of which it is, I still am left with the uncomfortable feeling that someone forgot to turn off the experiment before they went home for the night. ;)
Lights are on but nobodies home? Yeah it does kinda feel that way sometimes. :)
VS2010/Atmel Studio 6.1 ToDo Manager Extension Relax...We're all crazy it's not a competition!
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I don't know about y'all but I feel kinda simulated? :) clickity[^]
Quote:
The theory basically goes that any civilisation which could evolve to a 'post-human' stage would almost certainly learn to run simulations on the scale of a universe. And that given the size of reality - billions of worlds, around billions of suns - it is fairly likely that if this is possible, it has already happened.
VS2010/Atmel Studio 6.1 ToDo Manager Extension Relax...We're all crazy it's not a competition!
Is all that we see or seem But a dream within a dream?
It only shows the limit of the imagination of a certain era; computers, running on the same platform? Using the same probabilities, there's a larger chance that we're a non-interesting (but still required) part of that computer. Or some oversized rodents' nightmare. It will not be a practical problem for years to come.
Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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mikepwilson wrote:
Physicists really need to get a hobby.
They should start working on the infinite improbability drive .
I'd rather be phishing!
They might as well at this point.
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Is all that we see or seem But a dream within a dream?
It only shows the limit of the imagination of a certain era; computers, running on the same platform? Using the same probabilities, there's a larger chance that we're a non-interesting (but still required) part of that computer. Or some oversized rodents' nightmare. It will not be a practical problem for years to come.
Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
Brings this[^] Alan Parson song to mind!
VS2010/Atmel Studio 6.1 ToDo Manager Extension Relax...We're all crazy it's not a competition!
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The Hamsters were an upgrade, after the Mice discovered Brockian Ultra-Cricket and lost interest in the Question to the Ultimate Answer.
Ah! I didn't know that.
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mikepwilson wrote:
Physicists really need to get a hobby.
They should start working on the infinite improbability drive .
I'd rather be phishing!
It is infinitely improbable that they will do so.... ;)
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I don't know about y'all but I feel kinda simulated? :) clickity[^]
Quote:
The theory basically goes that any civilisation which could evolve to a 'post-human' stage would almost certainly learn to run simulations on the scale of a universe. And that given the size of reality - billions of worlds, around billions of suns - it is fairly likely that if this is possible, it has already happened.
VS2010/Atmel Studio 6.1 ToDo Manager Extension Relax...We're all crazy it's not a competition!
You never read The Hitchhiker's guide? We merely exist to calculate the ultimate question dude. ;P
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In any simulation of an infinite universe the simulation would run into finite limits since the simulation, being smaller than the real universe, would have limits. Fortunately, our universe has no such number of smallest resolution ... so we know that we are not in a simulation ... oh.
Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost "All users always want Excel" --Ennis Lynch
