whoa, dude, are we inside a computer right now?

[bcbm]

whoa dude (http://www.vice.com/read/whoa-dude-are-we-inside-a-computer-right-now-0000329-v19n9)

[officer nugz]

but if we find out wouldn't it be a lot less fun for our overlord?

[Positivist]

This theory is based on the presumption that "programming" or the establishment of definite laws within a universe must be set by a conscious being which is extremely problematic because there has to be an "original being" for this to be possible. The proposition that all conscioussness is programmed by a conscious being is obviously contradictory. That respectable scientists are considering this attests to the pretentioussness of the modern intelligentsia. To be honest I think hes just trying to sell a book.

[Os Cangaceiros]

It wouldn't be all consciousness that would be defined by a conscious being (ie a god situation), would it, it would just be our consciousness that would be defined by a conscious being. In other words, our consciousness is just a crudely-approximated simulation within our virtual reality, created by someone who wanted to replicate life when humans were still primitive savages who still used things like mobile phones. (That's how I interpreted the "theory", anyway.)

[Zannarchy]

or, because the human brain is an electrochemical computer where all of our thought is done, we ARE computers.

[Luís Henrique]

Well, the article in the OP is obviously false, but indeed the market operates very much like a computer. The main difference is that the computer I have on my desk is a relatively smart machine made of completely dumb pieces, while the market is a completely dumb "machine" made of relatively smart pieces.

Luís Henrique

[Tim Cornelis]

According to Moore’s Law, which states that computing power doubles roughly every two years, all of this will be theoretically possible in the future.


What if we are in a simulation, and in the future of this simulation we reach the ability to create a simulation. Then we have a simulation within a simulation. Inception.

Also, at any time the 'Simulator' (God) could shut us down. At any moment... shit.

[MustCrushCapitalism]

That respectable scientists are considering this attests to the pretentioussness of the modern intelligentsia. To be honest I think hes just trying to sell a book.
Respectable scientists aren't considering it. This is what would be considered not even wrong (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_even_wrong), in the same way as theism, which the scientific community overwhelmingly rejects.

But it's fun to think about, and that's basically all anyone cares about.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

If the universe is some kind of computer or software program, then where are the glitches, the bugs, the bit errors, the recursive loops?

Also, why aren't a hell of a lot more things effectively "non-computable"? Not just difficult or memory-intensive or we don't know what maths to use, but actually physically impossible to model within a computer (as we would effectively be running a computer on a computer, which impacts performance).

[cyu]

Not sure what this has to do with leftist thought, besides the tangential relevance to religious structures that often play a role in politics and economics.


at any time the 'Simulator' (God) could shut us down. At any moment... shit.

It's already happened, but he had a saved game that his little sister loaded up a few galactic lifetimes later ;)



The proposition that all conscioussness is programmed by a conscious being is obviously contradictory.


Not sure that it *has* to be pre-created - but if it *could* be created, then we could have been created. Our parent universe could have been created as well, and so on. There's nothing to suggest that we are definitely the "top level" universe - no more than any universe can really claim to be the "top level" universe.

http://www.simulation-argument.com/

[cyu]

where are the glitches, the bugs, the bit errors, the recursive loops?

Black holes are where God divides by zero ;)

...plus Sarah Palin :D

[Rafiq]

[COLOR="black"]What kind of piece of shit would play this game? If you're going to make an entertaining game, or, simulation, why make it so... Boring? The Universe is composed of several different accidents, a big clusterfuck, of nothing, of which conciousness, as far as we're concerned, is a product of. If there is a concious being controlling our every moves, then why is the universe devoid of any concious "design" or "creation"? So it's just a fucking coincidence, and that, some "being" "designed" our big clusterufck that we call the universe?

[Tim Cornelis]

[COLOR="black"]What kind of piece of shit would play this game? If you're going to make an entertaining game, or, simulation, why make it so... Boring? The Universe is composed of several different accidents, a big clusterfuck, of nothing, of which conciousness, as far as we're concerned, is a product of. If there is a concious being controlling our every moves, then why is the universe devoid of any concious "design" or "creation"? So it's just a fucking coincidence, and that, some "being" "designed" our big clusterufck that we call the universe?

It's not a game, it's a simulation. You just fill in the parameters of the simulation (e.g. laws of physics), and then hit 'play' and all will act autonomously. We are not controlled as in The Sims, but how we act was defined in metamathematical formula filled into a computer simulator--that is, according to this theory.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

Considering how 99.9999% of the universe is either completely empty or hostile to life as we know it, if we accept the simulation hypothesis then there is still a likelyhood approaching certainty that it's not all about humanity or even life.

It may lack certain merits, but being a backdoor for religion isn't one of them. What kind of religion would have life as a computer glitch?

[Psy]

Considering how 99.9999% of the universe is either completely empty or hostile to life as we know it, if we accept the simulation hypothesis then there is still a likelyhood approaching certainty that it's not all about humanity or even life.

It may lack certain merits, but being a backdoor for religion isn't one of them. What kind of religion would have life as a computer glitch?
Well considering the scale goes from forces stretching across the universe (we are effected by the gravity of the Milky Way thus why our sun orbits the Milky Way) down to the subatomic odds are we not a simulation as there is no focus to simplify the simulation down an abstraction of what they want to simulate. Regardless of computing power if you want to simulate something you don't simulate everything.

[bcbm]

If the universe is some kind of computer or software program, then where are the glitches, the bugs, the bit errors, the recursive loops?

deja vu...

[Os Cangaceiros]

^haha, that's exactly what I was thinking. Have people here never seen The Matrix?!

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

deja vu...

If deja vu is a glitch in the running of the universe rather than a glitch in the running of our brains, then why hasn't such a glitch been recorded in some fashion that does not rely on subjective reports?

[cyu]

why hasn't such a glitch been recorded in some fashion that does not rely on subjective reports?

Not totally serious here, but Heisenberg will tell you that all science is subjective :lol:

[Luís Henrique]

Considering how 99.9999% of the universe is either completely empty or hostile to life as we know it, if we accept the simulation hypothesis then there is still a likelyhood approaching certainty that it's not all about humanity or even life.

It could well be that life and consciousness are just some kind of mold in this experiment, and when the Simulator(s) inspect their lab again they will wipe it away (probably saying, "shit, that third rock around that litlle yellow star was sure dirty!"). There is a short story by Asimov, I think, around this possibility.


It may lack certain merits, but being a backdoor for religion isn't one of them. What kind of religion would have life as a computer glitch?

Let's create one and make some money. The Holy Church of the Great Cosmic Computer. First schism to happen between those who believe the Cosmic Computer uses FORTRAN and those who think He uses Java. Or some thing like that.

Luís Henrique

[bcbm]

If deja vu is a glitch in the running of the universe rather than a glitch in the running of our brains, then why hasn't such a glitch been recorded in some fashion that does not rely on subjective reports?

jokes bro

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

jokes bro

I know that, but I still think there is some small value in treating such questions seriously, if only to properly dismiss them.