Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/12/17/new-documentary-about-people-who-think-were-living-in-a-simulation.html
…
2 Likes
I mean, it would explain a lot, right?!
4 Likes
Not really, and it absolutely fails Occam’s razor.
8 Likes
What happens to them if I refuse to watch it?
9 Likes
Another conveniently unfalsifiable line of nonsense for people to believe in. Sigh.
11 Likes
Reality Winner. 'nuff said.
6 Likes
Deja Vu cats will come for you, that’s what.
5 Likes
That’s by design.
8 Likes
But only by a hair’s breadth.
How?
Simulated universes exist. How does postulating that a given universe is simulated “increase the plurality”?
4 Likes
I can’t wait to leave a terrible review for this escape room on Yelp when I wake up.
8 Likes
… That’s not how I remember that comic, but I think Larson would approve anyway.
1 Like
Not sure about this topic.
I’m starting to have suspicions that you’re not all living in MY simulation.
I mean, I wish you were, it’s fucking great here, honestly.
1 Like
But do they really think, or are they just a subroutine that mimics thinking?
9 Likes
My pet theory is that “Plank Time” is the clock-tick of the universe. We can’t measure what happens between ticks and particles can even pop into and out of existence (as long as balance is restored before the next tick). Everything becomes indeterminant. Who know how much ‘time’ passes between each tick?
Some interesting reading for those that are curious about why a simulated universe is a non-zero possibility:
This paper argues that at least one of the following propositions is true: (1)
the human species is very likely to go extinct before reaching a
“posthuman” stage; (2) any posthuman civilization is extremely unlikely
to run a significant number of simulations of their evolutionary history (or
variations thereof); (3) we are almost certainly living in a computer
simulation. It follows 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. A number of other
consequences of this result are also discussed.
http://www.maximusveritas.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/simulation.pdf
This paper explores the idea that the universe is a virtual reality created by information
processing, and relates this strange idea to the findings of modern physics about the physical
world. The virtual reality concept is familiar to us from online worlds, but our world as a virtual
reality is usually a subject for science fiction rather than science. Yet logically the world could be
an information simulation running on a multi-dimensional space-time screen. Indeed, if the
essence of the universe is information, matter, charge, energy and movement could be aspects of
information, and the many conservation laws could be a single law of information conservation. …
https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0801/0801.0337.pdf
The aptly called “simulation hypothesis” is the latest version of the historical skeptical philosophical speculation. The simulation hypothesis in its contemporary form is tied to sense inputs from sources (typically technologically based) other than external objects in the immediate environment. Let’s explore this: so why might some people take the modern-day philosophical simulation hypothesis seriously, and others think it is a bunch of covfefe? A wide-ranging consideration of the belief that we are living in a simulated world. Considers both philosophical and psychological aspects of such belief. An annotated reference list is provided for those interested in pursuing the topic in more detail.
Word document available on professor’s website, most recent “In progress” paper.
1 Like
Turing test applies to universes as well. If you can’t tell whether your universe is artificial or not, then it is a universe.
6 Likes
Is it a falsifiable theory?
8 Likes
