42?

[Moriarty]

Perhaps the answer wasn't too far off the mark: To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Just think...that quantum physics dictates that properties aren't known/decided until they are specifically observed falls perfectly well within this theory. Add the additional constraint that entropy must only increase - meaning that no new information is created, and you have a closed system that never requires periodic upgrades to storage or computing capacity. Too much matter concentrated in one space (i.e. a black hole)? No problem, relativity forces time to slow down in that region, allowing the processor more time to compute its properties. What is the smallest unit of time that can be observed? Plank time (10^-42 s) - perhaps the individual tick of the computer. I could go on....

In all seriousness, there is one interesting part of the author's rationale. If we accept that it is possible to one day create artificial consciousness and the environment in which they can live, it does follow that it is more probable that we are living in an artificial world rather than the original. I can think of countless scenarios why an advanced civilization would want to simulate the rise of multiple civilizations. Because they can would probably rank pretty high in the list, but more scholarly reasons are easy to see.

Anyway, more interesting than the Matrix or brains in a vat at least.

[LionsPride]

If that was true, I wonder if we are all part of the program or if there are some who are participants in the program, ie the difference between the characters in the video game that further the story and the ones controlled by the actual players outside the game...

[Moriarty]

Although I'd be surprised to find anyone who takes the paper's premise seriously (including the author), it does make for some fun spare time pondering from a logical point of view. It's worth the read.

[LionsPride]

It reminds me of a similar paper that suggested that some of the reasons why we have a few odd physics phenomenons could be linked to the types of physics employed by a computer.

I also like wondering about it, but I'm not a believer or anything. It tends to come up in my mind wanderings when I think about the realness of reality.

[Homini Lupus]

I think a system like that would have to be enormous (having to simulate all of our reality it would have to be bigger than our universe) or would have to simplify a lot of things, making reality more real and detailed when one of the actors is looking at that. It would probably work best as a network system in wich different minds are run by different processors so that the central computer would just need to send limited stimuli for them to elaborate.

[Moriarty]

...or would have to simplify a lot of things, making reality more real and detailed when one of the actors is looking...

That's one of the main arguments the author made, hence my tongue-in-cheek reference to quantum properties.

[thod]

The most interesting aspect is the religious parallels. It would place the simulation creater in the role of god. The final resurrection would be obtaining the results of the simulation. We could even have the devil as an disgruntled operator willing to edit reality in order to screw up the experiment.

If you found a way to edit the simulation yourself, you may achieve your desires but would still be in the simulation. What you really want is to escape the simulation into the researchers space, ie heaven.

One obvious move would be to try to screw up the simulation in some way. By running a simulation yourself within the simulation you force additional processing on the main simulator. This model would in turn have simulators in itself. The objective would be to overload the main simulator. Off course it could just run more slowly since you wouldn't notice time being slowed. However the prime simulator may object and either edit you out or terminate the whole thing.

We still don't have a way to escape though. The only way to do that would be to persuade an extant being in real space to provide a body to run our consciousness. Maybe thats what the Christians are doing "Let me out!, Let me out!, me!, me!"

[Moriarty]

Once we are capable of faithfully simulating our own consciousness and civilizations, our overlords will be forced to pull the plug on us. I figure an upper bound on the creator/messiah being revealed would be 2050.

;)