Sheaf Saint Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 http://www.washington.edu/news/2012/12/10/do-we-live-in-a-computer-simulation-uw-researchers-say-idea-can-be-tested/ The matrix has you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huffton Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 Follow the white rabbit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 Yes, I built it and I am in total control. It explains a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St_Tel49 Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 http://www.washington.edu/news/2012/12/10/do-we-live-in-a-computer-simulation-uw-researchers-say-idea-can-be-tested/ The matrix has you Well at least it explains the last episode of "Big Bang Theory" ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 How many more times FFS? We're all in someone else's dream...not a simulation. Although I guess it could be argued that a dream IS a simulation of sorts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilippineSaint Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 Yes, I built it and I am in total control. It explains a lot. Thought you had lost the plot years ago Whitey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 http://www.washington.edu/news/2012/12/10/do-we-live-in-a-computer-simulation-uw-researchers-say-idea-can-be-tested/ The matrix has you One question....did man land on the moon in this simulation...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilippineSaint Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 One question....did man land on the moon in this simulation...? If not is there a fake landing in the fake life we are leading? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 (edited) If not is there a fake landing in the fake life we are leading? Surely there wouldn't be any need to fake anything in a fake world as it could all be made to actually happen? Edited 14 December, 2012 by trousers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheaf Saint Posted 14 December, 2012 Author Share Posted 14 December, 2012 What if we are not the first level though? Think about it... If we are living in a simulation, and we are close to discovering how to generate our own simulations, how many layers back does this go? We could be living in a simulation of a simulation of a simulation... ad infinitum. Neuroscientists have identified areas of the brain that fire a tiny fraction of a second before we make conscious decisions, which brings into question the whole idea of free will. Do you think I could successfully argue against a speeding ticket if I can demonstrate that my car doesn't actually exist as matter and is in fact just pixels in a computer program over which I have no control? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilippineSaint Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 Surely there wouldn't be any need to take anything on a fake world as it could all be made to actually happen? We would have lost the humour on the other thread though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 What if we are not the first level though? Think about it... If we are living in a simulation, and we are close to discovering how to generate our own simulations, how many layers back does this go? We could be living in a simulation of a simulation of a simulation... ad infinitum. Neuroscientists have identified areas of the brain that fire a tiny fraction of a second before we make conscious decisions, which brings into question the whole idea of free will. Do you think I could successfully argue against a speeding ticket if I can demonstrate that my car doesn't actually exist as matter and is in fact just pixels in a computer program over which I have no control? Let us know how you get on with that one.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Garrett Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 Do people actually get paid to prove/disprove this twaddle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilippineSaint Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 Do people actually get paid to prove/disprove this twaddle? Yes and use the theories generated to lower speed limits to get more cash from you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colinjb Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 Does this mean I can simply 'download' the ability to do Kung Fu and evade bullets? If so, then being in a simulation is fine by me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 Thought you had lost the plot years ago Whitey It's my plot, I'll take it wherever I like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 What if we are not the first level though? Think about it... If we are living in a simulation, and we are close to discovering how to generate our own simulations, how many layers back does this go? We could be living in a simulation of a simulation of a simulation... ad infinitum. Big fleas have little fleas, Upon their backs to bite 'em, And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so,ad infinitum. (The Siphonaptera, by Augustus De Morgan, 1872, after Jonathan Swift'sOn Poetry: a Rhapsody, 1733) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wurzel Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 One question....did man land on the moon in this simulation...? Moon ?? What moon ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilippineSaint Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 Did the Mayans exist in this simulation and have we got 9 days or 9 years left to the Apocalypse? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 Did the Mayans exist in this simulation and have we got 9 days or 9 years left to the Apocalypse? It will only be a simulated apocalypse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badgerx16 Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 It's my plot, I'll take it wherever I like. Only because I let you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilippineSaint Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 It will only be a simulated apocalypse. I bet you don't take your shots and play dead properly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buctootim Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 The Mayans are all dead. The apocalypse was years ago and spoke Spanish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pap Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 If, as I dodder into old age and irrelevance, I was offered the chance of immortality in a Matrix style environment, I'd probably take it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 Scientists will believe anything possible if you give the a grant for researching the "phenomenon". When they stop believing they'd have to get a real job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 Scientists will believe anything possible if you give the a grant for researching the "phenomenon" What, even something as ridiculous as global warming...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 What, even something as ridiculous as global warming...? Old hat, doesn't interest the young postgrads nowadays, far too much known about it, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint-Fred Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 Then the question is, ‘Can you communicate with those other universes if they are running on the same platform?’” she said Typical we will find aliens, they will be simulated on a spectrum plus whilst we are on a c64 and we won't be able talk to them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy_D Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 If we're a computer simulation, it doesn't change the fact that there must be a real world in which this is being simulated... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohio Saint Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 I saw this theory on a TV show a while back. These quantum physics shows get me all the time. They start off with basics, muddle your brain a bit, then end up on the really dumb stuff like this.....Then you realise that you just wasted that hour when you thought you were going to learn something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dig Dig Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 Sounds about as feasible as a man in the sky who created everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint in Paradise Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 The Mayans are all dead. The apocalypse was years ago and spoke Spanish. No they are not there are some diluted ones left. By diluted I mean they have a mixed bloodline now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hokie Posted 14 December, 2012 Share Posted 14 December, 2012 Did anyone read the article? Logically, the premise is one of the three is true: 1) Our civilization goes extinct before it gains the ability to run very advanced and detailed large scale simulations to explore its origins, OR 2) The advanced civilization that we become (assuming by definition of advanced, has the ability to perform large scale simulations to explore its origins) doesn't want to do these simulations, OR 3) As there will be an advanced civilization that wants to perform these simulations, the probability is that our existence is one (I guess because you can run gobs of simulations to try to decipher what went on) rather than being in the one actual existence that began it all. Its a pretty tight argument, not sure exactly where I'd attack it off the top of my head. Depending on my mood, I may try it out down the pub, which is in many ways where it belongs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopGun Posted 16 December, 2012 Share Posted 16 December, 2012 If the Mayan prediction is actually when the computer simulation ends, will we just click off instantaneously or will volcanoes erupt etc as part of the shut down procedure? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pap Posted 16 December, 2012 Share Posted 16 December, 2012 Reading this thread, I'm reminded of the time my mates and I spent on magic mushrooms in Southampton (infinitely more interesting place, btw ). An odd characteristic of the hallucinations is that your brain really seems to notice ( and perhaps even create ) patterns. I remember being in Hoglands Park, looking at different patches of grass. No matter where I looked, the grass had exactly the same pattern, as if it were a tiled graphic stretching out into infinity. Told my mates; they looked and saw the same thing. Whether or not they saw the exact same pattern, I don't know. At the time, I briefly considered the notion that it might actually be like that full time, and our optical systems just did a job of generating visual entropy. Shortly afterward, I was dismayed to learn that the Hoglands public bogs had no loo roll, and had to wipe my arse with a sock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy_D Posted 16 December, 2012 Share Posted 16 December, 2012 Did anyone read the article? Logically, the premise is one of the three is true: 1) Our civilization goes extinct before it gains the ability to run very advanced and detailed large scale simulations to explore its origins, OR 2) The advanced civilization that we become (assuming by definition of advanced, has the ability to perform large scale simulations to explore its origins) doesn't want to do these simulations, OR 3) As there will be an advanced civilization that wants to perform these simulations, the probability is that our existence is one (I guess because you can run gobs of simulations to try to decipher what went on) rather than being in the one actual existence that began it all. Its a pretty tight argument, not sure exactly where I'd attack it off the top of my head. Depending on my mood, I may try it out down the pub, which is in many ways where it belongs. The running of a computer simulation doesn't imply the creation of sentience. In the case that it doesn't, we're left with the original actual existence as the only possibility. This leaves the probability that we're a simulation tied to the probability that sentience can be created in a computer simulation, rather than the probability that an 'existence' is either the original, or one of an almost unlimited number of simulations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Millbrook Saint Posted 16 December, 2012 Share Posted 16 December, 2012 This is exactly right, the end of the world this Friday is actually a scheduled reboot after a firmware upgrade. The Mayans somehow got hold of the upgrade schedule and put it in their calendars, after the IT guys realised what they'd done they deleted them from the face of the earth so as their program corruption couldn't spread to the rest of us. Unfortunately they only moved them to the trash can and never completely deleted them which is why there are remnants of their programs that we have found and interpreted as the end of the world. It's all so clear now, I just hope the person in charge has backed us all up properly so we can be restored in the event of a firmware upgrade failure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint J 77 Posted 16 December, 2012 Share Posted 16 December, 2012 Reminds me of this... [video=youtube;Xsl0-ON7P8A]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xsl0-ON7P8A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopGun Posted 16 December, 2012 Share Posted 16 December, 2012 I hope that when the data is analysed by the programmers they recognise that artificial intelligence can be created and also that we wonder about them, in terms of existentialism and quantum physics. These are theories that they may not have yet considered themselves, so as cyber guinea pigs we may yet hold the key to life, somewhere up there rather than out there. It would be fairly crap if we got a drongo computer scientist analysing us. I'd be a bit ****ed off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy_D Posted 16 December, 2012 Share Posted 16 December, 2012 Black holes are obviously a divide by zero error. Whoever's out there should take a look at that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horley CTFC Saint Posted 16 December, 2012 Share Posted 16 December, 2012 Why bother we already know the answer is 42 I recommend loads Jimpson Weed and Peyote and an early night Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pugwash Posted 17 December, 2012 Share Posted 17 December, 2012 Nope. The past 7000 years of humanity has all been a dream inside the dream of an 18 year old cat owned by a guy called Schrodinger. The cat's going to be put down in about 7 or 8 minutes (or on Friday, our time). I know... I got me one of these: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hokie Posted 17 December, 2012 Share Posted 17 December, 2012 The running of a computer simulation doesn't imply the creation of sentience. In the case that it doesn't, we're left with the original actual existence as the only possibility. This leaves the probability that we're a simulation tied to the probability that sentience can be created in a computer simulation, rather than the probability that an 'existence' is either the original, or one of an almost unlimited number of simulations. Of course, the running of most simulations does not imply sentience. (Although I could swear that some of my code not only has sentience, but actual malfeasance.) I think in the theory though, the definition of "advanced simulation" does require sentience. (If the ancestor simulation is not sentient, then the civilization is not advanced yet. Sentience is the (a?) lynchpin of advanced.) Can sentience be created artificially? I think, to some degree, it will be. Still an excellent point to attack the argument. Of course, then I would ask, where does our sentience come from? Is it organic, or metaphysical? The way, I think may be best to attack it? The writings of some of the proponents say that time scales don't matter, that "advanced" can be 50 years, or 5 billion into the future. Still, if the universe is 12-15 billion years old, perhaps there has not been time to develop sentience in simulations of this scale, or the space to perform them. They hypothesis assumes infinite time and space, which we do not seem to have. Of course, one could just read this as the simulated universe is that old, or even say our definition of sentience is held within this simulation. At the end of the day, if there's not a testable hypothesis, it is a just an intellectual plaything. I'm sticking to the belief its elephants all the way down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pap Posted 17 December, 2012 Share Posted 17 December, 2012 If it was a simulation, then teleportation would be a cinch. Any object in a 3D game has a set of xyz co-ordinates. Imagine if travel was as simple as saying "yep, not actually here. I'm there" by messing with all your vectors Does anyone have cheat codes for this thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
View From The Top Posted 20 December, 2012 Share Posted 20 December, 2012 Schrodinger's cat been seen by anyone lately? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Block 18 Posted 20 December, 2012 Share Posted 20 December, 2012 If this is someones dream or whatever, can I have another bottle of Grouse please, this ones nearly all gone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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