Earlier quoted context omitted.
you could use a url shortener to hide the link to the show's wikipedia page. For those who don't mind spoilers, they can know what you're talking about.
https://tinyurl.com/mrx6rfef
That is, in fact, a great tv show.
Four billion years in four minutes – Simulating worlds on the GPU
71–80 of 108 posts
Re: Four billion years in four minutes – Simulating worlds on the GPU
#72Only tangentially related, but the lovely (quite) short story "I don't know, Timmy, being God is a big responsibility" is fantastic and kind of hits on simulating worlds, in a sense: https://qntm.org/responsibility
I’m not sure I really know how to handle this. Do I just read the latest version linked at the top of the page? Or is the one offered by this like somehow more canonical or something? I’m not sure I’ve ever been faced with different versions of a fiction before. Just textbooks. I really love thought pieces like this if you refrain from poking holes in the logic or physics. I love the idea of a multiverse where they’r…
> I’m not sure I’ve ever been faced with different versions of a fiction before.
You probably have, but haven't thought of it like that. Ever seen a Director's Cut version of a movie? :-)
Re: Four billion years in four minutes – Simulating worlds on the GPU
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m not sure I really know how to handle this. Do I just read the latest version linked at the top of the page? Or is the one offered by this like somehow more canonical or something? I’m not sure I’ve ever been faced with different versions of a fiction before. Just textbooks. I really love thought pieces like this if you refrain from poking holes in the logic or physics. I love the idea of a multiverse where they’r…
> I’m not sure I’ve ever been faced with different versions of a fiction before. You probably have, but haven't thought of it like that. Ever seen a Director's Cut version of a movie? :-)
Oh gosh it’s true. And that whole Star Wars thing.
I guess I’ve just not yet faced it with print.
Re: Four billion years in four minutes – Simulating worlds on the GPU
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
A simulation has a nonzero chance of having exploits, and it's debatable whether it is in our best interest to discover them.
What's an "exploit"? Is electricity an exploit of that weird phenomenon where a balloon sticks to a wall sometimes?
God created electromagnetism as a way to transmit power between the fusion plant and its simulated planet, and is now delighted that we also use it to trade Pokemons back and forth.
Re: Four billion years in four minutes – Simulating worlds on the GPU
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I’m not sure I’ve ever been faced with different versions of a fiction before. You probably have, but haven't thought of it like that. Ever seen a Director's Cut version of a movie? :-)
Oh gosh it’s true. And that whole Star Wars thing. I guess I’ve just not yet faced it with print.
> I guess I’ve just not yet faced it with print.
Sure you have, if you've ever bought an Nth edition of a book (where N > 1). Editions aren't always just an artwork/formatting change, they sometimes contain changes to the text too.
Re: Four billion years in four minutes – Simulating worlds on the GPU
#76Only tangentially related, but the lovely (quite) short story "I don't know, Timmy, being God is a big responsibility" is fantastic and kind of hits on simulating worlds, in a sense: https://qntm.org/responsibility
To deepen this tangent, I'll recommend Philip K. Dick's The Trouble With Bubbles which imagines 60s cocktail party guests showing off their miniature planet-scale terrariums.
Amazing, thank you for introducing me to this!
Re: Four billion years in four minutes – Simulating worlds on the GPU
#77Only tangentially related, but the lovely (quite) short story "I don't know, Timmy, being God is a big responsibility" is fantastic and kind of hits on simulating worlds, in a sense: https://qntm.org/responsibility
I'd love to read alternate endings to it. I've been thinking about writing a story with a very similar plot for a couple of years, but it had a big plot hole: computation overhead between the universes, and I hadn't thought about quantum computers as a way to solve it. The other main difference with the story that I had in mind is that the characters would write a story about it, which would be "my" story, and they'd…
> 8474771628371839
888 412 1289018?
Re: Four billion years in four minutes – Simulating worlds on the GPU
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m not sure I really know how to handle this. Do I just read the latest version linked at the top of the page? Or is the one offered by this like somehow more canonical or something? I’m not sure I’ve ever been faced with different versions of a fiction before. Just textbooks. I really love thought pieces like this if you refrain from poking holes in the logic or physics. I love the idea of a multiverse where they’r…
Canon is just a construct invented to sell merchandise and keep out competitors. Enjoy whichever version of the story you’d like!
Enjoy all. Several, in fact :)
Re: Four billion years in four minutes – Simulating worlds on the GPU
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
I havent yet read permutation city but Diaspora is one of my favorite sci-fi novels. I need to make time for it
Diaspora gives me shivers just thinking about it. Permutation City is fun, but not as inspiring as Diaspora.
He - rightly, and often - makes these rounds here when simulacrums are at hand. Well deserved.-
Re: Four billion years in four minutes – Simulating worlds on the GPU
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think all of qntm's stories are hard sci-fi.
Infinite processing power, infinite storage, zero latency, etc is about as soft of a setting as it gets.
Is it? A new fundamental particle doesn't necessarily make it soft sci-fi. The story seems perfectly technical to me.
Can't black holes already encode an infinite amount of information past the event horizon?