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Physicists To Test If Universe Is A Computer Simulation

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Re: Physicists To Test If Universe Is A Computer Simulation

#41

Post by devb »

It's apparently a good time to link to a writing entitled "Creating Infinite Suffering":

http://www.utilitarian-essays.com/lab-universes.html

"Abstract. I think there's a small but non-negligible probability that humans or their descendants will create infinitely many new universes in a laboratory. Under weak assumptions, this would entail the creation of infinitely many sentient organisms. Many of those organisms would be small and short-lived, and their lives in the wild would often involve far more pain than happiness. Given the seriousness of suffering, I conclude that creating infinitely many universes would be infinitely bad."

Re: Physicists To Test If Universe Is A Computer Simulation

#42

Post by darxius »

I've always been interested by this sort of stuff (as I'm sure several people are -- especially the HN audience). It always brings up a bunch of interesting questions:

- If we're self aware of the simulation, would we be able (or ever want to) reverse engineer the fabric of which makes up our sim?

- Would there be infinite simulations? How far _up_ does the rabbit hole go?

- Another idea, and this is reaching, would be to consider the motivation behind running simulations like these. Are the "controllers" running simulations to try and find solutions to problems they are facing? Of course, this is the stuff right out of Scifi movies.

Re: Physicists To Test If Universe Is A Computer Simulation

#43

Post by mahmud »

songgao wrote: post #27

Please don't `kill -9` me! I'm having fun in this simulated universe.

There is a Star Trek Voyager episode where three humanoids on a planet survived a natural disaster that destroyed their planet by going into stasis and having their brains stimulated by a computer simulation for over 19 years. In that time, the adaptive computer responded to their worst fears by turning the "fun" model world full of clowns and dancers into a circus nightmare. The virtual characters created to entertain the survivors turned into sinister clowns. The head clown, and the manifestation of fear itself, has full access to their brains and would adapt to circumvent any attempts by them to leave his world or terminate the stasis.

Re: Physicists To Test If Universe Is A Computer Simulation

#44

Post by hcarvalhoalves »

darxius wrote: post #42

I've always been interested by this sort of stuff (as I'm sure several people are -- especially the HN audience). It always brings up a bunch of interesting questions: - If we're self aware of the simulation, would we be able (or ever want to) reverse engineer the fabric of which makes up our sim? - Would there be infinite simulations? How far _up_ does the rabbit hole go? - Another idea, and this is reaching, would…

The problem with this theory (the universe is a simulation) is that it's a tautology. You cannot prove or disprove it, and for practical reasons it changes nothing if you assert it's true.

What is really being researched is whether the universe is computable, because that's something you can prove.

Re: Physicists To Test If Universe Is A Computer Simulation

#45

Post by pdog »

[deleted] wrote: post #36
kstenerud wrote: post #24

"The alternative - that we're the first civilisation, in the first universe - is virtually (no pun intended) absurd." As opposed to us simply being some other civilization on one of the other billions of habitable planets in that same "first" universe?

[deleted]

Then where are they?

Re: Physicists To Test If Universe Is A Computer Simulation

#48

Post by marblar »

benhamner wrote: post #12

If you're interested in going a bit deeper on this, Nick Bostrom ( http://nickbostrom.com/ ) has pulled together an intriguing case: http://www.simulation-argument.com/simulation.html A provoking question: if we found evidence that convinced us, beyond a reasonable doubt, that we were living in a computer simulation, would you change your behavior?

I wonder if we could devise an experiment to see if the world containing the computer was, itself, a simulation -ad infinitum.
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