Is reality a computer simulation? Does it matter? • Hacker News Board

Re: Is reality a computer simulation? Does it matter?

#61

Post by tiatia » Fri, Nov 21, 2014, 4:13 AM UTC

squozzer wrote: post #15

The notion of simplification, which I hadn't considered, might explain - if testable - certain things such as Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, i.e. limiting the precision with which one can measure a particle's position or momentum would make it more difficult to discover the underlying true reality. I'm tempted to use Occam's Razor but probably can't because the simulation hypothesis assumes an intelligence creat…

I am not sure that Occams Razor speaks against it.

1. Reality can be simulated (to different degrees) 2. If realities can be simulated, it is more likely that you are living in a simulation than in the real world.

By the way, the "simulated" hypothesis is scientifically testable ("stacking" problem).

Re: Is reality a computer simulation? Does it matter?

#62

Post by tzs » Fri, Nov 21, 2014, 9:30 AM UTC

skywhopper wrote: post #25

These ideas may be fun to think about, but ultimately they're meaningless. It's certainly not a new idea that some being on another plane of existence brought our universe into being on a whim, and can modify the parameters of its existence at will. If that's so, it's highly unlikely we'll be able to poke any holes in it. Nor is there any reason to believe our memories or any of history is real. Maybe scientists have…

> If that's so, it's highly unlikely we'll be able to poke any holes in it. Nor is there any reason to believe our memories or any of history is real. Maybe scientists have poked holes in the simulation a million times, and each time, the supreme Code Monkey suspends the simulation, fixes the bug, and rolls back the state to before the hole was poked

I suggest you track down and read the Asimov short story "The Last Answer". I think you will enjoy it. It deals with a similar situation to what you describe, although not quite in the context of a universe simulation.

Re: Is reality a computer simulation? Does it matter?

#63

Post by ars » Fri, Nov 21, 2014, 9:54 AM UTC

blacksmith_tb wrote: post #8

Obviously this is a theme that has been explored in SF a fair amount (recent examples include Ken Macleod's The Restoration Game and Iain Banks' Surface Detail). One obvious problem is that it appears to be highly immoral to generate a simulation in which millions or billions of sentient beings suffer, which presumably would weigh heavier on a more advanced species (human or otherwise).

> One obvious problem is that it appears to be highly immoral to generate a simulation in which millions or billions of sentient beings suffer

If you had a computer program that printed "I'm suffering" on the screen, would you consider that real suffering? Or just a robot that doesn't actually feel anything, it just simulates it?

Or a game where your character is low on health points - is that game character really suffering?

To that other being we may be the same way. I internally "feel" real, but that being may not consider it so, and even if I tell them they may just be excited at how good their simulation is.

Re: Is reality a computer simulation? Does it matter?

#64

Post by bjackman » Fri, Nov 21, 2014, 12:43 PM UTC

If you're interested in this idea, here's a fun short story: http://qntm.org/responsibility

Also, Permutation City by Greg Egan is a good read.

Re: Is reality a computer simulation? Does it matter?

#65

Post by islon » Fri, Nov 21, 2014, 3:03 PM UTC

If our reality is a big simulated game I only wanted to have access to the developer console...

Re: Is reality a computer simulation? Does it matter?

#66

Post by sukruh » Fri, Nov 21, 2014, 3:19 PM UTC

> Simulating an entire Universe with sufficient detail to include conscious minds will be complex, even if the fundamental rules underlying the program are simple. It seems needlessly baroque to programme something as complicated as that, when you can learn just as much from something simpler.

Scientists and engineers use many-body simulations to investigate emergent properties of systems all the time. Not all understanding comes from first principles only.

Re: Is reality a computer simulation? Does it matter?

#67

Post by doktrin » Fri, Nov 21, 2014, 8:34 PM UTC

tehwalrus wrote: post #55

doktrin wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At which point, the question becomes, why not just observe the real universe? I don't think the 'why' is the right question to ponder. It's really a matter of 'if'. We lack the context to adequately answer 'why' one might decide to create a simulation of a universe. Any(one/thing) capable of putting such a simulation together is about as different from us as we are from bacteria. Therefore, considering motivation i…

> Is a simulated universe possible? If we accept that it is, then we also accept that we are most likely currently in one. I'm sorry, I never was one for philosophy. How does that follow?

The reasoning is essentially that if it's possible, then it's been done. If it's been done, then the odds that we are in the original universe become extremely low and the chance we are in one of the turtles-all-the-way-down simulations conversely high.