Are we living in a Simulation?

[BelindaN]

During lockdown,  You Tube is my companion.

It seems that there is a growing mindset that reality is likely to be a simulation. If you haven't come across this theory, just search for "Are we living in a Simulation". The basic theory is that before long, VR will be indistinguishable from reality. So a super advanced civilisation would have the ability to create what we see as a recreational VR. There's a lot more to this, and a lot of academic speak, but since we are using SL as a recreational VR, it's an interesting conundrum to discuss?

Stay on topic please if thats possible.😜

[Rowan Amore]

4 minutes ago, BelindaN said:

During lockdown,  You Tube is my companion.

It seems that there is a growing mindset that reality is likely to be a simulation. If you haven't come across this theory, just search for "Are we living in a Simulation". The basic theory is that before long, VR will be indistinguishable from reality. So a super advanced civilisation would have the ability to create what we see as a recreational VR. There's a lot more to this, and a lot of academic speak, but since we are using SL as a recreational VR, it's an interesting conundrum to discuss?

Stay on topic please if thats possible.😜

This made me think of The Truman Show.

[Amina Sopwith]

If it is, I really really want a reboot. 

[FairreLilette]

24 minutes ago, BelindaN said:

The basic theory is that before long, VR will be indistinguishable from reality.

This was said about video games also when my step-daughter was growing up but she knew what was real and what was not real as did her friends.

I read a bit about what you suggested to read in your OP and it's way weird.  Other theories are that some kind of "creator" has made us and is simulating things around us rather than just the stars and galaxies existing simply because that is how they are and not via some "creator" making stuff up.  It's a pretty in-depth study.  Articles also suggest that beings other than earthlings are simulating "us", homo sapiens, but the article further went on to say...why us?  There doesn't seem to be an explanation as to why it would pick homo sapiens nor what is so special that an outer space type of being would pick us.  

[KT Kingsley]

Just because something is a digital construct doesn't mean it's a simulation.

Also, we create a simulation of reality in our minds and try to exist within that frame, with greater or lesser degrees of success. And as we're all probably well aware, one person's simulation of reality can be quite different to another's. So yes, we are living in a simulation, albeit one of our own making.

Edited January 24, 2021 by KT Kingsley

[Horus Salubrius]

Reality, what a concept ! 

Anyway .. we are all in the matrix.

[lucagrabacr]

It is more likely than not that we're living in a simulation c= but existence is existence and sentience is sentience so it doesn't matter, plus no civilization or sentient being can tell whether or not their plane of reality is truly the "first" anyway, so that makes it even more of a moot point, and virtual simulation is where every civilization or sentience will lead to anyway since it's more efficient and serve the purpose of existence by the logic of existential reasoning better

Edited January 24, 2021 by lucagrabacr
typo

[Rolig Loon]

11 minutes ago, lucagrabacr said:

It is more likely than not that we're living in a simulation

I doubt that there's any way to tell whether it's "likely" or not, but this part

12 minutes ago, lucagrabacr said:

existence is existence and sentience is sentience so it doesn't matter

is right on target.  Reality only extends as far as our biased perception of the universe. If there's more out there beyond what we can detect -- another dimension beyond the fish  bowl -- it really doesn't matter except as a realm for our imagination.  As long as our perceived world is self-consistent and appears closed, anything else is pure speculation.

[lucagrabacr]

12 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

I doubt that there's any way to tell whether it's "likely" or not, but this part

is right on target.  Reality only extends as far as our biased perception of the universe. If there's more out there beyond what we can detect -- another dimension beyond the fish  bowl -- it really doesn't matter except as a realm for our imagination.  As long as our perceived world is self-consistent and appears closed, anything else is pure speculation.

It is more likely because we understand now that the essence of existence and by extension the building blocks of consciousness is information, which can be digitalized and or virtualized through any other mean of virtualization to achieve more preferable existential arrangements more efficiently, thus it is more likely that our own physical reality is one since that's the direction any civilization is most likely and logically heading toward the longer they exist, and the more advanced they are

Spatiality shouldn't be the pivoting point of how we perceive this as well, there's really no beyond or outside as these are all really meta-spatial and metaphysical constructs if the simulation hypothesis is correct and any such boundary should be arbitrary container of dataset then much like our consciousness or sense of self / individualism itself c=   

[Ceka Cianci]

I am always messing with the youtube algorithm, otherwise it will close me into only certain content rather than throwing more random things at me..

I don't see myself living in a simulation, but instead on a petri dish in a universe of petri dishes, which that universe itself could be in a petri dish of universes in a petri dish of what ever comes after that and so on.

I just don't think humans are as significant in the big picture as we'd like to think we are.. Our timeline is not even a blip on the radar of the earths timeline, let alone the universes..

I see us as a virus or disease that has infected the universe more than anything.. Look at our timeline and how we devour this place and everything in it that we need to survive in such a short amount of time.. Then coming to the realization that one day we are going to need to spread and infect other dishes in order to keep our self alive.

Honestly, I think it's really easy to get sucked up into technology, just like I got sucked up into religion or like i just did with a sort of biostronomy.. hehehe

I just think we are another organism no more special than any other organism on the planet or on the other planets that have them, to have that much attention paid..

I think the curse of our intelligence is, it makes us feel we are much more special than we are. That or it is a population control mechanism or something..

See, I just woke up and now you have me doing all this thinking N stuff without having my Tea!! \o/ I may never get off this roller coaster now, Thank you!

 

hehehe

[Madelaine McMasters]

5 hours ago, BelindaN said:

The basic theory is that before long, VR will be indistinguishable from reality.

That theory has been around since I was a teen. It's our generation's promise of flying cars, or fusion power.

2 hours ago, lucagrabacr said:

It is more likely than not that we're living in a simulation

Evidence please?

[animats]

Probably not. There's too much space and too much unnecessary fine detail at the subatomic level.

[KT Kingsley]

2 hours ago, Rolig Loon said:

I doubt that there's any way to tell whether it's "likely" or not

First, ask the question "Is it possible to simulate a universe?"

If the answer is yes, then it follows that it's possible to simulate many universes. And in each of those many simulated universes it's possible to simulate many more universes, and so on, ad infinitum. Hence the simulated universes vastly outnumber the real ones, and thus the probability is that our universe is one of the simulations.

1 minute ago, animats said:

Probably not. There's too much space and too much unnecessary fine detail at the subatomic level.

You only need the fine detail when it's being observed.

[animats]

2 minutes ago, KT Kingsley said:

You only need the fine detail when it's being observed.

If the simulation cheats like that, there will be artifacts. Although, if you're inside, and can't detect simulation time being slowed down while something coming into view is fast-forwarded to catch up...

[Maryanne Solo]

I've always been of the Petri - Petri - Petri - dish, Babush, Babush, Babushka Dolls mindset,
but never heard anyone else express a similar sentiment.

Yay! 😄

[Jordyn McGregor]

I just wanna know who keeps watching pimple popping youtubes so they end up being on my "recommended for you" list!!!!

[Eggy UwU]

we aren't living in the simulation, we are the simulation.

[LittleMe Jewell]

6 hours ago, Amina Sopwith said:

If it is, I really really want a reboot. 

This ^^^     Totally this.

[Bree Giffen]

I wouldn't push the simulation theory to anyone. Why? Because if we are all a simulation then all life no longer matters. People will start killing like they did back in pre-biblical times. It's like how the intellectual marxists pushed their theory of communism until it became widely popular and then the communists killed all of the intellectual marxists. You know there is a large segment of humanity that is bone headed. Truly, deeply bone headed. They will kill all of us if they accept simulation theory. 

[Ardy Lay]

I doubt it.

[KT Kingsley]

1 hour ago, animats said:

If the simulation cheats like that, there will be artifacts. Although, if you're inside, and can't detect simulation time being slowed down while something coming into view is fast-forwarded to catch up...

Perhaps you've just explained dark matter and dark energy.

[lucagrabacr]

3 hours ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

Evidence please?

Our thoughts are a form of simulation, which is the most ancient proof we have that virtualization in principle is possible. A virtual existence is the most feasible, efficient and therefore likeliest route any civilization would take to fulfill the fundamental purpose of existence based on existential reasoning

A "simulation" really is a redundant term in the broader sense and definition of existence itself, it's a useful derivative pointer to determine certain paths of sequence and arbitrary boundaries of certain datasets which encapsulate an existence or consciousness, but that's about it as all there is but the same other than some high-level formative differences

In the modern days, we have computers which provide further proof beyond the confine of our mind that virtualization is possible

Once we understand those fundamental nature of existence, the self and consciousness which are fluidic constructs of combinatorial constants, we should see how these are self-evident truths

I'm writing a book for Virtual Existence Society right now which consolidate and solidify our teachings which incorporate these elements of existential philosophy, and hopefully can communicate these understandings better, and also be used by our members as a teaching guide or directive

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

This notion has been exploited extensively in the Rick & Morty episode 'The Ricks Must Be Crazy', in which he designs an entire universe that fits in his car battery to provide him with energy. When his car breaks down, he descends into the simulation ('the microverse') to discover that one of the creatures living inside has also created a universe from which he can tap energy. Needless to say, they go into that mini-mini-universe ('the miniverse') too and then into the 'teenieverse', in a very Inception-like manner.

 

4 hours ago, animats said:

Probably not. There's too much space and too much unnecessary fine detail at the subatomic level.

'Too much waste of space' is a very meager argument. What if this space is not a waste, but a necessity to maintain perfect conditions for life? If space were smaller, the frequency of meteor or other impacts, or gamma ray bursts or gravitational disturbances might be too high.

One might argue that mopeds can't have been designed by intelligent beings, because they are unnecessarily noisy and too stinky.

Besides, this paper has better-sounding arguments for us being in a sim:

Quote

 

A technologically mature “posthuman” civilization would have enormous computing power. Based on this empirical fact, the simulation argument shows that at least one of the following propositions is true: (1) The fraction of human-level civilizations that reach a posthuman stage is very close to zero; (2) The fraction of posthuman civilizations that are interested in running ancestor-simulations is very close to zero; (3) The fraction of all people with our kind of experiences that are living in a simulation is very close to one.

If (1) is true, then we will almost certainly go extinct before reaching posthumanity. If (2) is true, then there must be a strong convergence among the courses of advanced civilizations so that virtually none contains any relatively wealthy individuals who desire to run ancestor-simulations and are free to do so. If (3) is true, then we almost certainly live in a simulation. In the dark forest of our current ignorance, it seems sensible to apportion one’s credence roughly evenly between (1), (2), and (3).

Unless we are now living in a simulation, our descendants will almost certainly never run an ancestor-simulation.

 

https://www.simulation-argument.com/simulation.html

Edited January 24, 2021 by Arduenn Schwartzman

[Anna Nova]

I've always thought it was God making reality more complex at exactly the right rate to stop scientists getting bored.  It's really a loving thing.

[Love Zhaoying]

Crappiest. Simulation. Ever.