10 SIMULATE WORLD
20 GOTO 10
30 END 'BIG TROUBLE IF WE GET TO THIS LINE.
[QUOTE=John DiFool]
Didn’t someone point out once in an earlier similar thread that the number of bits of information needed to simulate this universe in its entirety would require a whole 'nother universe’s worth of information processing to do so? You could cut corners I guess (everything which any conscious agency inside the sim is not aware of ceases to exist-the old tree falls in the (virtual) forest concept.
[/QUOTE]
I’ve heard this argument from Daniel Dennett, but I don’t buy it. It assumes that the simulation mirrors the physical laws of the universe housing the simulation. Seems possible that this could not be the case, i.e. the universe housing the simulation could allow the type of processing necessary to simulate our universe.
[QUOTE=ChrisBooth12]
Is there anyway to prove we are not hooked up in a virtual world like the Matrix?
[/QUOTE]
To what or whom would you be “proving” it?
[QUOTE=Icerigger]
Computer, End program!..Still Here, I guess we have reality.
[/QUOTE]
… or a serious need of profound debugging 
Simple. If this were a simulation we would have better documentation.
Since it would appear that the factual answer to this question is “You can’t,” I’m going to move it to GD.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
[QUOTE=beowulff]
Unlike* The Thirteenth Floor *we can drive anywhere we want and not have the world become vectorized.
[/QUOTE]
Sure about that? I mean, you’ve driven everywhere?
Since all of you are merely characters in my dream, you can’t and since I am real, I don’t need to.
So easy when you are unbalanced.
It does matter! because when i watch porn i will always wonder if some guy is watching his sim watch porn…awkward
[QUOTE=ChrisBooth12]
It does matter! because when i watch porn i will always wonder if some guy is watching his sim watch porn…awkward
[/QUOTE]
I wouldn’t worry until you find yourself in a pool with mysteriously no ladders.
[QUOTE=Mr. Excellent]
I would suggest that this is the case - there’s no reason to expect that we will ever be able to successfully model human minds, let alone in the huge numbers that a world-simulation would require. Perhaps, someday, we’ll develop technologies “akin to magic” that give us the capabilities we’d need to become posthumans who enjoy running people-simulations. But there’s darned little evidence to suggest that this is possible.
[/QUOTE]
No? With today’s technology, we can model fairly sophisticated physical systems. As computers get more and more powerful, we could model every single neuron in a human brain. At that point, how is it different than modeling a human mind?
[QUOTE=Icerigger]
Computer, End program!..Still Here, I guess we have reality.
[/QUOTE]
Excellent, Mr. Data, it appears your ruse has worked. Icerigger is completely unaware he has been downloaded into a cube, where his holoprogram will run for centuries before running out of power.
[QUOTE=John DiFool]
You could cut corners I guess (everything which any conscious agency inside the sim is not aware of ceases to exist-the old tree falls in the (virtual) forest concept.
[/QUOTE]
This idea has always appealed to me. You get your explanation for the universe (we’re in a computer sim) and an explanation for quantum physics (it only simulates things being observed). Presto!
[QUOTE=Colibri]
Since it would appear that the factual answer to this question is “You can’t,” I’m going to move it to GD.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
[/QUOTE]
Why assume that? We’re not talking about a God who is trying to hide himself.
Imagine that you build a computer program that sets up initial conditions for life evolving, then let it run. Life evolves, becomes intelligent. Who’s to say it wouldn’t have the ability to determine that it is in a simulation?
Not that I think it’s likely that we actually do live in a simulation, but I don’t see it necessarily being true that it would be impossible to tell.
[QUOTE=Sam Stone]
Why assume that? We’re not talking about a God who is trying to hide himself.
[/quote]
No, but we are talking about a simulation of the entire visible universe, so to us at least it’s intended to seem like it’s not a computer program. And of course we can’t ever disprove that we’re in a simulation.
Sure it’s possible, but how? I can’t really think of an easy way, at least not without “outside” interference or obvious “bugs”.
Same goes for God.
Hmm, let me see;
boolprop testingcheatsenabled true
.
.
.
nothing, no major changes, lets try another test
motherlode
<checks bank balance> nope, no $50,000 increase in my account
so, no we can’t be living in a computer simulation, the cheatcodes don’t work
We are totally in a computer program. Look at the natural laws. They’re arbitrary, just like the arbirtary height to which Mario can jump in any specific state. Since the universe is constrained by artificial rules, surely the universe itself is artificial.
How would we be able to detect anything “unnatural” about our environment that would lead us to believe it’s a simulation? If it’s a simulation, we’ve been living in it for all of history. (Or we were simulated to believe that we have such a history in it; same thing, functionally.) None of its quirks will seem unnatural to us since we’re used to them.
[QUOTE=Mr. Excellent]
Prove? Absolutely? No. It’s a similar problem to asking us to disprove the existence of God - one cannot prove a negative…
[/QUOTE]
Because when I cuss, flame another human being or get naked, I don’t get erased or banned.
Also, yelling “Sysadmin!! SYSADMIN!!!11!!1” doesn’t seem to do anything.
I submit we’re not in a simulation because there have been sooooo many times when “command Z” would have been the ideal option and it hasn’t worked no matter how hard I thought it.