# How will the world reach to the world being a simulation?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-world-reach-to-the-world-being-a-simulation/668757
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [September 13, 2013, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-world-reach-to-the-world-being-a-simulation/668757 "2013-09-13T10:29:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2013, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-world-reach-to-the-world-being-a-simulation/668757/1 "2013-09-13T10:29:01Z")
What happens to society if it is proved that the world is a simulation? I should imagine that many would seriously consider what would be the point of it, if it is all merely a game in some computer. Would civilization break down?
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### Author:  [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2013, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-world-reach-to-the-world-being-a-simulation/668757/2 "2013-09-13T10:46:19Z")
> [@Rune](#):
>
> What happens to society if it is proved that the world is a simulation? I should imagine that many would seriously consider what would be the point of it, if it is all merely a game in some computer. Would civilization break down?
I have spent a long time contemplating this and have come to this conclusion:
Does it matter at all? I mean I am assuming here that I have proof that the universe is a simulation and also that I cannot exit said simulation or know what is “on the other side”. So everything still works as it always has, a simulated burrito does what it always has. Well then who cares? Everything is fake but it operates according to the rules I’ve learned my whole life, might as well keep at it.
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### Author:  [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2013, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-world-reach-to-the-world-being-a-simulation/668757/3 "2013-09-13T10:53:13Z")
The creator(s) of the simulation would FINALLY be able to publish the results of their 15-billion year experiment. Although I do rather hope they don’t switch it off.
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### Author:  [@BrokenBriton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrokenBriton)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2013, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-world-reach-to-the-world-being-a-simulation/668757/4 "2013-09-13T11:02:43Z")
It probably means all _this_ has more meaning and purpose than I have assumed.
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### Author:  [@GSV\_Consolation\_of\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GSV_Consolation_of_Dreams)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2013, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-world-reach-to-the-world-being-a-simulation/668757/5 "2013-09-13T11:05:54Z")
> [@Nancarrow](#):
>
> The creator(s) of the simulation would FINALLY be able to publish the results of their 15-billion year experiment. Although I do rather hope they don’t switch it off.
Or it could have been just a few minutes and all our memories were created too. If it gets switched off, we’d never know it. It could have been switched off and on any number of times already with us none the wiser.
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### Author:  [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2013, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-world-reach-to-the-world-being-a-simulation/668757/6 "2013-09-13T11:10:07Z")
I would suddenly become religious.
_“Hey, you, nerds! I know you can hear me! How about rendering some riches and hot chicks my way? Come on!”_
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2013, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-world-reach-to-the-world-being-a-simulation/668757/7 "2013-09-13T12:23:09Z")
I think a lot of people would have to ponder why this is being done and what are we really. Perhaps be on the lookout of signs of this being a simulation (which I believe I personally have seen - though I would not normally phrase it that way).
Also the question ‘what is next’ comes up. Are we just doomed to die in this simulation or is there a reason for our benefit. That question, and how people answer it may determine if society, or civilization will break down, change or perhaps build up to something better then we have now.
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### Author:  [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2013, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-world-reach-to-the-world-being-a-simulation/668757/8 "2013-09-13T13:39:35Z")
You’ve seen the Matrix, right? Well, like that only with more apathy and less action.
Seriously, if the designer of the simulation is worth his salt, he’ll reboot upon first clue that the program is crashing and ‘we’ll’ never know what happened.
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### Author:  [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2013, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-world-reach-to-the-world-being-a-simulation/668757/9 "2013-09-13T13:45:57Z")
Sales of red and blue pills will skyrocket.
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### Author:  [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2013, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-world-reach-to-the-world-being-a-simulation/668757/10 "2013-09-13T14:14:17Z")
What was that matrix quote that went something like - I know this steak is really just a bunch of ones and zeros. And I don’t care.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2013, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-world-reach-to-the-world-being-a-simulation/668757/11 "2013-09-13T14:23:17Z")
> [@Yllaria](#):
>
> What was that matrix quote that went something like - I know this steak is really just a bunch of ones and zeros. And I don’t care.
“You know, I know this steak doesn’t exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize?”
[Takes a bite of steak]
Cypher: "Ignorance is bliss. "
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2013, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-world-reach-to-the-world-being-a-simulation/668757/12 "2013-09-13T14:26:49Z")
Most of the religious will still deny reality.
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### Author:  [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2013, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-world-reach-to-the-world-being-a-simulation/668757/13 "2013-09-13T14:36:18Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> Most of the religious will still deny reality.
If the OPs scenario was reality - it would, for once, be the inverse of that.
Of course, the religious will still fight over the meaning of said reality, and nothing will really change.
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### Author:  [@Werekoala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Werekoala)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2013, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-world-reach-to-the-world-being-a-simulation/668757/14 "2013-09-13T15:53:58Z")
> [@kanicbird](#):
>
> I think a lot of people would have to ponder why this is being done and what are we really. Perhaps be on the lookout of signs of this being a simulation (which I believe I personally have seen - though I would not normally phrase it that way).
Care to expand on that?
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### Author:  [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2013, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-world-reach-to-the-world-being-a-simulation/668757/15 "2013-09-13T15:55:37Z")
> [@Werekoala](#):
>
> Care to expand on that?
Please - no - search for other posts by him for details -
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### Author:  [@Werekoala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Werekoala)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-world-reach-to-the-world-being-a-simulation/668757/16 "2013-09-13T16:04:02Z")
Ah, sorry, didn’t realize it was an issue.
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### Author:  [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2013, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-world-reach-to-the-world-being-a-simulation/668757/17 "2013-09-13T16:07:01Z")
> [@Werekoala](#):
>
> Ah, sorry, didn’t realize it was an issue.
its not so much an issue as it has been ‘beat to death’ in almost every thread that Lekatt participates in, and I personally would not like to see this get into another one of those debates.
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### Author:  [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2013, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-world-reach-to-the-world-being-a-simulation/668757/18 "2013-09-13T16:20:58Z")
[David Chalmers](http://consc.net/papers/matrix.html) is one of the few philosophers to have seriously engaged this issue (i.e. the very specific matrix-style computational one, rather than your more generic brain in a vat). Among his conclusions is, and I agree, that ultimately, what matters in life remains largely untouched. Whether the world is fundamentally ones and zeros or bosons and fermions, it’s clear that the meanings of things don’t lie at this fundamental level, just as the meaning of this paragraph does not reside in the letters constituting it: a list of n as, m bs, l cs and so on is a poor replacement, because of the missing structure that makes a piece of text—albeit in a fully reductionistically accountable way—be more than the sum of its parts.
In other words, steak does indeed taste just like steak, whether it’s code or quantum fields at the bottom.
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### Author:  [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-world-reach-to-the-world-being-a-simulation/668757/19 "2013-09-13T16:37:59Z")
Fascinating stuff here: [Brainstorming New Ways To Test If Cosmos Is One Big Computer Simulation](http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucedorminey/2013/06/28/brainstorming-new-ways-to-test-if-cosmos-is-one-big-computer-simulation/)
> [@](#):
>
> In a Philosophical Quarterly paper, philosophy professor Nick Bostrom at Oxford University in the U.K., posits that what we observe as our universe may in fact be a very advanced simulation designed by our distant progeny.
>
> “It could be an ancestor-simulation,” said Bostrom, “a simulation that aims to be a reasonably realistic rendition of the actual historical ancestors or close variations of the people creating the simulation.”
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### Author:  [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2013, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-world-reach-to-the-world-being-a-simulation/668757/20 "2013-09-13T16:44:36Z")
> [@runner pat](#):
>
> “You know, I know this steak doesn’t exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize?”
>
> [Takes a bite of steak]
>
> Cypher: "Ignorance is bliss. "
Thank You.
And if this is my great grandchildren running a history program, they can expect to be left out of my will.
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