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Simulation hypothesis: Difference between revisions
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We call this the “Douglas Adams objection”: once we get hip to [[substate]] neutrality, isn’t the universe ''itself'' a giant computer? If so, what need of a simulation? Doesn’t a copy of the universe, doing what the universe is already doing by itself, fall rather foul of [[Occam’s razor]]? Have we just proved that life exists? If so, then I have some news, fellows: someone beat you to this splendid a priori idea by 400 years: [[Rene Descartes]]. Is not the simulation hypothesis another way of saying, “[[cogito, ergo sum]]”? | We call this the “Douglas Adams objection”: once we get hip to [[substate]] neutrality, isn’t the universe ''itself'' a giant computer? If so, what need of a simulation? Doesn’t a copy of the universe, doing what the universe is already doing by itself, fall rather foul of [[Occam’s razor]]? Have we just proved that life exists? If so, then I have some news, fellows: someone beat you to this splendid a priori idea by 400 years: [[Rene Descartes]]. Is not the simulation hypothesis another way of saying, “[[cogito, ergo sum]]”? | ||
{{quote|When the JC was a lad his Dad, Old Grumpy Contrarian, went snorkelling off a boat in the Ionian Sea. After a while the old man emerged, declaring triumphantly he had found an ancient anchor on the sea bed: a relic, no doubt of Siege of Troy, or | {{quote|When the JC was a lad his Dad, Old Grumpy Contrarian, went snorkelling off a boat in the Ionian Sea. After a while the old man emerged, declaring triumphantly he had found an ancient anchor on the sea bed: a relic, no doubt of Siege of Troy, or the Odyssey. The whole Contrarian family was very excited. T“here is a warp tied to it!” Grumpy exclaimed, excitedly disappearing below the waves with another colossal splash. Bravely he followed the anchor warp for twenty yards across the sea floor, until it rose up, into the warm upper waters, broke the surface and revealed itself to be — ''attached to the runner over the prow of his own boat''.}} | ||
===Real life meets the definition of “a computer simulation”, especially if you go [[substrate]] neutral=== | ===Real life meets the definition of “a computer simulation”, especially if you go [[substrate]] neutral=== | ||
For this to work, the simulation would not just have to be very good: it would need to be ''identical'' to real human sentience, in every respect.<ref>The paper makes some hand-wavy suggestions that reality can be skimped on at any level that a human wouldn’t observe or care about, but this seems a little — hand wavy.</ref> Any shortcuts would lead to potential variances, and as we know from our modern morality tales about, [[Butterfly effect|butterflies and rain forests]], [[jointed pendulum]]s and so on, any atomic variations in initial conditions have colossal, non-linear knock-on effects. | For this to work, the simulation would not just have to be very good: it would need to be ''identical'' to real human sentience, in every respect.<ref>The paper makes some hand-wavy suggestions that reality can be skimped on at any level that a human wouldn’t observe or care about, but this seems a little — hand wavy.</ref> Any shortcuts would lead to potential variances, and as we know from our modern morality tales about, [[Butterfly effect|butterflies and rain forests]], [[jointed pendulum]]s and so on, any atomic variations in initial conditions have colossal, non-linear knock-on effects. | ||