What are your thoughts on the Simulation Hypothesis?

[Warrior]

In a nutshell the Simulation Hypothesis posits that as computing power increases our descendants can program an artificial world that looks, feels and seems as real as life itself. But isn't.

Its been quite a hot topic online for a while but has bubbled underground and spoken of in ways cryptic and in keeping with the times since the Bard wrote that "The world is a stage and a man has many roles" or words to that effect. Even before this Plato used the imagery of the Cave and how those within are locked into an artificial perspective as they create a world based on shadows and not the actual thing.

Most interesting was what happened to one who broke free of the Matrix, in that sense, and came back to try and tell the rest about what he'd witnessed. But thats another topic. Lets see what you happy happy joy joy people think of this perspective.

 

[Normal Human]

I think the word "hypothesis" in this case is not appropriately applied, and gives this idea an air of seriousness it doesn't really deserve.

How is this idea testable? How can it be framed in such a way that it could be seriously investigated? That it could generate actually testable propositions that could be either disproved or "failed to be" disproved (as is the basic criteria when designing "hypotheses" for scientific experiments).

Now, I don't believe in such concepts as "if it can't be tested via the scientific method then it's not real knowledge", or "if it can't be measured with our (so-called) objective instruments then it cannot exist". However, I think calling it a "hypothesis" in this case (as in, "simulation hypothesis") is entirely misleading. "Thought experiment", "conjecture", "highdea" all would be more accurate descriptors in my opinion.

 

[minor9]

Not to be taken seriously. It’s an idea born of a culture addicted to computers and video games.

 

[EnergeticLeo]

In a nutshell the Simulation Hypothesis posits that as computing power increases our descendants can program an artificial world that looks, feels and seems as real as life itself. But isn't.

Its been quite a hot topic online for a while but has bubbled underground and spoken of in ways cryptic and in keeping with the times since the Bard wrote that "The world is a stage and a man has many roles" or words to that effect. Even before this Plato used the imagery of the Cave and how those within are locked into an artificial perspective as they create a world based on shadows and not the actual thing.

Most interesting was what happened to one who broke free of the Matrix, in that sense, and came back to try and tell the rest about what he'd witnessed. But thats another topic. Lets see what you happy happy joy joy people think of this perspective.

Peat has got me thinking about how computers, based on digital on-off signals, are a very crude way to model reality, which is continuous in nature. I'm not sure you can simulate reality with anything but a continuous system. I guess with more computing power you can get closer to a convincing simulation, but it may never truly feel real, unless the participants are extremely sick and lacking in ability to perceive.

 

[Warrior]

unless the participants are extremely sick and lacking in ability to perceive.

How much of the world do you feel that statement accurately describes? I could trot out a percentage but you can probably guess what it is based on previous comments. Also, what is "real"?

When you're within the grip of a dream - a process, BTW, makes very little evolutionary sense and is actually detrimental to the survival of a carbon based lifeform and yet oh so essential - it all seems so "real", even if the premise and actions are ludicrous. Its only when you rise to another frame of consciousness, a higher state of awareness with a greater point of reference aka the persistent illusion of embodiment that you see with a broader lens. That in itself is a hint of the holographic process I call the Game of Souls.

Or, as every child sings when stepping into this realm without truly grasping the implications:

Row, row, row the boat of your flesh, Gently down the stream of consciousness, Merrily, verily or scarily, Life is but a dream within a dream.

Or words to that equivalent.. The hero with many faces. That which never changes but is also never the same as it slides through the 4th dimension which is as invisible to it as water is to a fish.

 

[Warrior]

Its interesting what people take as gospel with no direct proof or perception. Like this being a dead rock billions of years old that is suspended in a vacuum as it chases a fireball where one thing just happened to leap to the next so you can sit here pondering this text via the tech we've got whilst an array of interconnected systems generate your consciousness which is powerful enough to create the observer effect, ponder spooky action at a distance and think about the question of existence.

That in and of itself should offer an immense hint to anyone who ponders the nature of it all because it all unfolds due to the presence of a Witness without which there is nothing. Like a tree falling in a forest etc etc...

Ready, Player One? Or are all your base belong to them?

 

[bloooeh]

Sometimes you have to wonder why they make these shows and movies related to simulation? Is there truth in fiction? Truth is found in parables in NT, correct?... First Matrix movie was released spring of 1999, I wonder whats the significance behind it? Here are 4 fiction movies/shows related to simulation or the simulacrum:
1899
Bladerunner 2049
Oblivion
His Dark Materials

 

[Warrior]

First Matrix movie was released spring of 1999, I wonder whats the significance behind it?

Absolutely. I've been talking about this since the 90s and back then people thought the concept was crazy. 1999 comes and bang, now people say "Ohh, you must have seen The Matrix. Yeah, good movie". Back to click-whirr living without thinking.

What I feel the case is is that there are certain times of mass awakening potential and they use movies which present truth as fiction to defuse the spark within that could change everything. Its actually quite a deep topic because not for nothing are movies fake yet come on "reels", feel me?

 

[Brundle]

Living in a 1999 reality doesn't look quite so bad, considering everything that happened afterwards. It seems like a fairly benign year.

 

[Warrior]

doesn't look quite so bad

Would you pick the appearance of a false heaven in what was an actual hell, if given the option?