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ROY JOHNSTONE wrote on September 15, 2009
The problem I have with virtual reality/computer simulation hypotheses is that, to me, they inevitably lead, almost paradoxically, to an infinite regress of simulator/programmer. By this I mean that, if we say it is possible for a sufficiently powerful computer/virtual reality machine to run *our* simulated reality so that there is no way we could falsify it, then how could the "simulators" falsify their own "reality" being a higher level simulation? And so on up the heirarchy? It's a bit like,...
GEORGINA PARRY wrote on February 27, 2009
The subjective reality that we all inhabit is created by each individuals brain from the input it has received and processed. Everything that is seen is generated internally by the organism and sent to the conscious mind, with the information that it exists externally.
Since the reality we inhabit is already a biologically generated simulation,if the input is good enough the virtual reality is experienced as real and therefore is real.
The reality could be said to be an...
ALEX BOWDEN wrote on March 21, 2008
The article comments on our not being able to prove we are not in a simulation, but don’t really talk about looking evidence that we might be.
There is a comments about drifts of fundamental constants - but really, so what.
But it never really ask the question,
“If we were simulating a universe, and machine resource was an issue, then what sort of computational tricks would we use and how might their effect be observable?”
The first thing we did...
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