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I think a more interesting question is: would it matter if it were?

joshualedbetter 6y ago
Imagine a robot trying to argue that it doesn't if they live in Westworld; I mean, the robot bar tender still has to tend bar. Imagine Truman trying to convince himself that it doesn't matter if he's in a TV show or not. Their arguments, no matter how clever, would be absurd when looking in from the outside. If there's a high probability that the simulation hypothesis is true, it seems clinically insane to believe that it doesn't matter.
- industriousthou 6y ago
  The thing is Truman and the characters in Westworld (I think, haven't seen it) are being manipulated to create a narrative. I we were in a simulation where the creator(s) were hands off, just letting it run its course, then I don't think it really matters. If, on the other hand, they're pulling strings and manipulating outcomes for whatever reason, then it seems like it matters a lot more. At least that's my intuition.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
  Let's assume the simulation hypothesis is true: our universe is a computer program. Now what? Do our lives suddenly cease to have meaning?
  - Teever 6y ago
    It's not a judgement on he meaning of your life it's a judgement on the authenticity of your life and the accuracy of your view of the world. Which view point is better -- one that believes in a flat earth or one that sees the world as spherical and all that this fact entails? A flat Earther can't put a rover on Mars but someone who knows that the world is round can. Imagine what a person who comes to understand that the world is a simulation could do.
    - AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
      What you're really arguing for is a deeper understanding of the universe. Whether the universe is a simulation or not is irrelevant.
tutfbhuf 6y ago
It depends on who you ask. I personally would like to have an answer to that question if it exists, but if it doesn't well that's okay too.
yourapostasy 6y ago
Absolutely. If we are in a simulation, then I want our species to eventually learn how to grab control of the developer console, use that to get information on the physics of the developer's world, use that to learn how to perform the equivalent of Drexlerian nanotech, wet-print ouselves out into the developer's world, and bootstrap into becoming "real", or finding out how far the turtles go from the developer's world. If it is a simulation, then I want to alter the damn rules to eliminate the scarcity we currently labor under.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
  > Absolutely. If we are in a simulation, then I want our species to [...] bootstrap into becoming "real" Why? Undoubtedly the world outside our own has its own problems, all of which are possibly utterly alien to us. > or finding out how far the turtles go from the developer's world. To what end? Why is the top-most reality more valuable? If it is merely a matter of having more to explore, well, there's still plenty of this universe left. > If it is a simulation, then I want to alter the damn rules to eliminate the scarcity we currently labor under. Fair enough, but if there's a way to do that it hardly matters if we're in a simulation or not. Any exploit we pull off may as well just be some quirk of physics from our perspective.
  - yourapostasy 6y ago
    > Why? Selfishly, I don't want our reality to be turned off. All other motivations follow from that, as intermediate steps to figure out how to break out and become more permanent. Even if I'm a consciousness inside a Boltzmann Brain near the heat death of the reality-actual, a hundred Sol years passing for every "second" of simulation "tick", I want help in whatever way I can on a solution to beat entropy. Not going gentle and all that...
- Cpoll 6y ago
  I remember reading a story about this: https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/166938/story-about-humanity-realizing-they-are-in-a-simulation https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/166938/story-about...

Imagine a robot trying to argue that it doesn't if they live in Westworld; I mean, the robot bar tender still has to tend bar. Imagine Truman trying to convince himself that it doesn't matter if he's in a TV show or not. Their arguments, no matter how clever, would be absurd when looking in from the outside. If there's a high probability that the simulation hypothesis is true, it seems clinically insane to believe that it doesn't matter.

industriousthou 6y ago
The thing is Truman and the characters in Westworld (I think, haven't seen it) are being manipulated to create a narrative. I we were in a simulation where the creator(s) were hands off, just letting it run its course, then I don't think it really matters. If, on the other hand, they're pulling strings and manipulating outcomes for whatever reason, then it seems like it matters a lot more. At least that's my intuition.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
Let's assume the simulation hypothesis is true: our universe is a computer program. Now what? Do our lives suddenly cease to have meaning?
- Teever 6y ago
  It's not a judgement on he meaning of your life it's a judgement on the authenticity of your life and the accuracy of your view of the world. Which view point is better -- one that believes in a flat earth or one that sees the world as spherical and all that this fact entails? A flat Earther can't put a rover on Mars but someone who knows that the world is round can. Imagine what a person who comes to understand that the world is a simulation could do.
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
    What you're really arguing for is a deeper understanding of the universe. Whether the universe is a simulation or not is irrelevant.

tutfbhuf 6y ago

It depends on who you ask. I personally would like to have an answer to that question if it exists, but if it doesn't well that's okay too.

yourapostasy 6y ago

Absolutely. If we are in a simulation, then I want our species to eventually learn how to grab control of the developer console, use that to get information on the physics of the developer's world, use that to learn how to perform the equivalent of Drexlerian nanotech, wet-print ouselves out into the developer's world, and bootstrap into becoming "real", or finding out how far the turtles go from the developer's world. If it is a simulation, then I want to alter the damn rules to eliminate the scarcity we currently labor under.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
> Absolutely. If we are in a simulation, then I want our species to [...] bootstrap into becoming "real" Why? Undoubtedly the world outside our own has its own problems, all of which are possibly utterly alien to us. > or finding out how far the turtles go from the developer's world. To what end? Why is the top-most reality more valuable? If it is merely a matter of having more to explore, well, there's still plenty of this universe left. > If it is a simulation, then I want to alter the damn rules to eliminate the scarcity we currently labor under. Fair enough, but if there's a way to do that it hardly matters if we're in a simulation or not. Any exploit we pull off may as well just be some quirk of physics from our perspective.
- yourapostasy 6y ago
  > Why? Selfishly, I don't want our reality to be turned off. All other motivations follow from that, as intermediate steps to figure out how to break out and become more permanent. Even if I'm a consciousness inside a Boltzmann Brain near the heat death of the reality-actual, a hundred Sol years passing for every "second" of simulation "tick", I want help in whatever way I can on a solution to beat entropy. Not going gentle and all that...
Cpoll 6y ago
I remember reading a story about this: https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/166938/story-about-humanity-realizing-they-are-in-a-simulation https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/166938/story-about...