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What if 90% of the populace retreats into simulations, but in such a way that the remaining 10% have no political power and no industrial base, because that all
by Mediterraneo10 5y ago
What if 90% of the populace retreats into simulations, but in such a way that the remaining 10% have no political power and no industrial base, because that all remained with the majority? Hard for the non-uploaders to expand in that case.
- varjag 5y agoIt's hard to command control over the physical reality when you are willingly absent from it.
- autosharp 5y agoIs what a chimpanzee might think of the white house.
- varjag 5y agoOr what rest of the world been thinking of the White House. Point stands.
- z3ncyberpunk 5y agoIs what a delusional megalomaniac who out themselves in a matrix might think, just like the president. You seriously have to be a delusional megalomaniac to head the runaway train that is the presidency. Any power gained inside that matrix is disconnected and invalid from any reality and will never be willfully accepted. The only means of control is through perpetual authoritarian violence
- Swenrekcah 5y agoPOTUS himself may be absent from Africa but not from physical reality, and the physically real resources under their command certainly aren’t absent from the various corners of the world.
- thaumasiotes 5y agoI don't understand your argument. How much control do you think the White House exercises over chimpanzees? Your hypothetical chimpanzee is completely correct.
- sidlls 5y agoThat's quite contrived in my opinion. How can people uploaded into a simulation maintain that level of control in the physical world for any durable period?
- Mediterraneo10 5y agoThey have to keep up all the computing infrastructure running the simulation, and deal with long-term threats like geological activity and asteroids. That requires having and maintaining considerable technology out in the real world, and if only a mere 10% refuse to enter the simulation, then that minority may not get to benefit from spacefaring technology, or have the capital or industrial base to develop their own. In fact, since spacefaring presents a threat (kinetic bombardment) to any planetary-bound species, then that majority who choose to enter the simulation may want to expressly prevent the minority from leaving the planet.
- mordymoop 5y agoThis is obviously not impossible, but we are now in the realm of adding clauses to an already rather specific scenario, each clause adding another degree of improbability. (The odds of "an upload cult arises on a planet" is by definition greater than "an upload cult arises on a planet AND actively presents anybody else on the planet from ever leaving.) I think the metaphor to look to isn't necessarily even human civilizations spreading around the globe; it's life spreading through the planet to colonize every niche out of which the slightest scrap of energy can be extracted.
- z3ncyberpunk 5y agoThat's their problem, those who did not Matrix themselves are not beholden to those who gave away their lives without force, but since they are virtual, they have none and exist where the 10% can pull their plug at any time. You out too much faith in virtual existence
- DocTomoe 5y agoWouldn't it be a lot easier for the non-uploaders to, you know, just pull the plug? Or change the input to the digital existances in a way to simulate a reality "outside"?