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How likely would it be that the Universe is an instance of some recent technology that humans created?
by rendall 3y ago
How likely would it be that the Universe is an instance of some recent technology that humans created?
- junon 3y agoThis makes no sense whatsoever.
- rendall 3y agoI've seen articles speculating that the Universe is a computer, a simulation, and a hologram. There are serious scholarly speculations that the Universe is a clock, a machine, or a book.
- AtlasBarfed 3y agoThat statement (the universe, which is what we seemingly evolved and grew in, was created by ... us? we are our own creator?) is so circular and illogical that it is actually ingenious. Like humans existed in some other existence, but we were going to get Gnab Gib'd, so we ensured that the next universe would inevitably rise to precisely recreate us through a convoluted 4 billion year evolutionary program in a tiny speck of dirt in one of billions of galaxies? It's like some convoluted anime/manga plotline that occurs in the final stages of a 10-15 year run. Or heck, like the infamous "Dallas" plot element from the 1980s: THE ENTIRE SERIES WAS JUST A DREAM. Or "Lost". It does seem that quantum mechanics hints at the universe being some bizarre gigantic n-dimensional computational matrix, but that's probably because of the discrete quantities and rigid math and things like hard orbits/energy level jumps which seem a lot like memory assignment or cellular automata.
- rendall 3y agoI want to object that the OP et. al. are not arguing that humans created the Universe, but, riding their argument to its logical extremes, that must be the argument. A quantum computer- or a simulation - is a technology that serves human needs and interests. Therefore, if the Universe were an instance of human technology, the Universe is created by humans QED. I suppose though that the OP would argue that these technologies would be universally useful, so to speak, and therefore not necessarily created by humans. Not a good argument, but it seems to be the underlying assumption.
- trey-jones 3y agoIf you consider that the latest human technology humans created is capable of spawning nearly infinite numbers of "simulated universes", then the probability that our universe is one of those "simulated universes" is nearly infinite! Or is it? This is a version of the Sleeping Beauty problem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_Beauty_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_Beauty_problem
- rendall 3y agoNo. A computer is no more capable of simulating a Universe than is a book. The same arguments apply to books: If a super advanced race were capable of writing such vivid fiction that it created a Universe, then our Universe must be fictional!! It's an absurd idea that has gotten way too much traction.
- FeepingCreature 3y agoThe laws of physics are computable; why would a sufficiently large computer not be capable of simulating a universe?
- rendall 3y agoYou make an unwarranted logical leap, there. Some laws of physics are computable given sufficient simplifying constraints. It does not follow that a large enough computer therefore can simulate the Universe.
- vidarh 3y agoYou're making the assumption that our universe 1) is the universe, 2) is as computationally complex as the universe, 3) that all, or any, of our universe exists outside of simulated minds, or a simulated mind, 4) that time passes and that we exist as more than a single moment with memories of a non-existent past. In other words, we have no basis for saying our universe exists, that we have physical existence, that anyone but ourselves exist, or that we exists in time.
- earthboundkid 3y agoOkay, it's not like a horse or an astroglobe or a steam engine, but c'mon, it's definitely like a computer.
- rendall 3y agoIn my view the Universe is as much a computer as it is a clock or steam engine. That is to say, it has a superficial, poetic resemblance, but is not actually one at all.
- tiborsaas 3y agoI'll bet on Star Citizen 3.0