3 ms·

Maybe not definitive proof, but interacting with other agents in your universe (I.E the rest of us) and sharing experiences could prove that the universe is big

Maybe not definitive proof, but interacting with other agents in your universe (I.E the rest of us) and sharing experiences could prove that the universe is bigger than just you and the words on your screen. Then you slowly start to realise that all of this activity on Earth could be happening on other planets elsewhere too. Then you observe the stars, and combined with the mental models/theories from our brightest physicists, you might conclude that the universe is really fucking big, and there must be a shitload of other Earths out there. But again, we can't really prove it concretely can we? For all you know, i'm an NPC and so is everyone else. You could the subject of an alien crackintro - where they try to simulate whole worlds in 100 bits or less.

mg 3y ago
You describe more than I can witness simultaneously. While I look at the shape of the 4 letters "Hello", I can't interact with other agents. I can't even imagine such an interaction without losing the full grasp of how the four chars look like. So I would say I don't know if anything else exists. Except of the 100 bits of information or so which I can witness.
- phantompeace 3y ago
  You trust your eyes to tell you what's in front of you?
  - mg 3y ago
    When I have the experience of seeing the shape of those 4 letters, I can't simultaneously reason about "eyes" or if there is something "in front" or if there is a "you" as you say. I just have an experience of a certain complexity, which I roughly estimate to be 100 bits or so of information.
- mensetmanusman 3y ago
  You would need a reason why the universe would create this existence illusion for itself (in the form of you).
AnimalMuppet 3y ago
I think it's much more pernicious than that. It's not just that everyone else might be an NPC, which is bad enough. (Why is it bad? If others are NPCs, what does that do to my ability to be emotionally and mentally intimate with them? To relate to them on a truly personal level? If my kids are NPCs, do I treat them like that? This idea, taken seriously, is horrible for interpersonal relationships.) But it's even worse. I might be an NPC. If so, I am just a machine, with no true personality of my own. No free will, either. This pushes me towards living like an NPC - just going through the motions, rather than actually living. Even though it doesn't actually kill me, it destroys life. This stuff isn't just an intellectual exercise. If you take it seriously, it can drain all the joy out of living.
- phantompeace 3y ago
  >This stuff isn't just an intellectual exercise. If you take it seriously, it can drain all the joy out of living. Fully agreed. I've been down this rabbit hole before. There's a fine line between the thought of us being different ways for God to experience things in this dimension, and the pure and utter delusion. It's so much easier to accept being human, along with all the limitations that may bring.

mg 3y ago

You describe more than I can witness simultaneously. While I look at the shape of the 4 letters "Hello", I can't interact with other agents. I can't even imagine such an interaction without losing the full grasp of how the four chars look like. So I would say I don't know if anything else exists. Except of the 100 bits of information or so which I can witness.

phantompeace 3y ago
You trust your eyes to tell you what's in front of you?
- mg 3y ago
  When I have the experience of seeing the shape of those 4 letters, I can't simultaneously reason about "eyes" or if there is something "in front" or if there is a "you" as you say. I just have an experience of a certain complexity, which I roughly estimate to be 100 bits or so of information.
mensetmanusman 3y ago
You would need a reason why the universe would create this existence illusion for itself (in the form of you).

AnimalMuppet 3y ago

I think it's much more pernicious than that. It's not just that everyone else might be an NPC, which is bad enough. (Why is it bad? If others are NPCs, what does that do to my ability to be emotionally and mentally intimate with them? To relate to them on a truly personal level? If my kids are NPCs, do I treat them like that? This idea, taken seriously, is horrible for interpersonal relationships.) But it's even worse. I might be an NPC. If so, I am just a machine, with no true personality of my own. No free will, either. This pushes me towards living like an NPC - just going through the motions, rather than actually living. Even though it doesn't actually kill me, it destroys life. This stuff isn't just an intellectual exercise. If you take it seriously, it can drain all the joy out of living.

phantompeace 3y ago
>This stuff isn't just an intellectual exercise. If you take it seriously, it can drain all the joy out of living. Fully agreed. I've been down this rabbit hole before. There's a fine line between the thought of us being different ways for God to experience things in this dimension, and the pure and utter delusion. It's so much easier to accept being human, along with all the limitations that may bring.