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I suspect that the best response to this question is not yes or no, but rather "Who cares?" It's in a similar class to "Can you prove that the Universe wasn't

I suspect that the best response to this question is not yes or no, but rather "Who cares?" It's in a similar class to "Can you prove that the Universe wasn't created by an invisible pink unicorn?" Well, no, I can't. But when I go to my grave, this inadequacy won't be at the top of my list of concerns.

presidentender 17y ago
In the same discussion on Slashdot years ago, one user insisted that the possibility of living in a simulation was the most horrific thing he could imagine, because someone could just pull the plug. Nobody managed to convince him that this was any less horrifying than, say, the possibility of the sun going nova, or being killed in a plane crash. But, if the simulation is "airtight," you're exactly right. This possibility does not color our behavior one bit. The only possible distinction I could see would be that interesting behavior might get your state saved for a future run of the simulation; the problem is that "interesting behavior" is impossible to determine.
- logicalmind 17y ago
  I think it does color our behavior if we are able to produce such a simulation. If at some point in the future we are able to produce a simulation such as this don't you think our behavior would change in that we would acknowledge the possibility of ourselves being in such a simulation?
  - presidentender 17y ago
    We already acknowledged the possibility. Our production of a simulation in no way affects the possibility that we're in one now.
logicalmind 17y ago
The premise is falsifiable given enough time. Do you think we will ever be able to create artificial intelligence equivalent to a human being? If we accomplish that, do you think you simulate a world for these AI beings to live? Do you think these beings living in this simulated world would know they are in a simulated world? It's fine to think that we will never produce such AI and/or simulations. But to compare it to something that is not falsifiable is a different thing, in my mind.

presidentender 17y ago

In the same discussion on Slashdot years ago, one user insisted that the possibility of living in a simulation was the most horrific thing he could imagine, because someone could just pull the plug. Nobody managed to convince him that this was any less horrifying than, say, the possibility of the sun going nova, or being killed in a plane crash. But, if the simulation is "airtight," you're exactly right. This possibility does not color our behavior one bit. The only possible distinction I could see would be that interesting behavior might get your state saved for a future run of the simulation; the problem is that "interesting behavior" is impossible to determine.

logicalmind 17y ago
I think it does color our behavior if we are able to produce such a simulation. If at some point in the future we are able to produce a simulation such as this don't you think our behavior would change in that we would acknowledge the possibility of ourselves being in such a simulation?
- presidentender 17y ago
  We already acknowledged the possibility. Our production of a simulation in no way affects the possibility that we're in one now.

logicalmind 17y ago

The premise is falsifiable given enough time. Do you think we will ever be able to create artificial intelligence equivalent to a human being? If we accomplish that, do you think you simulate a world for these AI beings to live? Do you think these beings living in this simulated world would know they are in a simulated world? It's fine to think that we will never produce such AI and/or simulations. But to compare it to something that is not falsifiable is a different thing, in my mind.