46 replies to this topic

[TheDarkEnergy]

You have seen the matrix, you have played the Sims, does it ever occurred to your mind that reality, as we know it could be simulated? All of us could be just a computer generated piece of code which is being rendered as a part of a social experiment, or for the entertainment of someone far advanced in technology?

Our computer game characters have little bit of artificial intelligence. Could it be the case that a superhuman computer with superhuman processing power is running an incredibly detailed simulation where the artificial intelligence is so advanced that we, the simulated characters have actually gained consciousness?  

I have tried to find research works on this. How do we know whether the universe we know is simulated or not? Here are some similarities between a computer program and our universe.

1. Every computer program has its limit. I.e. how fast calculations can happen. For example a 1GHz processor cannot process a bit of information faster than 1 billionth of a second. Our universe has a minimum time span too. It’s called plank time. It’s not possible for any event in our universe to occur in less than 1 plank time unit.

2. Most computer program uses some fixed valued static variables. for example if you want to calculate your yearly salary, you need to multiply your monthly salary with 12. so 12 being the fixed value variable here because we have 12 months in a year. Our universe has many such fixed valued constants. Like the speed of light, the lowest temperature of the universe-absolute zero etc.

3. A computer running a program will have two separate set of logics. The computer hardware and the microprocessors have logic of operation which is governed by principle of electronics. and there is the coded software where the logic is handmade, inside the software the logic is governed by the programming. And these two separate logics do not have any similarities with each other. Our universe behaves the same way. The large body objects in the universe follows Newtonian physics which is perfectly predictable like the software. on the other hand, in the sub atomic level, the universe follows the quantum mechanics principle which does not match with Newtonian physics at all.

4. When a computer simulation starts, before that the objects inside the simulations do not exist. Similarly before big bang, matter and time did not exist. They suddenly appeared in the universe out of nowhere after the big bang.

5. Every simulation has weird bugs. Does our universe have bugs? Not sure about that, but there are lots of unpredictable and unexplained behavior noticed in the kingdom of quantum physics. Like light can behave like both particle and wave, Quantum entanglement can leak data between objects even without physical contact of any kind; sub atomic particles can appear simultaneously in more than one location and disappear.

6. In a simulation the best way to save computer resource is not to render the areas where user is not observing at any given moment. Our universe works the same way. The famous double slit experiment shows this. One single electron flows through two slits simultaneously to create interference pattern in the photographic film. but when a detector is placed to track the electrons, magically they start to flow through only one slit at a time. as if events in the universe are changed when a observer is present.

7. In a simulation, an object cannot be smaller than 1 pixel. Because it's the smallest thing a computer will render. Our universe has a length limit too. It’s called plank length. Anything goes smaller than plank length and it won’t exist anymore.

8.  A computer program is a set of logic, which is executed in the microprocessor level as a basic set of mathematical calculation. So at the tiniest level, software is mathematics. Our universe is governed by physics, which is mathematics as well. How? Look at all the formulas of physics. For example E=mc^2. Which mean Energy is equal to mass multiplied by speed of light’s square. All the entities are bounded with pure mathematics at the tiniest level of physics too. Mathematics rule the universe.

So the matrix could be more than just a movie you see!

[Hippycrite]

"The Connection Has Timed"  Try Again.

[Hasina]

[The Mule]

No

[Hilander]

No, its all too real.

[Super-Fly]

Was expecting david icke links in there.

LOL.

Thanks,

[notoverrated]

idk maybe.

[Khrono]

It is absolutely possible. With Moores law in effect, we will have the technological capabilities to within 50 years create a simulated world with artificial intelligence that will for all intensive purposes be indistinguishable from human intelligence. Will these "programs" gain sentience? Self awareness? That is the question, the math suggests they will. They wouldn't even be aware of our existence or the reality that exists outside their simulation, unless we allowed them to. Any person who flatly discounts this possibility is commiting a philosophical fallacy...in otherwords, your logic is flawed.. In order to discount this possibility one must infer that they have a deeper understand of the nature of reality than is currently possible within our limited capabilities.

Edited by Khrono, 30 September 2012 - 02:02 AM.

[The_Spirit_of_Truth]

Thank you for your interesting post. Your thought has some good points.

Apart from the clear reality that we are experiencing here, we are also a kind of a simulation or play of someone much greater than we are. This is somewhat valid from the viewpoint of God and GreatCreator, from the viewpoint of all the Highest Beings who can see all the events in the Time Dimension.

There is running the time in it and everything is 100% predestined. We are only gradually experiencing the story and/or our future existing there. The story must exist two times at the same time. One time in the Time Dimension and other time in the corresponding matter.

But years ago I was wondering about a possibility to save someone's soul if it was completely destroyed. For if it did not found itself in the corresponding world, perhaps it could be transferred (copied and so make new again) from the Time Dimension back into the corresponding world. But if this happened, this story of the transfer would have to be recorded in the Time Dimension in advance and it had to be a part of all the predestined events going in it.

[StarMountainKid]

This subject has been kicked around here several times, but the OP is a very good presentation of the idea, in my opinion. I think it's a valid possibility.
Here's an interesting article, if anyone wishes to read more about the subject.
http://www.bottomlay.../Argument4.html

I'm wondering, if the universe is a simulation, is there is any way to discover this?  Being inside the simulation, perhaps not. However, maybe the programmers left their signature somewhere. Some day we might find a copyright notice or a brand name imbedded in some future mathematical equation.

This may not be a silly as it sounds. Perhaps the programmers want an intellectually advanced species to discover this for some reason. Maybe to communicate directly with that species. Who knows?

Another similar idea is the Holographic Universe theory.  The universe may be a projected hologram created by some superior beings. Why they would do this to us is a question only they can answer.

Edited by StarMountainKid, 30 September 2012 - 03:37 AM.

[Hasina]

My question is, and it's not to ruin the topic anything but a actual question that I'd like opinions on, does it change anything about how we should live or care about our place in the universe? Is it just a program running and we're just by products, or are we the main component, cause it seems like a pretty big 'program' just focusing on us.

[Alienated Being]

That sounds like something that a schizophrenic would say.

[Darkwind]

If we are I want to reboot.

[notoverrated]

Hasina, on 30 September 2012 - 03:22 AM, said:

My question is, and it's not to ruin the topic anything but a actual question that I'd like opinions on, does it change anything about how we should live or care about our place in the universe? Is it just a program running and we're just by products, or are we the main component, cause it seems like a pretty big 'program' just focusing on us.

i dont think anything is a byproduct but we defiantly are not the focus of the program, im not sure how computers work anything but cant we just be part of the main system like everything else? idk maybe we are set up like UM is with users and crap.

[Hasina]

Makes me think of the Bionicle storyline.