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[Poll] Are we living in a computer simulation ?


Saru

Are we living in a computer simulation ?  

21 members have voted

  1. 1. Are we living in a computer simulation ?

    • Yes, it's almost certain that we are
      0
    • It's more likely that we are than that we aren't
      4
    • It's impossible to know if we are or not
      6
    • It's more likely that we aren't than we are
      0
    • No, it's almost certain that we aren't
      11


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Define "computer system". Does the system/framework have to be controlled or initiated by a non-human consciousness? As humans understand and define it, a computer simulation is inherently constrained by the laws of physics. If we answer the question from that perspective then the answer is easily no. 

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2 minutes ago, Liquid Gardens said:

You are not just talking about what the ultimate source of consciousness is, you are saying things about implausibility of consciousness under certain conditions.  If you have a basis for that then it doesn't need to boil down to whether it's physical or not, you're not arguing that something is implausible because you believe consciousness is not physicalist and conflicts with your religious beliefs.  Explain why your paranormal and afterlife 'evidence' itself cannot be part of the simulation and ultimately an illusion.

You are just making assumptions that certain things cannot be simulated in the future.  If the position that consciousness comes from physical things like bio-chemistry and cells of the brain which are physical is accurate then I don't know why you think computers cannot also physically simulate it.  I don't think you're really engaging fully with the idea of a simulation, if your experience of consciousness and what you think you know about it is a product of the simulation, then you have no information upon which to make assumptions about what the requirements are for consciousness, since it's a simulation you don't know if what you think is accurate or even voluntary.

OK I can see that point. Consciousness can be part of a grander simulation.  i guess we have no way of knowing that. In fact, in Advaita philosophy Consciousness and its source is left as a mystery, so being dependent on something grander than even that is not impossible either.

And also Advaita can perhaps be looked at as Consciousness being the simulator and these finite forms (us) experiencing individually through the innumerable consciousness rays of Brahman.

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1 hour ago, papageorge1 said:

<In Hindu philosophy>

There is One fundamental infinite Consciousness/Source/Brahman. And there is the material universe. And rays of this one Consciousness incarnate-animate finite forms giving them finite consciousness.

And computers are physical right?  So why do you put limitations on how consciousness could manifest? 

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28 minutes ago, OverSword said:

And computers are physical right?  So why do you put limitations on how consciousness could manifest? 

Well because the only process known is top down. Consciousness creates souls and higher mental/astral bodies that precede and incarnate the physical. With a computer you are talking about the physical created first and the upward chain of consciousness would build.

I can't say anything is impossible, but I can see no reason to expect it.

Consciousness descends into the physical in what we call physical consciousness. Consciousness and its intermediary bodies descend further into denseness.

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7 minutes ago, papageorge1 said:

Well because the only process known is top down.

Many would argue that, but those are mainly people that think we are a random occurrence and are meat robots. 

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11 hours ago, Saru said:

It's a question that has been around for a few decades now - just how real is the 'real' world ?

Is the world around us a virtual one generated by some sophisticated computer system or is the whole idea rooted firmly in the realms of science fiction ?

Then again, perhaps it's simply impossible for us to ever know one way or the other.

What are your thoughts ?

Like you say how would we know... If this is the case then how long have we been living in a simulation? 50/ 300.000/ 3 billion years?

Maybe those who believe we exist in a simulation could attempt an answer...

I'd also ask: And the point of it is what do you think?

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Awhile ago, I stumbled across a youtube channel called Archaix. He's really really into the "simulation theory".

Sometimes I go searching for the next bizarre "theory" on the internet and eventually something shows up to top the previous.

I wondered how it could get more strange after the 'mandela effect' and then 'flat earth' - or was it the other way around? I can't recall.

Looks like 'simulation theory' followed suit. What could possibly come next?

Edited by Alex_Rogan
one z, two r's
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8 minutes ago, Alex_Rogan said:

Awhile ago, I stumbled across a youtube channel called Archaix. He's really really into the "simulation theory".

Sometimes I go searching for the next bizarre "theory" on the internet and eventually something shows up to top the previous.

I wondered how it could get more strange after the 'mandela effect' and then 'flat earth' - or was it the other way around? I can't recall.

Looks like 'simulation theory' followed suit. What could possibly come next?

It could be a 3D simulation being run on a flat world.

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If we were, we would have been programmed never to suspect it. Case closed.

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1 hour ago, Electric Scooter said:

It could be a 3D simulation being run on a flat world.

Would you like me to join the flat earth society, attend their AGM, to present it, and video it for YouTube?

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8 hours ago, ouija ouija said:

I'm sorry you read so much into my post. I just found the phrase 'You will probably overload/burst stuff" extremely funny for some reason :). It wasn't a comment on your entire post.

I was arguing a little with someone else and in defensive mode. Also I thought my answer didn't reduce the 'funny' but added to it, no?

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4 hours ago, Alex_Rogan said:

...

I wondered how it could get more strange after the 'mandela effect' and then 'flat earth' - or was it the other way around? I can't recall.

Looks like 'simulation theory' followed suit. What could possibly come next?

simulaton theory has at least some interesting implications that make sense. Musk is into simulation theory too if I remember that right, it came from the holographic universe theory which has some mathmatical validity. (all information subject to change if I care enough to check them after coffee that is)

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13 hours ago, papageorge1 said:

I voted 'No, it's almost certain that we aren't'

A computer cannot create that mysterious thing we call 'Consciousness'. Video game characters don't experience.

Is consciousness a thing?  All by itself?  What of the patient in the OR...every drop of blood in a vat being oxygenated.  The body laying cold around 54 degrees F?  Where is the consciousness?  Where is the life?  The life is in the blood.  

Consider the Knowledge in your computer?  There is no knowledge in  your computer.  There are words on a screen, visuals of video, but where is the knowledge?  The 'knowledge' happens in the brain when those electrical impulses are turned into reality in our brain.  Consciousness happens in the brain, not in the blood.

So, there really is no consciousness without the brain.  The lifeless body on the OR table has no consciousness, nor does the blood.

I think the whole idea of us living in a simulation came from the minds of Star Trek writers in an episode where Piccard put a man and a woman in a simulation inside of a crystal ball.

I don't think it is possible for us to know.  Elon Musk seems to believe though that we definitely are.

 

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16 hours ago, Dejarma said:

Like you say how would we know... If this is the case then how long have we been living in a simulation? 50/ 300.000/ 3 billion years?

Maybe those who believe we exist in a simulation could attempt an answer...

I'd also ask: And the point of it is what do you think?

Does it matter, if we are in a sim it appears to cover a time period of 14 billion years, all the observational evidence points to that. But this evidence would be part of the sim and we might only be experiencing the now but with a pre loaded past. The past could be an illusion to create a base for the sim to run. 

The sim might only be a few hours old. 

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11 hours ago, joc said:

Is consciousness a thing?  All by itself?  What of the patient in the OR...every drop of blood in a vat being oxygenated.  The body laying cold around 54 degrees F?  Where is the consciousness?  Where is the life?  The life is in the blood.  

In fact, the perhaps most famous Near Death Experience case ever involved a very similar medical procedure, the Pam Reynolds Case. And the answer to me seems to be she was observing her physical body through her astral body above the operating table.

And during anesthesia when no NDE occurs, I believe consciousness rests in peaceful quiet above the level of the mind (so there is no mental memory).

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1 hour ago, papageorge1 said:

In fact, the perhaps most famous Near Death Experience case ever involved a very similar medical procedure, the Pam Reynolds Case. And the answer to me seems to be she was observing her physical body through her astral body above the operating table.

And during anesthesia when no NDE occurs, I believe consciousness rests in peaceful quiet above the level of the mind (so there is no mental memory).

  Near death has absolutely nothing to do with anything.  

As far as simulation...here is a video I just watched recently that kind of hits that from a different perspective.  It has nothing to do with simulation...but it does have to do with how we view reality and what reality is.

So, the question is, if we don't see reality, if all we see is our own reality...then what really is reality?  In essence, doesn't it all come down to mathematical equations?  From that perspective, I can envision how we could all be living in a simulation...

And I like @Saru thinking in terms of a multi-player video game...but what then is playing who?  A simulation that we are born into and live entire lives as a manipulative tool for the fascination and entertainment of others?  Or maybe our world is a How To program for inexperienced civilization builders?

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22 hours ago, Inn Spectre said:

If we were, we would have been programmed never to suspect it. Case closed.

Civilization Programming and Analysis...What to Expect From Your New Civilization

Civilization 101...never let them suspect much.

Civilization 405C.8...make them suspect everything.

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It's pretty strange when skeptics, who dismiss ghost sightings could even suggest this fanciful theory to be real. Where's the proof?

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13 hours ago, openozy said:

It's pretty strange when skeptics, who dismiss ghost sightings could even suggest this fanciful theory to be real. Where's the proof?

It is fanciful but there are good arguments for this idea.

If intelligent life is a real possibility across the cosmos then they could well use artificial machines and could run sim's.

There would be a vast amount of sim's that could be run per civilization, so those within a sim would vastly outnumber the real civilization.

It's this imbalance between real to sim lives that make it more likely that we are in a sim than not. 

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8 hours ago, L.A.T.1961 said:

It is fanciful but there are good arguments for this idea.

If intelligent life is a real possibility across the cosmos then they could well use artificial machines and could run sim's.

There would be a vast amount of sim's that could be run per civilization, so those within a sim would vastly outnumber the real civilization.

It's this imbalance between real to sim lives that make it more likely that we are in a sim than not. 

Nothing would surprise me and I'm open to anything really but for me I need to see this for myself to be convinced. Same with anything paranormal so you could say I'm the ultimate skeptic, lol.

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