if by any chance we lived in a simulation?

jverne

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let's presume some superhuman beings made the universe we know...like Asimov wrote in his stories.

doesn't that make you depressive from a scientific point of view?

next time you would see jupiter...you wont go...it's so fascinating how it came to be...but instead you'd go, meh it's all an illusion.

if that was true...my life would just lose it's purpose. it's extremely boring and depressing to think "someone" created everything you see around you.

i don't know why...but everytime i go on the net and visit my regular science news sites i'm all excited what new discovery was made.

if i was forced to become religious i'd probably commit suicide after some time, due to depression.

oh, and i'm not a scientist...it's just that gives me my "general" meaning of life.

what about you? what is your general meaning of life?



hehe...it's funny i fell like i'm 17 again :)
 
Meaning of life is to enjoy it. I enjoy my life. That's all I care about.

Everything else we do are means to better enjoy our lives.
 
If someones definition of the meaning of life extends beyond their own capabilities, they are idiots.
 
Meaning of life is to enjoy it. I enjoy my life. That's all I care about.

Everything else we do are means to better enjoy our lives.

good enough...but enjoyment varies from person to person.
 
I think you are selling the concept short, jverne.

The idea that we may be part of a simulation would not lessen the splendour of anything we see in the universe.

I believe that there is a human tendency to assume that the universe we live in is only as complicated as we humans can comprehend. So much so that even when we philosophise about the possibility of 'superhuman' beings existing, we tend to envisage them as only being about as intelligent as we ourselves are. This is why you see humanity frequently triumphing in sci-fi over beings far more advanced than we are - we're happy to attribute these hypothetical entities with greater power, but when it comes to intelligence they always have to have some kind of Achille's heel that our human cunning can exploit. They're never truly smarter. It is a mindbending thing for a person to try and imagine a higher plane of consciousness.

When people (such as Asimov) hypothesise about the existence of such superhuman entities and that we may be a product of them, they are not supposing that the universe is any 'cheaper'. It's not that everything is an illusion or a trick. They are supposing that the universe is, to all intents and purposes, the same - it's just that we are lesser than we may have thought we were. Do we consider everything we see daily to be an illusion because we can only perceive it through the light spectrum detectable by our eyes? Is the universe a trick because we cannot easily see the interplay of subatomic particles which form the basis of all matter?

Personally, I find the whole simulation/superhuman consciousness postulation to be fascinating. IMO it's only depressing if people base their thinking on the foundation that the entirety of existence is definitely comprehensible to the human mind. The possibility that it might not be, does not have to change the way we interact with that part of the universe we see and understand.
 
Think of if the characters in The Sims or Spore gained Sentience.
That'd be neat. What if they made the internets and made the same exact thread!
 
I don't know who wrote this and I'll paraphrase it:
If it's theoretically possible to simulate a universe/reality, then it's almost certain we're in one, because the number of simulated universes would vastly outnumber the number of real universes.
 
I think you are selling the concept short, jverne.

The idea that we may be part of a simulation would not lessen the splendour of anything we see in the universe.

I believe that there is a human tendency to assume that the universe we live in is only as complicated as we humans can comprehend. So much so that even when we philosophise about the possibility of 'superhuman' beings existing, we tend to envisage them as only being about as intelligent as we ourselves are. This is why you see humanity frequently triumphing in sci-fi over beings far more advanced than we are - we're happy to attribute these hypothetical entities with greater power, but when it comes to intelligence they always have to have some kind of Achille's heel that our human cunning can exploit. They're never truly smarter. It is a mindbending thing for a person to try and imagine a higher plane of consciousness.

When people (such as Asimov) hypothesise about the existence of such superhuman entities and that we may be a product of them, they are not supposing that the universe is any 'cheaper'. It's not that everything is an illusion or a trick. They are supposing that the universe is, to all intents and purposes, the same - it's just that we are lesser than we may have thought we were. Do we consider everything we see daily to be an illusion because we can only perceive it through the light spectrum detectable by our eyes? Is the universe a trick because we cannot easily see the interplay of subatomic particles which form the basis of all matter?

Personally, I find the whole simulation/superhuman consciousness postulation to be fascinating. IMO it's only depressing if people base their thinking on the foundation that the entirety of existence is definitely comprehensible to the human mind. The possibility that it might not be, does not have to change the way we interact with that part of the universe we see and understand.

i see your point.
it's just a weird feeling thinking about it.
 
You gotta take life as it comes to you. The only thing I know for sure is that I'm here. I don't know in what capacity, I don't know by whose authority - if anyone's, or indeed if it's all just some grand illusion. But I know I'm human and we've been given the capability to find our own meaning in life, as uncertain as the path may be. So I'm gonna.
 
I wouldn't consider this science.

Intellectual topics, that works.
 
So .. The Sims was just a hilarious joke by whoever is controlling us? D:
 
You all can't stop beating a dead horse, can you? We get that you're an atheist, and we don't care. Now, get cracking on finding cheat codes for life.
 
You people are talking about humans living in a simulation and none of you have mentioned the Matrix yet?

Your all f*cked.

F*cked, I say.
 
Don't know, but in the 13th Floor. The ones running the simulation could basically "plug" themselves in and take over someone in the simulation that was modeled after them. If they happened to die while in the simulation, the simulated personality would take over in the real world. So if it follows the movie, some of us might have a chance on making it out. :D
 
The first one was great! Other ones not so much. Besides, the Matrix is another (maybe way more unlikely) theory...
 
The first one was great! Other ones not so much. Besides, the Matrix is another (maybe way more unlikely) theory...
The satan spawn it subjected the world to in the form of sequels is enough of a reason for me to hate it forever.
 
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