What if our universe were a simulation?

[Gingerbread Demon]

I know not by any means an original idea but what if our universe as we know it is inside a video game or simulation like The Sims?

Would we even be able to know such a thing or find out that we are inside such a thing, or would its very nature and structure prevent us from finding out either way?

Would walls or barriers of some sort prevent us from knowing?

Also when someone wins the lottery is that just someone using a money cheat from the "outside?"

 

[Kai "the spy"]

To quote Robert E. Howard's Conan:

"I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content."

The slaying aside, I think this pretty much aplies.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Even if this is real, eventually it's going to be recorded, and the conclusions that we make that we are real will be part of that recording.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

To quote Robert E. Howard's Conan:

"I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content."

The slaying aside, I think this pretty much aplies.

I like that. Minus the slaying of course.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Even if this is real, eventually it's going to be recorded, and the conclusions that we make that we are real will be part of that recording.

Yes their version of Fraps....... in 5billioni HD

 

[LordMudd]

Evolution is real. It is not necessarily what Darwin thought it was. It is the process of adapting to our environment. With this idea in mind, what if "God" is a scientist studying the process of evolution and we are the experiment.


CCC.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Evolution is real. It is not necessarily what Darwin thought it was. It is the process of adapting to our environment. With this idea in mind, what if "God" is a scientist studying the process of evolution and we are the experiment.


CCC.

I'd be fine with that if it could be proven.......But how? It would be like a microbe trying to understand the petri dish it is in.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

ALIENS

 

[thestrangequark]

I'd be fine with that if it could be proven.......But how? It would be like a microbe trying to understand the petri dish it is in.

You can't prove it, because a) We do not have the technology to prove with evidence that we exist in a simulated universe, and b) We cannot logically prove we live in a simulated universe as the hypothesis is based on an unfalsifiable claim, and is therefore logically invalid.
It's a fun hypothesis to entertain, but ultimately uselessly solipsistic.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

It's a fun hypothesis to entertain, but ultimately uselessly solipsistic.

Hence my post.

 

[thestrangequark]

Hence my post.

I prefer the fun of hypothesizing in the Multiverse theory. For example, there is a universe where I am having sex with everyone I ever wanted to have sex with right now in a massive, gratifying orgy.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

You can't prove it, because a) We do not have the technology to prove with evidence that we exist in a simulated universe, and b) We cannot logically prove we live in a simulated universe as the hypothesis is based on an unfalsifiable claim, and is therefore logically invalid.
It's a fun hypothesis to entertain, but ultimately uselessly solipsistic.

I prefer the fun of hypothesizing in the Multiverse theory. For example, there is a universe where I am having sex with everyone I ever wanted to have sex with right now in a massive, gratifying orgy.

I can live with both these answers..... It's a fun thing to think about but in no way can ever be proven. As for the whole multiverse idea I am partial to that idea. There's a universe where Marilyn Monroe didn't die and had many offspring. There's also a universe where I snogged everyone I had ever wanted to, just the decision trees that created those universes never happened here.

Again I am reminded of those fringey type people who think that things like the Moon don't exist. They say it's an elaborate projection in the sky.

 

[thestrangequark]

From what I understand as a layman, the evidence supporting the multiverse hypothesis is more sound than the simulated universe hypothesis. Maybe someday we will know.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

a universe where I snogged everyone I had ever wanted to, just the decision trees that created those universes never happened here..

Which is why NOW, TODAY! We should all go out and start creating the decision trees we want!

I might make a lot of money charging people to hear me tell them this.

 

[Awesome Possum]

Statistically we're most likely in a simulation. If computer technology keeps improving we'll eventually be able to simulate the universe in a program. More than likely we'll run multiple simulations. So either we're the original universe that creates the simulation or one of the simulations. Maybe it's simulations all the way down.

But it doesn't really matter since we're still bound by physical laws and you still need to go to your job. It's just something to think about. Especially on the right kind of drug and you see the wireframe of the universe.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Statistically we're most likely in a simulation. If computer technology keeps improving we'll eventually be able to simulate the universe in a program. More than likely we'll run multiple simulations. So either we're the original universe that creates the simulation or one of the simulations. Maybe it's simulations all the way down.

But it doesn't really matter since we're still bound by physical laws and you still need to go to your job. It's just something to think about. Especially on the right kind of drug and you see the wireframe of the universe.

Which is the basis of the movie The 13th Floor.....

Also The Matrix but I prefer the latter because in that movie one of the simulations becomes aware of this through misadventure.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Which is why NOW, TODAY! We should all go out and start creating the decision trees we want!

I might make a lot of money charging people to hear me tell them this.

Not actually a physical object but pathways. I meant that decisions we make create other paths or universes if you subscribe to the multiverse theory.

 

[Awesome Possum]

I wonder if we created a simulated universe, how would we react if the inhabitants learned of their true nature? Would we shut it down or try to contact them?

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I under if we created a simulated universe, how would we react if the inhabitants learned of their true nature? Would we shut it down or try to contact them?

I'd hope we did the latter as the former seems rather unethical.... We would be killing off an entire universe of sentients

 

[Awesome Possum]

I'd hope we did the latter as the former seems rather unethical.... We would be killing off an entire universe of sentients

It depends on how we feel about AI or simulated entities. I'd imagine that some would no more care about a simulated universe than they would about an app on their phone.