Science Suggests We're Living in the Matrix

[Batou667]

And if it is a simulation can the overlords please erase all memory of the past 20 years of my life please?

Granted. Your true memories have been erased. To avoid catastrophic cognitive dissonance you have been implanted with false memories that satisfactorily explain your current state of being.

...what? You never specified better memories.

 

[oooooooooooooooooooooooooo]

While the actual theory itself is obviously philosophically valid, I don't really buy what is being claimed to be evidence here. My main problem is this; what are the chances that a human civilization so advanced that it could produce and use this sort of simulation on mass would still be relying the techniques we are currently using when writing simulations?

EDIT: As far as I am aware, an important aspect of this theory that hasn't been mentioned so far is we would likely be extremely advanced AI programs rather than humans plugged into a system.

 

[Ferisar]

The whole thing sounds cool and all, just a few criticisms.

If a simulation is shut down, all meta-simulations within it will also cease to exist. How come all simulations above us are held intact?

Also, in order for a simulation to be run, it needs a purpose. As of right now, our universe doesn't seem to have any other purpose other than an accelerating enthropy into the cold, dark nothingness.

Thirdly, if this is a simulation, magic should exist. By magic, I mean phenomenas that cleraly breaks the laws of nature without any possible explanation. The problem is that all 'supernatural' phenomena that has been witness, has also been explained by science.

Another thing that catches my attention, is that this suggestion stems from the fact that the universe contains a limited amount of energy. Wat?

All in all, I consider the idea of simulated realities to be wishful thinking, but it's an interesting idea nonetheless. So I think it's still a good idea if we ponder upon this idea in order to understand the world a little bit better.

Then we run into the question whether we are programs or users.

Magic and and purpose don't factor in here. Magic is a broad brush-stroke. If this "simulation" contains nothing that would be interpreted as magic, then there will be no magic. This isn't a novel written by some random person, it would have to be a precise set of systems which all function together. It's more like... everything is magic, but comes from somewhere.

Purpose is an obvious no-no. Even basic functions don't serve any purpose when just scattered around a sheet. It's the very definition of sandbox. Also, who's to say entropy is not a purpose?

And why would energy not be limited, dare I ask? We know the universe had a beginning, which then puts a limit on energy based on just... well, mass. Energy doesn't just pop out of nowhere, ever.

The first point makes the most sense, but even then, the perception of time doesn't hold up. This "simulation" may take nano-seconds on a higher state, and entropy would be the shut-down point, where-as we experience the same thing in billions-trillions of years. You just have to look at this from a different perspective.

Captcha: broken record.

Huh...

 

[Ferisar]

I always found the "infinite simulations theory" to be a fat load.

It makes the massive assumption that a race would, for some purpose, rather erase their lives and live in a simulation for eternity. Yeah, that sounds like something ANYONE would do... especially live in a simulation with crime and hatred and war and death. Totally sounds like something someone would do.

I mean, if this was a simulation, wouldn't it be idealized? I love my video games, but I'd never want to live in one. Wouldn't a race advanced enough to create perfect virtual reality be advanced enough to desire actual fulfillment?

Well, this brings in the assumption that we are a functioning state in a higher chain. There can also be the assumption that inhabiting a "simulated reality" has nothing to do with you, or me, or, you know, anyone from "a higher state". More of a "you're part of where you are" aka, part of the whole thing as it were.

 

[PH3NOmenon]

I feel this is relevant.

 

[Snowbell]

Why does this remind me of Sburb and Homestuck?

 

[Korzack]

Awesome, so when can when can we open the debug console and turn on invincibility?

Thank christ I still remember IDDQD

 

[The_Waspman]

I'm calling bullshit on this.

If videogames have tought me anything its that you cant even enter a building without a fucking loading screen.

No loading screens in real life? Well then its not a fucking simulation, is it?

 

[Korzack]

^Maybe we're all playing on hardcore mode, Waspman... Or a Really bade port, one of the two

 

[ShAmMz0r]

I've always thought the whole Observer Effect (specifically relating to quantum physics) was evidence that we were living in a simulation. The fact that things only choose values (i.e. exist in a defined way) when we observe them. So if no-one is looking, things don't exist. Sounds an awful lot like they're saving on processing power to me.

It always amazes me how people insist on making it sound like only a concious agent can be an observer in quantum measurement. This notion is in fact wrong and I implore you not to confuse public further on this matter. We get enough stuff like "What the bleep do we know" as it is.

From Wiki:

A key topic is that of wave function collapse, for which some interpretations assert that measurement causes a discontinuous change into a non-quantum state, which no longer evolves. The superposition principle (ψ = Σanψn) of quantum physics says that for a wave function ψ, a measurement will give a state of the quantum system of one of the m possible eigenvalues fn, n=1,2...m, of the operator which is part of the eigenfunctions ψn, n=1,2,...n. Once we have measured the system, we know its current state and this stops it from being in one of its other states.[1] This means that the type of measurement that we do on the system affects the end state of the system. An experimentally studied situation related to this is the quantum Zeno effect, in which a quantum state that would decay if left alone but does not decay because of its continuous observation.

Or, in none baffling science terms:

Quantum systems exist as what is known as a probability density (i.e. a system of possibilities, rather than something specific). Observation makes it pick one of these possibilities, and become defined. Therefore Keanu Reeves will lead us to salvation.

This actually raises an interesting point. There are several serious problems with the process of wave function collapse in quantum theory and the only interpretations that avoid these problems involve multiple universes in one way or another, so existence of quantum effects in our universe actually means that we most likely are not in a simulation. Imagine how much computing power it would take to continually simulate a universe which basically makes a slightly different copy of itself every time a quantum state inside it loses coherence. Then you have to keep track of both copies and the copies they will generate and so on. And that's only to simulate one layer in nested structure. Imagine that every copy is running a similar simulation itself. I think that a civilisation that has such computing power would be able to find a more useful way of using it.

 

[MrFalconfly]

I'm calling bullshit on this.

If videogames have tought me anything its that you cant even enter a building without a fucking loading screen.

No loading screens in real life? Well then its not a fucking simulation, is it?

Well maybe not a simulation.

But string-theory suggests that everything we see is a giant hologram (it's called the holographic principle and it basically states that everything we see is a 3D holographic representation of 2D information stored on the "surface" of the universe, it's basically how we think Black Holes operate).

 

[ascorbius]

I'm calling bullshit on this.

If videogames have tought me anything its that you cant even enter a building without a fucking loading screen.

No loading screens in real life? Well then its not a fucking simulation, is it?

Think about it, If there were loading screens, you wouldn't see them - your simulation would be paused while more data is loaded. Only those who made the simulation would notice anything happening at all.
Actually, you'd be experiencing time at a completely different rate to what the creators of the simulation were.

I've thought about this before 13th floor kind-of gave me the nudge..

Consider this: we continue to make advances in science, things are becoming more complex from what we remember growing up - It stands to reason that there is a chance that this is because they keep upgrading the simulation machine and over time it can handle more levels of detail, just like most of us do with our PCs.. We're just in something like a massively complex CryEngine or something like that. We don't notice the upgrade because they pause the simulation for perform them.

And if it was God who crated the simulation, think about this... what happens to computer programs on your PC when you close them down? Do their souls go to your hard drive? No, they stop running and the memory they allocated is used by something else... They never spill out onto your desk. They can never leave the digital world.

There is no afterlife if this is a simulation... Even if there is a God, you're going to heaven no more than Gordon Freeman will - and we like Gordon Freeman - He does noble work. When we close Half-Life, Gordon Freeman ceases to exist in memory and remains only on your hard drive as a set of instructions needed to create Gordon Freeman the next time you want to play.

Also, if this is a simulation, there is no free will as we're set on a pre-programmed path where our actions are based on stimulus and reaction - It's just so complex we perceive it as free will. Think about it, when was the last time you made a truly independent decision which wasn't based on outside factors or a learned response to some other stimulus?

 

[Saltyk]

I think a lot of people are reading this as, according to this theory we're plugged into the Matrix right now. But I'd say that if a civilization were to create a super advanced simulation of the universe, it would be populated with bits of data and artificial intelligence. So, you're not a person with a metal spike in your skull. You're data.

Is this the secret of reality? I doubt it. But it is an interesting idea.

 

[Subscriptism]

Please be careful with your use of the word "science". Just because a scientist said it doesn't make it science.

 

[Scrythe]

-Snip.-

1G0TP1NK8CIDB00TS0N ....

Now how to access the cheat menu?

I... I think I love you.

 

[I.Muir]

Seems more like a hitchhikers guide to the universe

 

[The Funslinger]

So who's our Neo?

Me, quite obviously.

I break all the rules.

On a more serious note, isn't this Descartes' three levels of doubt all jazzed up with science?

 

[DoomyMcDoom]

I see people wigged out by this, why would it be scary if it were true?

Honestly, life is a meaningless void we ourselves funnel meaning into to please ourselves into an altered mental state to avoid feelings of pointlessness and depression...

So why would knowing that we are in fact nothing more than an experiment be any different, at least this way maybe we are serving a purpose somehow, shouldn't that at least be comforting to think of?

I would also like to pose some advice to those who struggle with stress and worry, if you cannot control something, prevent something, or do anything about something, simply don't bother worrying/thinking about it, because honestly, the only thing anyone can be certain of is that we all gotta die sometime, and other than suicide, we can't even control that, so why worry about something we only hypothesize might be how things are, hell we know next to nothing concrete about the universe in which we live as it stands, so any speculation towards the reasons for it's existence and the means by which it came to be, is a rather silly thing to feel stress or anxiety over, all that does is detract from a person's overall enjoyment of this limited existence we all share.

 

[Sarrish]

To the Machine Overlords

Make me a super rich super powered superhero. Call me.