Science Suggests We're Living in the Matrix
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
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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?
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?
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.Bobic said:
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.Bobic said:
Well maybe not a simulation.The_Waspman said:
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).
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.The_Waspman said:
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?
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.
Is this the secret of reality? I doubt it. But it is an interesting idea.
Please be careful with your use of the word "science". Just because a scientist said it doesn't make it science.
Me, quite obviously.TimeLord said:
I break all the rules.
On a more serious note, isn't this Descartes' three levels of doubt all jazzed up with science?
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.
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.
Maybe magic was the wrong word. I think I should have meant usage of the debug engine. Just type in a specific cheat code, and suddenly certain objects can disobey gravity, go through walls or instantly clone themselves without any negative repercussions.Ferisar said:
Except sandboxes do serve a clear purpose, exploration. Just because it's open ended, doesn't mean it lacks purpose. Most simulations do have open ends in order to come up with new results.
If our universe really was a simulation, then yes, I'd say enthropy would be the purpose. I.e., this simulation was made to investigate the creation, expansion and dissolution of this type of universe.
I think you misunderstood me, I do not in anyway try to deny E=mc^2 or Newton's Golden Law. What I meant was that I didn't understood how this may prove we live within a simulation. If energy and/or mass can magically appear out of nowhere, then it must mean we live in a simulation. That's at least how I resonate.
As I said, this is a very intriguing thought experiment, and I don't want come of as a party-pooper. I do in fact wish that this is a simulation we live in. That it's something we can wake up from. Alas there is no hard proof, so I don't want to get too excited.
