Science Suggests We're Living in the Matrix

[ECasThat]

First thing that comes to mind:
<youtube=LELCy1KsXcA>

Oh, Intelligent Qube. I never told i would see you again.

OT:

Spoiler: So, we are all basicly playing this?

 

[Scarim Coral]

Oh jeez, it turn out those crazy kids who believed we were inside the Matrix (heck one murder his parent as he feel they weren't "real") from this documentry were right all along!

 

[Daverson]

Of course, the theory falls apart when you come to the realization that the hardware for said simulation would have a finite amount of computing power available, so wouldn't be able to run infinite nestled simulations (and, realistically speaking, probably wouldn't be able to run even a single nestled simulation)

 

[theultimateend]

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.

I'm still not aware of any situation where we know that these specific states aren't happening constantly at very rapid intervals.

Again I'm not a genius nor is this my area of expertise but I've yet to see it explained where the educator has been like "This shit is magic."

It seems entirely reasonable and not grounds for magic being afoot.

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.

Yeah! This guy, I like this guy. If you are a girl I maintain my point and just would request you change the gender of my original sentence.

Either way, that's my point, I don't know of anything that makes this a remarkable thing. I mean its cool, but not like "Our world is the sims." Not that it would matter if it was.

 

[antipunt]

fun idea but super duper highly improbable

*poops on everyones parade

*escapes with jetpack

 

[Elate]

-Snip.-

1G0TP1NK8CIDB00TS0N ....

Now how to access the cheat menu?

I... I think I love you.

It's ok I understand, not everyone can look this good in pink acid boots.

 

[Beautiful End]

Well...if that's true, then that means we would wake up to a lame reality, possibly die because of it somehow. So...I guess this simulation ain't that bad. I mean, it's not like I'm being tortured or living a crappy life. AND now that I got the hang of this life, I can become something better.

Yeah, okay.

Spoiler: It's all rubbish.

 

[Bobic]

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.

I'm still not aware of any situation where we know that these specific states aren't happening constantly at very rapid intervals.

Again I'm not a genius nor is this my area of expertise but I've yet to see it explained where the educator has been like "This shit is magic."

It seems entirely reasonable and not grounds for magic being afoot.

Well, from the way you phrased that it sounds like that is just one possible explanation for the effect. Another explanation is that we're all subroutines in some massive experimental program awaiting guidance from Jeff Bridges.

More seriously though, what about the Quantum zeno effect?

'The quantum Zeno effect is a name coined by George Sudarshan and Baidyanath Misra of the University of Texas in 1977 in their analysis of the situation in which an unstable particle, if observed continuously, will never decay'

Observations apparently do cause things to not change state, in some situations.

Also, while no one has said "this shit is magic", Richard Feynmann, a pretty big deal in quantum physics, is often attributed to saying (though, may not actually have said) "if you think you understand Quantum Physics, you don't understand Quantum Physics" which is only a couple of steps away from "this shit is magic". And that has been said to me by educators in relevant fields.

 

[theultimateend]

Also, while no one has said "this shit is magic", Richard Feynmann, a pretty big deal in quantum physics, is often attributed to saying (though, may not actually have said) "if you think you understand Quantum Physics, you don't understand Quantum Physics" which is only a couple of steps away from "this shit is magic". And that has been said to me by educators in relevant fields.

I'm not entirely sure if you were trying to be condescending or not with that pretty big deal message. So I'll assume not.

These effects are perplexing only because of their relative youth. As our tools become better and more people examine the issues they'll be less surprising.

Basically everything in our history scientifically has seemed like magic at first, there is that Arthur C. Clarke point about sufficiently advanced technologies being indistinguishable from magic.

In this case we have dipped into a universe that is so removed from our own that things are difficult to explain because we routinely attempt to explain them with concepts that only apply to our macro level world.

Basically the very fact that Feynman and others have stated that they don't really know why things are the way they are yet is reason to not assume that any explanation we have for things in this field is entirely correct.

In the case of the Quantum Zeno effect, when something is directly observed it is likely the focal point of some kind of energy transfer. The only way for us to see things is to bounce energy off of them or through them. If you are continually interacting with a particle specifically then why would you expect it to decay?

However for objects that are merely fluttering about in random chaos they will be hit in a random pattern with no certainty of repetition and natural decay will occur.

But in the end I'd rather not argue over it too much because again its not my expertise and this topic doesn't really matter (this topic being the OP).

If the universe is entirely fabricated then all things are fabricated and thus all things lose importance at the exact same amount. This would mean that all emotions, feelings, events, etc are still just as valid as they were prior because their relative worth has shifted exactly as much as all other things in the universe.

So while QM is incredibly fascinating and one of my favorite things to read about or learn about, the brain in a jar philosophical question is as empty and pointless as so many other "deep" concepts.

PS. Is it just me or does everyone incredibly fascinating die from cancer? I feel like it has some kind of biases :/.

 

[Macgyvercas]

So who's our Neo?

Me, obviously. Just as just as soon as I decide to get off my fat ass and get in shape XD

 

[SextusMaximus]

I'm assuming if this were true, we would be a long, long way down the line of simulated universes.

 

[geldonyetich]

Sounds like a "chicken or the egg" thing to me.

* Simulations are built to simulate reality.
* Reality is built in such a way we can simulate it.
* So what came first, the reality or the backdrop in which it is simulated?

It's more or less inevitable you're going to encounter inadvertent similarities, such as a limitation of energy particles in reality behaving in a manner similar to what you'd expect from a simulation.

 

[orangeapples]

So, anyone know how to turn off the blood code?

 

[Al-Bundy-da-G]

...Well, someone's reaching for a conclusion... I mean, if this was a computer simulation, wouldn't it be, I dunno, more interesting? Hell, I'd love to be able to do all that bullet time stuff...

Yea but then you would know, so you'd become the one and start a war with our bear overlords who run the simulation which in turn would alert the bear's zebra overlords who would unplug the bear's matrix thus killing us.

And that's why bullet time doesn't work.

 

[wildpeaks]

This isn't news to me. I got my trusty tinfoil hat on.

Ohhh, the things I could tell you.

For instance, did you know th- ...

Dear God! Its Star Ocean: Til the End of Time all over again!! /vomits. On another point was the ps3 international edition of star ocean: a new hope any better than the 360 version?

When in doubt, iddqd.

THIS KNOWLEDGE NEEDS TO BE SPREAD! D:

HOW LONG BEFORE THE MACHINES WIPE OUR MEMORIE-

...

What were we talking about?

Ahhh, a null pointer is talking !

 

[wildpeaks]

Sounds like a "chicken or the egg" thing to me.

In the sense that it's already "solved" by now as eggs came first given dinosaurs had eggs long before chickens appeared ?

 

[Innegativeion]

you are quite literally playing all the wrong games then.

every single person i know would fucking love it to live in the world of pokemon/star wars/mass effect.

seriously, how could you NOT want to live in some of those worlds?

Well, Nintendo games aside, Mass Effect and and Star Wars are perfect examples of how anyone who's not a hero takes it up the ass.

I'm saying if life was a video game, it'd be the kind where lots of folks die, not the kind where we can talk to animals with magical powers to team up and fight terrorist organizations that don't actually kill people.

You really want to get blown to bits by the reapers?

What if this is their idea of fulfillment?

What if the milky way is actually god's right nut?

Now we're in to the realm of conjecture based on nothing.

And we were already pretty close with "energy limit=matrix"

 

[C F]

Sounds like a "chicken or the egg" thing to me.

In the sense that it's already "solved" by now as eggs came first given dinosaurs had eggs long before chickens appeared ?

Unless we find something that precedes entire universes, I don't think it's that simple. The question still stands even if the metaphor's wording doesn't.

But if you ask me: existence came before the simulation.

 

[TeletubbiesGolfGun]

you are quite literally playing all the wrong games then.

every single person i know would fucking love it to live in the world of pokemon/star wars/mass effect.

seriously, how could you NOT want to live in some of those worlds?

Well, Nintendo games aside, Mass Effect and and Star Wars are perfect examples of how anyone who's not a hero takes it up the ass.

I'm saying if life was a video game, it'd be the kind where lots of folks die, not the kind where we can talk to animals with magical powers to team up and fight terrorist organizations that don't actually kill people.

You really want to get blown to bits by the reapers?

What if this is their idea of fulfillment?

What if the milky way is actually god's right nut?

Now we're in to the realm of conjecture based on nothing.

And we were already pretty close with "energy limit=matrix"

that is, if you stay EXACTLY to their storyline, if you just use the worlds physics/atmosphere, it doesn't have to be EXACTLY like that, if i took the world of mass effect, i don't have to jump in RIGHT at the reaper part, wait..

you know what, i would fucking love that, i could change that hogwash of a shitstain underwear that ending is, I COULD BE MARAUDER SHIELDS! I COULD STOP IT FROM HAPPENING!

yes...yes...excellent...

LOL now i will forever think of the milky way as the milky nut sack... every time a meteor is gonna hit it's actually a kidney stone taking its course

 

[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?

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?

Oh lord. I knew, just knew I shouldn't have commented on this topic. Nothing personal against you mate, but We had a lot of debates about this back when I was at university (shortly after the matrix came out) and most of the arguments haven't changed. Besides, I was just attempting to be snarky. Anyway, to respond to some points...

You say things are becoming more complex. I assume from that you mean our technological advances, and our understanding, on a societal level as opposed to everyone being morons when they were kids. So in a similar way to how graphical improvements have been made in video games, yes? Well, I cant really buy that. Just because we now 'understand' more about subatomic behaviour (or whatever) now than we did 200 years ago, wouldn't really mean that this stuff has just been patched in. There is just far too much complexity for this all to be a simulation, basically because:

Of course, the theory falls apart when you come to the realization that the hardware for said simulation would have a finite amount of computing power available, so wouldn't be able to run infinite nestled simulations (and, realistically speaking, probably wouldn't be able to run even a single nestled simulation)

This. Even if we were all just programs (as opposed to organisms plugged into some huge virtual reality) there are far far too many of us (as well as every other organism, and hell, everything else in the universe) far any computer system to realistically be able to process. Even if we were all part of some amazingly advanced technological system, we would all be existing within it as it ran in real time, without any glitches at all. At all!?

Nope, still not buying it.

As for your point about our decision making abilities, well, none of us have any individuality anyway. If you look at Memetics (actual memetics, not all this internet shit about Chuck Norris being the worlds most badass pony or whatever) then all any of us are, as 'individuals', are collections of a great number of different social and cultural replicators. Thats one of the reasons we have evolved in the way we have. Does that support your - I dont really want to use the word 'argument', because it carries too much confrontational weight, and as I said, I'm not having a go at you, its more this topic - so lets say your supposition, than it does mine? Well, probably.

Captcha: partly to blame. Yeah, thanks captcha, thanks a lot.