Science Suggests We're Living in the Matrix

[The_Waspman]

-major snippage-

Don't worry mate, I'm not serious on this - far too old for that. It is an interesting thought experiment though.

No silicone heaven? Where would all the calculators go?

Something else that bugs me about this idea is just... what about all the seemingly pointless shit? Like Jedward, Spiders, and Masturbation? Why would anyone (or anything) create a simulation with these things in them?

Dont get me wrong, if I'm going to look at this discussion seriously, I will readily admit, that from a biological perspective, then yes, all we are are programs. We are vessels run by our genetic and memetic programming, and there is no real point to existance outside of that.

But to consider that everything, everything is inside a technological system that has been artifically constructed? No, I just cant buy that. Because... Chaos.

God damn it science, I love you, but sometimes you're so obsessed with finding the answers you dont realise you're gazing into the abyss!

 

[Innegativeion]

*snip*

Bear in mind you could just as easily wind up on planet alderaan.

 

[TeletubbiesGolfGun]

*snip*

Bear in mind you could just as easily wind up on planet alderaan.

O_O

damn you and your pessimistic outlook.

I could just as easily wind up at the jedi temple with lightsaber in hand! Hah, optimism!

captcha: plenty of time

looks like capture is optimistic as well!

 

[ascorbius]

-major snippage-

Don't worry mate, I'm not serious on this - far too old for that. It is an interesting thought experiment though.

No silicone heaven? Where would all the calculators go?

Something else that bugs me about this idea is just... what about all the seemingly pointless shit? Like Jedward, Spiders, and Masturbation? Why would anyone (or anything) create a simulation with these things in them?

Dont get me wrong, if I'm going to look at this discussion seriously, I will readily admit, that from a biological perspective, then yes, all we are are programs. We are vessels run by our genetic and memetic programming, and there is no real point to existance outside of that.

But to consider that everything, everything is inside a technological system that has been artifically constructed? No, I just cant buy that. Because... Chaos.

God damn it science, I love you, but sometimes you're so obsessed with finding the answers you dont realise you're gazing into the abyss!

Not just our genetic and mimetic programming, our atomic makeup too... We are as much in control of ourselves as a ball rolling down a hill.

However, if I have your analysis right, We cannot be in a simulation because - What kind of diseased mind would create a simulation which simulates Jedward...? A fair point, I cannot comprehend such sickness - although one should never underestimate a bored programmer.

Can't take up that much run-time though can they? The vapid pair of hair on legs that they are? It could be argued that there can't be a God because... Jedward. Why would he bother? Imagine! He made Jedward in his own image?! All those cathedrals got their windows wrong for a start.

Spiders are part of the ecosystem and are just as useful in the world as we are so it makes sense to simulate them, along with flies, bacteria etc.

Masturbation.. well, that's just a side effect of an action which is beneficial to a species so it brings pleasure to ensure the creature does it as much as possible coupled with the intelligence and curiosity to realize an individual can achieve it without actually achieving it. All based on impulses which are triggered by electrical and chemical reactions - all of which can be simulated.


Just because something seems pointless, doesn't actually mean that it is, just that we don't know the reason for it yet.

We can already simulate a cat's brain in a supercomputer... erm maybe not http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/11/darpas-simulated-cat-brain-project-a-scam-top-neuroscientist/

 

[The_Waspman]

-major snippage-

Don't worry mate, I'm not serious on this - far too old for that. It is an interesting thought experiment though.

No silicone heaven? Where would all the calculators go?

Something else that bugs me about this idea is just... what about all the seemingly pointless shit? Like Jedward, Spiders, and Masturbation? Why would anyone (or anything) create a simulation with these things in them?

Dont get me wrong, if I'm going to look at this discussion seriously, I will readily admit, that from a biological perspective, then yes, all we are are programs. We are vessels run by our genetic and memetic programming, and there is no real point to existance outside of that.

But to consider that everything, everything is inside a technological system that has been artifically constructed? No, I just cant buy that. Because... Chaos.

God damn it science, I love you, but sometimes you're so obsessed with finding the answers you dont realise you're gazing into the abyss!

Not just our genetic and mimetic programming, our atomic makeup too... We are as much in control of ourselves as a ball rolling down a hill.

However, if I have your analysis right, We cannot be in a simulation because - What kind of diseased mind would create a simulation which simulates Jedward...? A fair point, I cannot comprehend such sickness - although one should never underestimate a bored programmer.

Can't take up that much run-time though can they? The vapid pair of hair on legs that they are? It could be argued that there can't be a God because... Jedward. Why would he bother? Imagine! He made Jedward in his own image?! All those cathedrals got their windows wrong for a start.

Spiders are part of the ecosystem and are just as useful in the world as we are so it makes sense to simulate them, along with flies, bacteria etc.

Masturbation.. well, that's just a side effect of an action which is beneficial to a species so it brings pleasure to ensure the creature does it as much as possible coupled with the intelligence and curiosity to realize an individual can achieve it without actually achieving it. All based on impulses which are triggered by electrical and chemical reactions - all of which can be simulated.


Just because something seems pointless, doesn't actually mean that it is, just that we don't know the reason for it yet.

We can already simulate a cat's brain in a supercomputer... erm maybe not http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/11/darpas-simulated-cat-brain-project-a-scam-top-neuroscientist/

So we're (sort of) in agreement. This cant be a simulation because... Jedward.

Oh god, now I actually wish it was, and somehow communicate with Cthulhu or whoever created it to just wipe them. We could all live happier live, ne'st ce pas?

As long as he leaves masturbation.exe alone...

 

[Scrythe]

You're all thinking about it wrong, see this universe clearly does have cheats, they're just in the form of scientific equations. Look up quantum levitation, for example. And I'm pretty sure thanks to aeronautics we now have the ability to fly, assisted with the proper tech. Also, a science place recently shot two trillion watt lasers together and created an atom. Sounds like a cheat code to me.

So, what you're trying to tell me is the anti-life equation [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Life_Equation] is real?

loneliness + alienation + fear + despair + self-worth ÷ mockery ÷ condemnation ÷ misunderstanding × guilt × shame × failure × judgment

[HEADING=1]KNEEL BEFORE ZOD![/HEADING]

 

[RJ 17]

Couple of problems here. First is the assumption that you would only create a simulation to "plug" in outsiders. The other is that you could create a simulation of the universe from inside the universe. Without loss in detail you cannot. You can create rules for a system and see what happens. However to simulate every particle in the system your simulator has to be at least the same size as what you are simulating. To an extent of course. There is the possibility that with some new technology you could simulate more than one particle with one particle, but then it turns out you need that information in your perfect simulation and at that point you might as well have built a new universe.

Soooooooo how does that not lead to the conclusion that we're simulated copies of simulated copies assuming this theory is true? According to their theory, we're not just in a simulation, but such a simulation can be created within the original simulation itself. Which would imply that an infinite number of simulations could therefor be created.

Which leaves the question of who started the original simulation?

I think we're both in agreement that this theory is BS, but we're just coming at it from two different directions.

 

[FalloutJack]

Science, you have failed me.

You are attempting to say the universe is either The Matrix, Star Ocean, or Big O...and it isn't working. Why anyone would want to put this one out there without doing any REAL research (A sim does not a truth make. It merely tests a hypothesis using available data to try and project a might-be, not a definitely.) is beyond me. Yes, let's throw out this little whopper onto the internet. SURELY, NOTHING WILL HAPPEN!

Except that it will. This is a post-modernistic world. What people think matters a helluva lot, because they try to change fiction into reality. In some cases, that can be fun and awesome. Technology and machines based off of and more powerful than things in Star Trek? Wonderful. Real sonic screwdrivers? Brilliant. Russia had a Doomsday Device like in Dr. Strangelove? BAD DAY! BAD DAY! BAD DAY! (Of course, Russia probably thought of it first, but we only found out about it much later...which was a fatal plot-point in the movie.)

People do strange things, sometimes horrible things, when they get an idea in their heads and it w0on't come out. Who would have guessed that some people would realize that the aliens were hiding in the comet passing Earth, and that to meet them you had to commit suicide? (NOTE: Never, never do this.) Throwing around a notion like that with very little to back it up will cause trouble, like trying to quench fire with gasoline.

Have the neutrinos mutated yet?

 

[GildaTheGriffin]

Sounds like we should explore this farther. Because now my head is in a twist.

 

[Jinjer]

If reality gets shitty sequels too, I'll try to migrate to a neighboring simulation ASAP

 

[Madman123456]

That could spark an interesting Discussion in Philosophy. We, as "NPC's" in this Simulation are self-aware, or so we tell ourselves. We have our own ethical constructs and moral Codes and although they are very flimsy over the centuries, we do like to pretend that everyone would be granted the same basic rights as a self-aware being.

What if these basic rights where granted to us in every extend we could possibly grasp but we where still "Playthings" to those "above" us?

Would that be ok with our own moral code? We ourselves grant other lifeforms far less rights just because they are less intelligent. I myself am rather ok with the way Animals are treated by my farmer neighbour. His Cows have pretty decent living arrangements, not a Care in the World and as far as i can tell, they're ok with that.
Until they are killed, which happens so fast that their senses are out before they notice that it's over.

What they don't get is Freedom. Then again, we humans have sold out our freedom countless times just for the fleeting Illusion of safety.

 

[Jinjer]

Also

~
tcl

Nope, still can't walk through walls

 

[VincentX3]

Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A
IDDQD
greedisgood
it is a good day to die
rosebud
nwcalreadygotone

...

... Well, damn...

impulse 101
bewareoblivionisathand
thereisnocowlevel
idkfa

...

nothing...

power overwheling
corwin of amber
+zool
Square, Triangle, X, Space, Circle

Well, I'm all out of ideas.

There Is no Cow Level

....

We're Doomed D:

 

[Ickabod]

Damnit! I'm just another F'n NPC

 

[awdrifter]

Damnit! I'm just another F'n NPC

If we are NPC, then are the historical figures the players? Because in games we're always the one important guy that saves (or destroys) the world.

If the world is a simulation, then the universal speed limit of light speed is an artificially imposed limit, sort of like invisible walls in today's games. The reason why we can't see clearly into the other universes is because they (whoever created this simulation) is using low res textures for the distance objects.

 

[Misterian]

[], X, /\, X, X, O, [], O, /\.

drat, no infinite health.

Still, maybe it explains why my hands are always cold?

 

[Darth_Murmeltier]

I think, even if it is true, that it doesn't matter and, honestly, I think this is just meaningless wordplay; just as saying that reality is an illusion ("So what?" Could I respond). We still have to go on with our lives etc.

 

[awdrifter]

I guess that's what scientists do, we don't know if it'll even have any useful applications, but maybe it will change the world in a big way. Maybe instead of trying to find cure for disease (equivalent to grinding for potions) we can just change the underlying simulation code (equivalent to save file editing or using trainer).

 

[unstabLized]

Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A
IDDQD
greedisgood
it is a good day to die
rosebud
nwcalreadygotone

...

... Well, damn...

impulse 101
bewareoblivionisathand
thereisnocowlevel
idkfa

...

nothing...

power overwheling
corwin of amber
+zool
Square, Triangle, X, Space, Circle

Well, I'm all out of ideas.

AMATEURS!! ALL OF YOU, AMATEURS!!!

*Turns around three times, steps left right left back forward then jumps with a 180 degrees turn, jumps backward*

...

Sigh... Can someone make a Save Game editor or Trainer for this? Come on,it can't be that hard.

 

[Nokturos]

I don't see the difference between believing in this and believing in God.