Thread: Simulation theory

I saw the other "Matrix" thread and got reminded of all the "Simulation Theory" stuff floating around and getting backed by some billionaires. There has been even reports of some wealthy gentlemen paying researchers secretly to find out how to get "unplugged". (I can hear some of you, but suicide/murder is not really what they are after, I am sure )

So what do you think? Are we living in a simulation? Whenever I think about the origin of the universe, my mind just spins too fast and I fall to sleep. Will we ever be able to solve this one huge problem? Where are we and what are we doing here and more importantly, where are the others?

Tech moguls may be often great innovators and engines of the world technology. But like so many other great representatives of mankind achievements, can become a little eccentric, and are often best not taken seriously on issues outside their field, especially when defending the type of pseudo-science of other crazies the likes of Zoltan Istvan.

It's not that the idea that we are living under a simulation is meritless in itself. It's instead that when one argues one way or another, the thing immediately takes on the same spiritual dimension of religion. It's really no different than believing there is a great architect presiding over all, and that all we are and all that we experience has been created by beings on another level of existence. Gods to us. Interestingly, perhaps even greater gods than the gods of humans, because we aren't even part of the real universe that is hidden from us and consequently our own gods are a part of that same illusion.

Bringing the debate of God into science can take many forms and "Are We Living Inside a Simulation" is just another one. It is particularly telling how far proponents of the idea wish to have a serious debate about the issue, when their chief argument is that... are you ready?... we cannot prove beyond a doubt that we are NOT living under a simulation. Now where have we heard this same argument before?

For all purposes we could be indeed living inside a simulation. But how exactly does one wish to propose that theory? Were are the elements that make up the theory? The first thing that needs to be made perfectly clear to anyone wishing to pursue this idea is that so far there is no theory. "Are We Living Inside a Simulation" is not a theory, except to someone who doesn't wish to understand the fundaments of science and what the processes are in order to formulate a Scientific Theory.

Sure there can be a debate. Sure we can even demonstrate a certain bias towards either side of the argument. We can establish our... beliefs. We believe in many things, from peace in the world, or being rich one day to a god almighty. So why not believe in one more thing? But we must do it consciously that our belief on that matter is not techno-scientific. What we are discussing is philosophy and metaphysics and a set of rational beliefs. And so it's when folk like the tech mogul Elon Musk try to present these sparse and unfounded ideas as being full of evidence that we must immediately act to stop it. Which, being the case they have no fundament and thus weakly argued, is not difficult at all.

...

Crazy ideas are worth our time. Many crazy ideas turned out not crazy at all. But some ideas are more crazy than others and more difficult to argue for. And other crazy ideas (the vast majority of the crazy ideas) turned out to be in fact crazy ideas that couldn't go anywhere. The true challenge of an idea is not in trying to pursue it (we can always do that easily), but in not letting the belief dominate the idea. Then we can always keep the idea true to the research principles that should govern our science. We don't want our ideas to become the science of Percival Lowell, doomed to become trapped by the type of belief that no man of science should have. We want our crazy ideas to become the science of Darwin and Kepler, where our beliefs are pursued in strict accordance to scientific rigor and, as Kepler taught us, we can even find we were so wrong as to shatter other more profound beliefs that we have nurtured since childhood. And yet still have the scientific mind to pursue and improve on that we once denied as being true.

And by the way, I propose the radical idea that the beings that created the simulation we live on are in fact living in a simulation we created for ourselves and thus, we are the real deal and they are the fantasy.