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renaming The Simulation

Eddi

Agnostic
Premium Member
I believe that this dimension of reality (that we are all in now) is a computer simulation...

I have always called this simulation "The Simulation"

However, it is possible to live within The Simulation as though you are playing a role-playing game

It is possible for a person to develop from being a passive Non-Player-Character (an NPC) to becoming an active Player

It's a matter of waking up and taking control, a matter of discovering your agency and then acting accordingly

It can happen to anyone

Indeed it can happen to you even if you don't believe in or have never heard about The Simulation!

To me reality is now a deadly serious RPG

It has lots of RPG features - character development (levelling up) and a system of karma to name just two!

The aim of the game is to accumulate as much positive Karma as possible over various lives (oh yeah, reincarnation is a thing too)

The prize for doing this to a sufficient extent is the option to exit The Simulation

But for those running it it remains a simulation - for the time being at least (but that's another matter)

On the advice of a friend of mine I have renamed it from The Simulation to The Projection

This is an allusion to Plato's Allegory Of The Cave in which shadows projected on a wall are the entire reality to those who have been held captive in the cave all their lives

It says more about the nature of our reality than it does its purpose

So yes, my name is Ed and I believe we are in a simulated universe called The Projection and that The Projection communicates with me via its superintendent super-intelligence

And I don't care if you think I'm nuts :D
 

Secret Chief

nirvana is samsara
I believe that this dimension of reality (that we are all in now) is a computer simulation...

I have always called this simulation "The Simulation"

However, it is possible to live within The Simulation as though you are playing a role-playing game

It is possible for a person to develop from being a passive Non-Player-Character (an NPC) to becoming an active Player

It's a matter of waking up and taking control, a matter of discovering your agency and then acting accordingly

It can happen to anyone

Indeed it can happen to you even if you don't believe in or have never heard about The Simulation!

To me reality is now a deadly serious RPG

It has lots of RPG features - character development (levelling up) and a system of karma to name just two!

The aim of the game is to accumulate as much positive Karma as possible over various lives (oh yeah, reincarnation is a thing too)

The prize for doing this to a sufficient extent is the option to exit The Simulation

But for those running it it remains a simulation - for the time being at least (but that's another matter)

On the advice of a friend of mine I have renamed it from The Simulation to The Projection

This is an allusion to Plato's Allegory Of The Cave in which shadows projected on a wall are the entire reality to those who have been held captive in the cave all their lives

It says more about the nature of our reality than it does its purpose

So yes, my name is Ed and I believe we are in a simulated universe called The Projection and that The Projection communicates with me via its superintendent super-intelligence

And I don't care if you think I'm nuts :D
Suppose I've won the prize and exited The Projection. What does my prize manifest as? What have I gained and what have I lost?
 

The Hammer

[REDACTED]
Premium Member
I believe that this dimension of reality (that we are all in now) is a computer simulation...

I have always called this simulation "The Simulation"

However, it is possible to live within The Simulation as though you are playing a role-playing game

It is possible for a person to develop from being a passive Non-Player-Character (an NPC) to becoming an active Player

It's a matter of waking up and taking control, a matter of discovering your agency and then acting accordingly

It can happen to anyone

Indeed it can happen to you even if you don't believe in or have never heard about The Simulation!

To me reality is now a deadly serious RPG

It has lots of RPG features - character development (levelling up) and a system of karma to name just two!

The aim of the game is to accumulate as much positive Karma as possible over various lives (oh yeah, reincarnation is a thing too)

The prize for doing this to a sufficient extent is the option to exit The Simulation

But for those running it it remains a simulation - for the time being at least (but that's another matter)

On the advice of a friend of mine I have renamed it from The Simulation to The Projection

This is an allusion to Plato's Allegory Of The Cave in which shadows projected on a wall are the entire reality to those who have been held captive in the cave all their lives

It says more about the nature of our reality than it does its purpose

So yes, my name is Ed and I believe we are in a simulated universe called The Projection and that The Projection communicates with me via its superintendent super-intelligence

And I don't care if you think I'm nuts :D


Look into Hinduism's concept of "Divine Lila". The play of the Gods.
 

Eddi

Agnostic
Premium Member
Suppose I've won the prize and exited The Projection. What does my prize manifest as? What have I gained and what have I lost?
Your prize is that you get to join the outside world - but only after you have died within The Projection

So basically, if you've accumulated enough positive karma once you die you exit

It happens once you die so you don't have to worry about leaving your loved ones behind - you'd leave them behind anyway were you to die

What are the advantages of exiting The Projection? - you get to experience and know things you cannot imagine! - there is a whole wide world out there and all we know is only a crude projection of it
 

Secret Chief

nirvana is samsara
Your prize is that you get to join the outside world - but only after you have died within The Projection

So basically, if you've accumulated enough positive karma once you die you exit

It happens once you die so you don't have to worry about leaving your loved ones behind - you'd leave them behind anyway were you to die

What are the advantages of exiting The Projection? - you get to experience and know things you cannot imagine! - there is a whole wide world out there and all we know is only a crude projection of it
I'm probably not up to speed here....
Is not my experience in the Projection the universe? If so, what is the outside world like?
 

Eddi

Agnostic
Premium Member
Is not my experience in the Projection the universe? If so, what is the outside world like?
The Projection is a crude recreation of base reality

It is a computer-generated dimension of base reality - a computational recreation of the universe that is the product of computers that exists as a part of the physical/material universe

Its physics engine is only very basic - physics as we know it is a dumbed-down version of how things truly are in base reality

But we are not yet advanced enough to appreciate this, humans are still in the process of figuring it out

We are nowhere near as advanced as we like to think we are

But this doesn't matter because it was created to simulate Homo Sapiens' civilisation, not the physical world

The Projection is a valid and reliable recreation of Homo Sapien civilisation (Homo Sapiens are now extinct in base reality)

We cannot imagine the outside world, it is beyond anything we can imagine

Just like the inhabitants of Plato's Cave cannot imagine the world outside the cave

But we do know that it is some kind of lush high-tech ecologically conscious utopia

But beyond that, who knows!
 
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The Hammer

[REDACTED]
Premium Member
So basically, if you've accumulated enough positive karma once you die you exit

So it's just another Dharmic form of reincarnation?

Just not "here"?

I don't see much difference then regular old reincarnation.
 

Eddi

Agnostic
Premium Member
So it's just another Dharmic form of reincarnation?

Just not "here"?

I don't see much difference then regular old reincarnation.
I think that once you exit The Projection your mind and personality etc. of your past life will be intact

So for that reason I wouldn't call it a "reincarnation"

I believe that once you exit The Projection you can live forever (unless you get killed) but do so in a world in which reincarnation does not happen as reincarnation only happens within The Projection

You will live forever (unless you get killed) as your consciousness will be a machine consciousness, you would live as a form of artificial life rather than as an actual organic life-form. Hence you will not age or grow old although you will continue to mentally and spiritually develop! This would set you apart from the beings who created The Projection as they are all organic lifeforms who eventually die of old age, although they believe in a Supreme Being.
 

The Hammer

[REDACTED]
Premium Member
You will live forever (unless you get killed) as your consciousness will be a machine consciousness, you would live as a form of artificial life rather than as an actual organic life-form. Hence you will not age or grow old although you will continue to mentally and spiritually develop! This would set you apart from the beings who created The Projection as they are all organic lifeforms who eventually die of old age, although they believe in a Supreme Being

That sounds terrible. I'd rather die, and reincarnate here.

I see no problems with the life we live when it comes to old age/death/disease.

Living forever comes with its own set of problems.
 

Eddi

Agnostic
Premium Member
That sounds terrible. I'd rather die, and reincarnate here.

I see no problems with the life we live when it comes to old age/death/disease.

Living forever comes with its own set of problems.
The Projection will know this and will not allow you to exit, if that is what you truly want, at least in this your current life

Accumulating positive karma for its own sake perhaps?
 

mangalavara

सो ऽहम्
Premium Member
The aim of the game is to accumulate as much positive Karma as possible over various lives (oh yeah, reincarnation is a thing too)

The prize for doing this to a sufficient extent is the option to exit The Simulation

Sounds a bit different from Hinduism. From the Hindu perspective (but not Aup’s perspective), liberation from this world occurs not because enough good karmas have been performed, rather, such liberation occurs because there are no more fruits of one’s karmas, good and bad, to be reaped.

This is an allusion to Plato's Allegory Of The Cave in which shadows projected on a wall are the entire reality to those who have been held captive in the cave all their lives

It says more about the nature of our reality than it does its purpose

This reminds me of how Swami Sarvapriyananda explains the concept of Māyā in the philosophy of Advaita Vedānta. To him, the world we experience is like a film displayed on a screen.
 

The Hammer

[REDACTED]
Premium Member
Accumulating positive karma for its own sake perhaps?

Nope, my goal is, and has been to always and forever be able to help the persons around me.

Even if that means more pain for myself temporarily.

That to me is the sign of a truly "Enlightened One."
 

Eddi

Agnostic
Premium Member
Nope, my goal is, and has been to always and forever be able to help the persons around me.

Even if that means more pain for myself temporarily.

That to me is the sign of a truly "Enlightened One."
Then you are a good person

And for that you deserve tons of positive karma :)
 
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