neomatrix248
Member
I basically paraphrasing this from famous scientist Nick Bostrom who made this argument, but I think it's something very interesting to think about. Consider these three propositions, all of which shouldn't be too hard to agree with.
1. It is possible for an advanced civilization to run a simulation so detailed that simulated organisms don't know they are in a simulation (I could even see our technology reaching this state within the next 100-200 years).
2. If such a civilization has the capability to do this, they would have a reason to go through with it (research, fun, high school science project)
3. If such a simulation were run, it would not likely be the only one. There would probably be hundreds/thousands/millions/billions of such simulations run over the course of that civilization's life.
Now what sounds more likely.
A. Our universe is the one "real" universe, from which such simulations could be run.
B. We are one of the billions of simulations run from an alternate universe.
Most rational people would recognize that B is more likely (though I recognize that being more likely does not make it necessarily true).
I find this intriguing, because if we were living in a simulation it would have no effect on our lives whatsoever. The only thing that would change is that we would have an explanation for things such as the origin of the universe (the big bang is the start of the simulation perhaps?) and other things that science simply can't figure out (dark matter/dark energy).
What do you guys think about this?
1. It is possible for an advanced civilization to run a simulation so detailed that simulated organisms don't know they are in a simulation (I could even see our technology reaching this state within the next 100-200 years).
2. If such a civilization has the capability to do this, they would have a reason to go through with it (research, fun, high school science project)
3. If such a simulation were run, it would not likely be the only one. There would probably be hundreds/thousands/millions/billions of such simulations run over the course of that civilization's life.
Now what sounds more likely.
A. Our universe is the one "real" universe, from which such simulations could be run.
B. We are one of the billions of simulations run from an alternate universe.
Most rational people would recognize that B is more likely (though I recognize that being more likely does not make it necessarily true).
I find this intriguing, because if we were living in a simulation it would have no effect on our lives whatsoever. The only thing that would change is that we would have an explanation for things such as the origin of the universe (the big bang is the start of the simulation perhaps?) and other things that science simply can't figure out (dark matter/dark energy).
What do you guys think about this?