Welcome to GeekScience.
My name is Diego, biologist, researcher and who said that I'm not an Artificial Intelligence?
Today, we will find out if we live in the real world.. Or not
In 2003, the philosopher Nick Boston did a logical proposition just like Plato's myth of the cavern but with a very serious implication...
The Simulation argument.
Three arguments or three possibilities to discover if we live or not in a simulated universe
The first one is that "it's not possible to create such detailed simulation of the universe with conscious minds inside it."
At our current stage of technological development, we have neither sufficiently powerful hardware
nor the requisite software to do so.
If that's the case, we may see it soon. if technological progress continues unabated then these shortcomings will eventually be overcome.
In 1965, Godon Moore said that the amouth of eletronic components on a computer circuit
like transistors would be twice as big each 2 years, creating the Moore's law. It slowed down recently, though.
But we are still increasing our processing capacity
To the point that we'll have computing power large enough to simulate a human mind!
We already have virtual realities, like The Sims or worlds generated by virtual reality glasses.
In that path, we'll be able to find out if we are or are not capable of creating a very complex simulation in few decades.
The second Bostrom's argument is that simulations are a possibility
But civilizations that can reach such complex simulation, lose their interest in it.
Because they don't want to do it.
Because they don't think it's ethic.
Or worse.
Because they self destroy before getting to this point.
Going with that line of thinking, the argument is that before beeing capable of create such complex simulation
we would be able to create a virtual simulation so pleasurable
that no one would like to do anything else but stay in the VR.
As Futurama already warned us, a robot or virtual reality glasses and a tactile clothing, with a perfect world
or a simulation of a perfect partner, may end the humanity interest in almost anything else.
We would be only in the stage of brain connected to a reality as people in The Matrix,
and I do not think we would be a good source of energy
The third argument is that simulated universes are possible
if that it's possible, according with Bostrom "It's almost for sure that we live in a simulated universe"
by a very simple math probability
one it's possible to simulate a universe and see how people inside it behave
banks could do financial simulations,
historians could simulate differents results for situations like war
companies would be able to do market simulations and the list continues.
The implication is that would exist billions of simulated worlds and only one real world.
In other words, in a world where universe simulation are possible, it would be much more virtual people than real people.
Now imagine a ballot box with billions of blue balls and only one red ball.
just like that, the chance to get the red ball is much smaller
the chances that we're in one of the billions simulated worlds is bigger that the chance that we are in the real one.
In that case, we would be inside Matrix
but not like Neo
like those agents with the all virtual part of this simulation
and the simulation doesn't need to be realistic and build the universe with all its details
As self generated scenarios that we are already building for more complex games
the simulated universe can be very simple for most people living in it
and only seem more complex for those who look closely .
There is no need to simulate all the atoms, for example
only those that someone, inside the simulation, decided to closely examine
The laws of physics would be a
programming code that the universe needs to follow
Without detailing every part of it.
and the Big Bang actually would be the Big Boot.
A virtual world could be programmed to not let us know that it's virtual
because fot those who are inside it, everything is real
inside the simulation but real
That make us wonder if it's ethic to create such a thing, if their suffering would be just like ours.
And if you need signs that we are in a simulation,
the theoretical physicist Jim Gates explained to Neil deGrasse Tyson in a debate at the American Museum
that "part of supersymmetry solutions in String Theory
are equivalent to the error correction code in computer programming."
Not only that, the philosopher David Johnson said: " the quantum world does look like a simulation"
Atoms and even photons behave like a wave, with no defined speed or position
and those skills are only visible if we look closely.
A way to find out if we are in a simulation is trying to find flaws in the code
Bugs or situacions where the universe don't behave like it should.
A place where everything is confuse.
Nothing makes sense.
And the consequences are enormous.
I think the Islamic state is our bug.
Do not forget to follow our blog for more philosophy once in a while.
And until the next post if it's not all an illusion
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^there full of shit
