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247 Comments
- novenator, on 04/11/2009, -6/+77That's the beauty of philosophy, you can go off about literally anything.
- dlan4327, on 04/11/2009, -0/+51I like the idea that I'm living inside Firefox.
- DangerCollie, on 04/11/2009, -1/+50If this is a computer simulation then fire the programmer because it's seriously messed up.
- offrdbandit, on 04/11/2009, -0/+34Plato was right. The Matrix just added Kung Fu.
- inactive, on 04/11/2009, -2/+34This article was very poorly written.
- sodade, on 04/11/2009, -7/+38I don't get the skepticism for this at all - seems pretty damn plausible to me...
- inactive, on 04/11/2009, -0/+29Bostrom only actually suggests that there is a 20% chance we are living in a simulation and the posted article appears to misrepresent the paper. Seems like he only read the simplified extract or something.
It's not a new idea in philosophy, it's an extension of the brain in a vat thought experiment. With the phenomenal increase in computer processing power and the interest in simulation programs, the line of thought has taken a new spin. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. - Chairboy, on 04/11/2009, -6/+34I like the quote that philosophy is questions that can't be answered, versus religion's stance that it provides answers that can't be questioned.
- inactive, on 04/11/2009, -0/+27They're saving CPU cycles by not calculating the position of every sub atomic particle. Only when a simulant observes the path does the computer calculate it. :)
- bezz, on 04/11/2009, -0/+22don't like pointers?
- stopbrorape, on 04/11/2009, -1/+22His programmer is even worse.
- AJanitor, on 04/11/2009, -0/+19Anyone have the invincibility cheat code?
- christoast, on 04/11/2009, -0/+18except we probably only exist in the matrix, we have no "real" bodies. Life is a program that is being executed.
- christoast, on 04/11/2009, -0/+16But can you?
- RobotKeaton, on 04/11/2009, -1/+16If adding Kung Fu to things is wrong, I don't wanna be right.
- prometheusg, on 04/11/2009, -1/+16No, he didn't. He only thought he did. Anyway, all he said was that his mind existed. He couldn't say that our bodies are physically real. He tried to prove it, but most later philosophers agree that his proofs had some fundamental flaws. The real importance of his work was the methods he developed for his proofs.
- jogleby, on 04/11/2009, -1/+16There is no spoon.
- bitcolors, on 04/11/2009, -3/+18This is so much simillar to my thinking :o
- AlyxVance, on 04/11/2009, -7/+22no
- offrdbandit, on 04/11/2009, -0/+14I doubt it.
We certainly have to do our own garbage collection. - fracai, on 04/11/2009, -1/+15Seems pretty un-falsifiable to me.
- mark076h, on 04/11/2009, -3/+17I watched the 13th Floor last night, great movie.
- st1710, on 04/11/2009, -1/+13That explains the Uncertainty Principle. We won't be able to break through the Planck limit until we get ported to 128 bit architecture.
- gr33nie, on 04/11/2009, -0/+11Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A
- chrisduser, on 04/11/2009, -0/+10Don't worry, the session will save. You won't even notice that you we crashed.
- RetepNamenots, on 04/11/2009, -0/+10It's not your thinking at all - it's just an illusion they've programmed into your computer-self.
- inactive, on 04/11/2009, -1/+11"it's a refereed paper published in the Philosophical Quarterly, which must have been hurting for content."
What, so "Jesus did it" is more realistic? - amida, on 04/11/2009, -0/+10The author of the blog posting could at least provide a proper link to the paper he's mocking: http://www.simulation-argument.com/simulation.html
Also, from the FAQ by the paper's author:
2. Do you really believe that we are in a computer simulation?
No. I believe that the simulation argument is sound. The argument shows only that at least one of three possibilities obtains, but it does not tell us which one(s). One can thus accept the simulation argument and reject the simulation hypothesis (i.e. that we are in a simulation). - inactive, on 04/11/2009, -6/+16I hope we were all written in Java rather than C++
- x986123, on 04/11/2009, -1/+11EA: Please enter your serial number now. Sorry, too many activations, you can't have another kid.
- prometheusg, on 04/11/2009, -0/+9You're right. It's not new. It's actually one of the oldest thought experiments out there. Goes all the way back to Plato - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_cave.
- Myztry, on 04/11/2009, -1/+9Though I'm an Atheist, my favourite surreal existence concept is one where you are God, and everything including myself is just a figment of your imagination.
- raydeen, on 04/11/2009, -0/+8The universe was written in VB. God was prototyping the idea and then said '***** it. I'm not trying to write this sucker in C. That'll take forever!'.
- Harabeck, on 04/11/2009, -2/+10Religion is built on, "God did it, end of story." Historically, anyone that questioned religious beliefs has been persecuted, or even killed by the church.
- johnnysaucepn, on 04/11/2009, -0/+8In certain periods of history, those who publicly and overtly questioned religious practices have been persecuted or even killed by the church.
It wasn't always about religion - it was as much about politics and maintaining control over society. - inactive, on 04/11/2009, -0/+7I was walking down the street the other day and an access violation nearly ran me over.
- Gaalsien, on 04/11/2009, -9/+16Long answer: Nooooooo
- jeffiek, on 04/11/2009, -0/+6Maybe not for you, but the thought is punishment for me. :)
- chicagojack, on 04/11/2009, -1/+7If so, I guess there is no real "punishment" for walking around in my underwear
- Shazbuckle, on 04/11/2009, -1/+7Key words:
Salvia Trip - costumemaker, on 04/11/2009, -4/+10Just please for the love of god be careful about what you do with it. If we are running under Vista, we could crash pretty ***** hard and have to be rebooted.
There are so many things that I don't own yet too :( - RegimeUnchanged, on 04/11/2009, -0/+6It's entirely plausible. There was a British documentary some years ago that pondered exactly this question. Serious people; not cranks. In a modest period of time -- say, 500 years -- when computers are able to render with unerring accuracy everything we see around us, in real time, then the question will not seem so absurd.
- anthropodeus, on 04/11/2009, -2/+8it is unfalsifiable, but it is also statistically certain. it only takes one biological race to spawn a potentially infinite number of simulated races.
- gm33, on 04/11/2009, -1/+6Ship in a Bottle anyone?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_in_a_Bottle_(TNG ... - christoast, on 04/11/2009, -1/+6It's like asking "How many nothings are in a thing/s"
Just becuase you can make a question grammatically correct doesn't mean it has any importance. - drmobutu, on 04/11/2009, -1/+6...he said, just a moment before he vanished, into thin air...
- inactive, on 04/11/2009, -0/+5There is no cake
- offrdbandit, on 04/11/2009, -0/+5The central issue of each case, though, is the fact that the people on the "inside" do no know they are "inside" anything. All they have ever experienced has been "inside" so they have no concept of anything "outside". Of course the Matrix distorts this a bit (where some people just "know" their life is "wrong") to create a conflict, but by and large the idea is the same - keeping someone a prisoner without them knowing they are in a prison.
- hellbent6, on 04/11/2009, -0/+5no the thirteen floor was right. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0139809/
- johnnysaucepn, on 04/11/2009, -0/+5Whether God is involved or not, religions are generally based around sets of beliefs - not proofs based on testable principles. Whether or not they can be questioned is up to the members of the religion.
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