this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2024
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I don't think that we're in a simulation, but I do find myself occasionally entertaining the idea of it.

I think it would be kinda funny, because I have seen so much ridiculous shit in my life, that the idea that all those ridiculous things were simulated inside a computer or that maybe an external player did those things that I witnessed, is just too weird and funny at the same time lol.

Also, I play Civilizations VI and I occasionally wonder 'What if those settlers / soldiers / units / whatever are actually conscious. What if those lines of code actually think that they're alive?'. In that case, they are in a simulation. The same could apply to other life simulators, such as the Sims 4.

Idk, what does Lemmy think about it?

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[–] exocrinous@startrek.website 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Of course you're in a simulation. Minds are made of information. Objects are made of matter. Those two can't directly interact, it's a ghost in the machine problem. The reality you see is a mental construct, a false world within your mind. Obviously.

[–] Akasazh 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There's another answer in this thread that's taking the physiological interpretation. But I like this Cartesian one. The question remains of your brain is informed by a trickster.

Yeah, it is. Processing truth is a waste of resources. Fitness beats truth every time. Donald Hoffman proved it.

[–] all-knight-party@kbin.run 2 points 1 year ago

It's trippy to think about. The only things we know about existence are through our own experience, so there's basically nothing about our reality that we could say proves we're not in a simulation.

By that logic it seems probable that we are in one that could be ran by any civilization only moderately further along the scale of time and technology than we are. I don't think it would change whether I thought life was worth living or not, but it would certainly be weird to imagine somebody could be watching what you're doing at any given time.

[–] Psiczar@aussie.zone 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Ludicrous. If we were in a simulation we’d be erased by now because they would’ve done a factory reset and started again.

[–] kromem@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Why? Maybe this is just history class where you learn firsthand the shit show of the 21st century that eventually gave rise to the conditions which created a world capable of simulating its past.

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[–] ultranaut@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

It's an interesting idea but inherently impossible to prove and thus ultimately kind of a useless question for anything but entertainment. I think it's really not much different than believing life is a very elaborate dream and you're going to eventually wake up as a butterfly or whatever.

[–] Cwilliams@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

We could make a religion out of this!

Think more dwarf fortress and you have the way I look at it

[–] keepcarrot@hexbear.net 1 points 1 year ago

I feel like it's secular metaphysics and ultimately doesn't matter. Kinda black mirror if your RTS shotgun guys are conscious know that they will be deleted to free up memory.

[–] NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I think if you take a kind of birds-eye view (i.e. The proverbial forest) of the world around us without putting effort into understanding the granular nature of the individual things (i.e. the trees) around us, then one of the takeaways could be that we exist in an otherwise chaotic universe, which might give rise to this thought that we're living in a simulation. β€”That said, the world isn't chaotic, not really. It is an incredibly complex group of relations and things, and most of it has little concern for us as individuals.

Some of us sometimes struggle to see the forest from trees. Others of us sometimes struggle to see the trees from the forest.

There's a big ol' beautiful world out there beyond our computers and the games we play. It's worth going out and studying a lot of it.

-What would be the implications if we were in a simulation? would it matter?

[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Life is not a game.

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