Are we living in a simulation?

[Alisha_]

This question has really interested me for awhile now. I've watched and listened to quite a few things that state there is a high possibility that we are living in a simulation. Like Kurzgesagt's video "Is Reality Real? the Simulation Argument".

I'm curious how others feel on this topic?

[Nnoki]

It would be almost impossible, how can something simulate billions of things, like everybody's life, also there could be 2 types:
1. Where we're all in a simuation:
What about babies? when did they got into simulation and how newborns get into it?
2. We're all a simulation
How can you make billions of different persons, that develop a life and not "crash", how this "simulation" keeps running and who simulates it?
if it is true, what is death then?

[Anniebanannie]

I don't believe that. Can I prove it one way or another? No. I do know that our perceptions of things differ. It's a wonder that we have enough in common to keep the world going.

[mattsmith48]

It is an interesting idea, a lot of scientists have debated, Nnoki if you look how much and how fast our own technology as developing, you can't rule out the possibility that one day we could reach the point where we can easily create a simulation this big from a child's computer. Who knows how far it can go?

[Alisha_]

It would be almost impossible, how can something simulate billions of things, like everybody's life, also there could be 2 types:
1. Where we're all in a simuation:
What about babies? when did they got into simulation and how newborns get into it?
2. We're all a simulation
How can you make billions of different persons, that develop a life and not "crash", how this "simulation" keeps running and who simulates it?
if it is true, what is death then?

1. Babies would be code just like the rest of us. As long as we'd have a computer that is strong enough, we'd be able to simulate life and the life that we'd know would just be code. So the newborns would just be new code or recycled code of other things put together for the purpose of "living".
2. If we had a strong enough computer, we'd be able to simulate each and every person. It wouldn't need to worry about "crashing". It could be a singular race who decides to simulate how their Ancestors came to be and how their civilizations lead to where they are now. Death would just be recycling our "data" back into the system in some other form, or just a deletion of it.

[Just JT]

It would be almost impossible, how can something simulate billions of things, like everybody's life, also there could be 2 types:
1. Where we're all in a simuation:
What about babies? when did they got into simulation and how newborns get into it?
2. We're all a simulation
How can you make billions of different persons, that develop a life and not "crash", how this "simulation" keeps running and who simulates it?
if it is true, what is death then?


I think I agree with you some. For me, I guess it’s possible as if like god is playing a huge (to us) simulation game. As we’re all created in his image (according to Christianity).

And what about death?
Do we know what it is whether or not it’s a sim s game or not?

Isn’t death believed to be a sacrament in Christianity?

[Nnoki]

1. Babies would be code just like the rest of us. As long as we'd have a computer that is strong enough, we'd be able to simulate life and the life that we'd know would just be code. So the newborns would just be new code or recycled code of other things put together for the purpose of "living".
2. If we had a strong enough computer, we'd be able to simulate each and every person. It wouldn't need to worry about "crashing". It could be a singular race who decides to simulate how their Ancestors came to be and how their civilizations lead to where they are now. Death would just be recycling our "data" back into the system in some other form, or just a deletion of it.

But you're saying that we are basically code that writes itself?

[Alisha_]

But you're saying that we are basically code that writes itself?

Think about a civilization who is, say, millions of years more advanced than us. There is a very good chance they'd be able to build a computer strong and complex enough to simulate consciousness. With Consciousness, as long as you're able to make the rest of the simulation around that/those consciousness, they'd never even know they'd be inside of a simulation in the first place.

Then you have a simulation that is able to simulate any number of consciousness into any number of data to make a "person". So as long as the computer is strong enough and the simulation is able to simulation consciousness, then you're able to basically simulate a civilization.

So if sometime in the distant future, our technological skills get to the point we are able to make a simulation like that, it would basically prove that'd 99.9% chance we'd be a simulation of someone else. If a simulation could reach a point where that simulation could make more simulations, then there would be a lot more simulations then there would be actual real being, would there not?

[Maurice998]

No we aren’t

[Alisha_]

No we aren’t

Why don't you think so?

[SethfromMI]

I think I agree with you some. For me, I guess it’s possible as if like god is playing a huge (to us) simulation game. As we’re all created in his image (according to Christianity).

And what about death?
Do we know what it is whether or not it’s a sim s game or not?

Isn’t death believed to be a sacrament in Christianity?

I don't think death is a sacrament in Christianity. maybe in the Catholic church. In many Christian churches the sacraments are baptism and communion. I know the Catholic Church (and others) have more so you would have to ask them. In Christianity, death may be the end of your time on Earth, but most Christians believe your soul lives on forever. Either in Heaven if you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior or Hell.

So to address the question presented for this thread, I don't think we are living in some type of Matrix or other type of simulation. I do believe in God and believe God created the Heavens and Earth. While God has ordained some things from the beginning, God has also given us an incredible amount of free will. God wanted us to choose good, sadly humanity more often than not chooses the things they shouldn't. But no I don't believe this is just some sort of simulation.

[Anniebanannie]

Why would an alien civilization necessarily have computers? Why would they make us the way we are -- incredibly imperfect in every way? What are the chances? Isn't it more likely that the world -- and we -- developed randomly?

[Alisha_]

Why would an alien civilization necessarily have computers? Why would they make us the way we are -- incredibly imperfect in every way? What are the chances? Isn't it more likely that the world -- and we -- developed randomly?

From what I've read and listened/watched about this subject. A good reason to make a simulation like that, is to see how their ancestors came up and how they advanced through the ages. So you wouldn't want an incredibly perfect race of beings who would do everything right. You'd want to simulate the flaws of people in earlier times and see how they dealt with the stuff that they dealt with and were able to get to the point way in the future that the being(s) are currently at. A simulation like that would be pretty invaluable to historians to learn about their early relatives and that.

[Maurice998]

Why don't you think so?

I just don’t think so because we have 100% control over our own bodies. You may say well in a sim you have 100% control too. Well who would want to play a simulator where you go to school and learn about s$#t or have depression and anxiety and want to kill your self all the time. Do you see what I’m getting at.

[lliam]

I just don’t think so because we have 100% control over our own bodies.


oh really? The brain, btw some sublevels like the so called subconscious, makes the decision about six seconds before you, the consciousness, becomes aware of it.


Apart from whether the time measured is correct or not, it means that you do not actually decide as consciousness or consciously do it only to a very small extent.

100% control is an illusion. I say that not even the subconscious mind has 90% control over one's own body.

And as the ancient Buddhists already said: there's no reality and everything is just illusion.

It is, of course, futile to discuss this statement without looking deeper into the philosophies of Buddhism.

But generally I came to this consideration:

If everything is just illusion (simulation in the sense of this thread), then reality is just acceptance of the given ... so reality is simply a matter of definition.

So, as long as we can only move in our expierenced physical environment, this physique is reality. Our mostly common expierenced reality. Also, it wouldn't matter if we can definitely and absolutely prove, whether this reality is illusion or simulation or not, as long we can't escape or expand this reality.

So, as said above, reality is simply just acceptation.

[Anniebanannie]

From what I've read and listened/watched about this subject. A good reason to make a simulation like that, is to see how their ancestors came up and how they advanced through the ages. So you wouldn't want an incredibly perfect race of beings who would do everything right. You'd want to simulate the flaws of people in earlier times and see how they dealt with the stuff that they dealt with and were able to get to the point way in the future that the being(s) are currently at. A simulation like that would be pretty invaluable to historians to learn about their early relatives and that.

Interesting point. How would they make sure that the simulations made the exact same decisions and said the exact same things and died at the same time? Otherwise, all sorts of differences would enter the program and everything could turn out differently.

I mean, what if in the simulation, someone had managed to have murdered Hitler. Everything would be different and our historians would learn nothing about ourselves from the simulation that has a completely different history.

[Alisha_]

Well who would want to play a simulator where you go to school and learn about s$#t or have depression and anxiety and want to kill your self all the time. Do you see what I’m getting at.

It would most likely be more of a simulation of our entire civilization. So I highly doubt anyone is "playing" it, it's more of something people could watch to see how their ancestors did things and advanced. So it's not really like a game, just a simulation of the countless years we've been trudging on for. Showing historians how we came to be and that. That would make a lot more sense than a game you'd be able to play and mess around with.

[benbeny]

Nope. I've read somewhere that the amount of atoms needed to simulate every atoms is beyond the amount of the atoms in the observable universe.

[Alisha_]

Nope. I've read somewhere that the amount of atoms needed to simulate every atoms is beyond the amount of the atoms in the observable universe.

You wouldn't need to simulate every atom. Just make them appear for the occasions that someone is looking or paying attention to them, then when they look away, the atoms would disappear to. So not everything would need to be simulated at all times, like what if inside of us is basically empty until someone looks inside or cuts us open? You'd just need to do operations for those occasions and then ignore the rest of the time, that would save A LOT of of "power" the computer would need.

[benbeny]

If the complexity grew linearly with the number of particles being simulated, then doubling the number of particles would mean doubling the computing power required. If, however, the complexity grows on an exponential scale – where the amount of computing power has to double every time a single particle is added – then the task quickly becomes impossible.

The researchers calculated that just storing information about a couple of hundred electrons would require a computer memory that would physically require more atoms than exist in the universe.
https://cosmosmagazine.com/physics/physicists-find-we-re-not-living-in-a-computer-simulation

[Alisha_]

https://cosmosmagazine.com/physics/physicists-find-we-re-not-living-in-a-computer-simulation

"However, that’s not quite the end of the debate. As the scientists acknowledge, we can’t account for advances in computer technology that haven’t yet occurred, and with quantum computing breaking new ground on a regular basis, it’s impossible to predict what lies ahead. A computer system capable of such a simulation might one day look a lot more plausible, but at the moment it’s nothing more than a science fiction dream."

So it's impossible with our technology now, but who is to say that it would be impossible for the technology of the future, No one knows. :P

[benbeny]

"However, that’s not quite the end of the debate. As the scientists acknowledge, we can’t account for advances in computer technology that haven’t yet occurred, and with quantum computing breaking new ground on a regular basis, it’s impossible to predict what lies ahead. A computer system capable of such a simulation might one day look a lot more plausible, but at the moment it’s nothing more than a science fiction dream."

So it's impossible with our technology now, but who is to say that it would be impossible for the technology of the future, No one knows. :P

Still, there is an absolute limit. Nothing can go past beyond it.
Although quantum physics has much more to be discovered, I don't think there are any computer strong enough to calculate the required amount of data needed for computer simulations.

[MeganA]

I hope so dearly.

[SouthGeorgiaTeen]

It could be a simulation, anything is possible lol. Who ever created it did a dang good job.

[Stronk Serb]

I think it is possible. For those who say we are in 100% control, some scientists said that we make about 15-20 conscious decisions a day. So almost everything from getting up to going to bed is subconsciously done.

[Max the Disenchanter]

i mean you would need an insane amount of energy to maintain a simulation as big as our universe

[JQL---]

If we were in a simulation, we would not be able to see so far into the Universe.

[Bakingboy03]

Sometimes I feel like we are in a simulation, but the thought of that and the unexplored galaxy and and planets you Realize how little we know. Its scares me.