Do We Live in Simulation?

[Óscar PP]

I recently had a dream (more like a nightmare) where scientists discovered that we were all living in a simulation.

Somehow, they managed to access the supercomputer that created it, and they decided to "unplug" it, so to speak, because they thought it would be best for all of us. Before doing so, they gave humanity seven days to say goodbye to their loved ones and make peace with everything. Then, little by little, things started disappearing until it was just me and my family holding hands, and finally, we disintegrated into "pixels."

I know, my mind comes up with some really strange stuff, but that dream made me start looking into the simulation hypothesis—something I had never taken seriously before. Now, I'm more inclined to believe it might actually be true.

What do you guys think? Is the life we experience real, or is it just an incredibly realistic kind of video game?

 

[gameover]

If it is a simulation, it is run by an evil psychopath(s) who gets high from people's misery. Tinnitus and a few other illnesses are the ultimate punishment for their simulation's subjects.

I honestly hope not. We live in a chaos. It explains tinnitus fairly well.

 

[BB23]

 

[Bob3382]

What a question. I think, therefore I am. We are not a simulation.

 

[Óscar PP]

If it is a simulation, it is run by an evil psychopath(s) who gets high from people's misery. Tinnitus and a few other illnesses are the ultimate punishment for their simulation's subjects.

I honestly hope not. We live in a chaos. It explains tinnitus fairly well.

We certainly do not live in chaos. The laws of physics bind our tridimensional space-time reality. It even has absolute magnitudes that cannot be surpassed, such as the speed of light in a vacuum or the lowest possible temperature of −273.15 °C.

 

[Óscar PP]

What a question. I think, therefore I am. We are not a simulation.

I'm sure the AI we program in a future simulation will reach to the same conclusion.

 

[Fields]

BRB, blasting my Sims characters with loud music really quickly.

So, a simulation, you say?

 

[ECP]

I don't think we're literally living in a simulation, but it certainly feels that way because of how surreal our lives have become. No matter what I try, I can't get well. It's like I keep failing and failing and failing, and I can't find a way out. If this were a video game, I could go online and look up some "cheats" and "walk-throughs" that can tell me exactly how to get unstuck and finish the game successfully. But since it isn't a video game, I'm left to my own devices.

Thank goodness for this website. It's the only place I know where other people are in similar circumstances, and we can learn from each other.

 

[Anomalous]

This is one of those things that is impossible to falsify because, for every argument against it, you can move the goalposts indefinitely. It's the same thing with flat earthers and believers in the Easter Bunny.

If you're looking for an actual mechanism that will instantly wipe out humanity and eventually the entire universe, then you're in luck: it's called false vacuum decay.

Here's a video if you like to sleep at night:



(Just kidding, you really shouldn't worry about this happening at all.)

 

[Rainer]

I recently had a dream (more like a nightmare) where scientists discovered that we were all living in a simulation.
[...]
finally, we disintegrated into "pixels."

Did you, by any chance, watch the movies "Matrix" and also "Avengers: Infinity War"?

Somehow, they managed to access the supercomputer that created it,

For an assessment of the chances that a supercomputer could recreate our current world with all its relations between cause and effect, I would recommend Daniel Dennett's seminal paper "Cognitive Wheels: The frame problem of AI." It's enlightening, and surprisingly entertaining.

What do you guys think? Is the life we experience real, or is it just an incredibly realistic kind of video game?

I think that computer science has not sufficiently progressed since the publication date of Dennett's article. So: If that video game has to contend with the current state of technology, then clearly no.

If that video game is supposed to have been created with some alien future technology that can get around the frame problem, then there's no way of knowing.

 

[momus]

This film explores this question in a very thought-provoking way. I'm in love with Ms Fromm.

 

[Stuart-T]

I can't prove I am not living in a simulation.

But I have no good reason to believe that I am.

 

[LukeYoung]

I love the simulation theory, but I think we have too much free will, or maybe it is just perceived as free will. Who knows?

The Matrix offers the best depiction of a simulation: one where no one is controlling us piece by piece, but the system as a whole is under control. If we are in a simulation, proving it would be incredibly difficult.

With all the suffering in the world, I find the idea unlikely, unless the controllers are malevolent beings who take pleasure in seeing their creations endure pain and misery.