Are We Living In A Computer Simulation?

Puterguru said:
If I am living in a computer simulation, dear programing gods.

Could you PLEASE SNED PARIS HILTON or GILLIAN ANDERSON MY WAY, just for 20 minutes!

Thanks.
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Gillian Anderson yes! Paris Hilton...Hell no! What are you thinking!
 
Reality and simulation are both arbitrarily defined so there is never going to be an answer to the question.
 
Hypothesizing that one lives in a insignificant simulation causes one to become hot and bothered. Hence, all the random replies in this thread rather than mere complacent silence at the awe of reality itself. I am of the believe we're stuck in a social simulation ;)
 
It is a simulation, but not in the way you think. The universe is simulating itself. It's all just math, calculating and controlling physics.
 
Maybe we're being used to do menial work, like chaining up a dog next to chickens to guard them. We already do that to other animals - breed them into their own destruction and they don't have the first clue about it, they're just used to it, that's all they've (we've) known
 
Simulation with stimulation, a brain (electro-chemical network) inside a body which it uses to gather data for processing. Why is there a need for a program or person controlling us, its already as weird as it gets.
 
Jagger100 said:
The are interchangeable, your bias is the only reason you see a difference.
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Depends on by "god" you mean a higher being or "benevolent, omnipresent, omnipotent protector"

Because If the universe IS a simulation, life is most likely a by-product of the simulation, not a goal. In fact, given the vastness of the observable universe, the timescales that it has existed and the complexity of its structure, perceiving humans as anything special in a universe so immense is like growing attached to a single, specific photon emitted from a city you spent your life building. That's actually MORE likely than noticing a puff of artificial light lasting 100 years on a tiny rock planet orbiting a completely average star in the crowded dust of a typical galaxy in a unassuming cluster of galaxies, in a homogeneous expanse of other unassuming galaxies.

Could a higher being have hit the "play" button and watched everything unfold? sure.

Does this higher being perceive us, humans, or earth as anything other than the equivalent of a single electron orbiting a single atom in a single subpixel of a monitor? probably not.
 
Are we living in a computer simulation?


I don’t care and it doesn’t matter because simulation or not this the universe we inhabit. So it may be a simulation to someone else, but to us it’s a very real thing.

Also...

Reboot was a cool show.
 
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According to the guys who built the pyramids, there is no need for humans to worry about this, since the program was designed to automatically terminate itself in about 1000 years, give or take a century or so...

Therefore, just relax, enjoy the ride and be happy while you can... :dead::wtf:o_O
 
Occam's Razor: The simplest explanation tends to be the right one.

We are a simulation?? uhh no..
 
Its just a simulated simulation. Nothing to see here, move along
 
If we were in a simulation physics would be more Newtonian and centrally updated. The speed of light is the speed of causation, meaning this simulation is completely incoherent. Way harder to run than something simpler. Same as Kerbal Space Program using two body physics, not n-body and definitely not relativistic.
 
Not with quantum computing. The simulation is the computer.

Turns out Douglas Adams was right
 
I engage in computer stimulation occasionally, but wouldn't say I live there...
 
While I'm not doubting the universe we inhabit is a simulation (in fact it's highly likely) but as it cannot be measured or proven or disproven, than it literally has no bearing on how I live my life.

But what one must understand is the simple fact that a computer cannot simulate something as complex as itself in real-time or faster. What this means is that anything capable of simulating our universe must, by necessity, be more complex than our universe. Now that is a pretty crazy prospect. When you get to the level of a computer program being run on a device more complicated than the observable universe, you start getting into some pretty crazy philosophical nightmare.

Something more complex than the observable universe, built for a purpose: How many dimensions of space do you think it has? How many dimensions of time? Could you really even call it an object, that occupies space? Could you really even say that words can describe the nature of its function? What about those who created it, could you even call them beings? Would words like "built" even have meaning to an entity that's existence could in any way result in such a simulation manifesting.

Imagine trying to explain the motivation of the human race to a single vibrating atom within a pixel, illuminating a tiny percent of a '1', in a string of binary code stretching millions of lines long that executes a program you find desirable.

Imagine trying to explain to that atom what happiness or motivation is. This isn't an anthropomorphized atom, either, this is a literal atom of carbon that you have on your screen. Try explaining to it what an emotion is, and call me when it can even acknowledge you, let alone understand.

That would be like what we are to anything that could create the box that manifests the universe that we live in.
 
KazeoHin said:
But what one must understand is the simple fact that a computer cannot simulate something as complex as itself in real-time or faster.
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I generally agree with this paragraph, but I'm curious
why you think real-time or faster is relevant?

What if the "real" universe pressed "pause" on the simulation for an entire "real" minute. How would "simulated" universe be able to even be able to tell that it was "paused" after it "resumed"
 
Quantum mechanics is more complicated then regular mechanics. So there. Try to fix your car with a quark, you bozon
 
Right, to people in the simulation it would appear as real-time. Even if 1 second in this world took 1 hour to compute in the real world.

The simulation also didn't have to start at what we think is the beginning of time. It could have started yesterday for all we know, with all history and memories implanted.

Even without the whole simulation thing, creatures in our world have different senses of time. Like to an insect whos whole life might last a week, or a tree that can live for hundreds of years.
 
Dreaming is a simulation of reality and it is accomplished with the puny computer in our heads.
 
Ofcourse we are in a simulation.

As has been mentioned, the simulation communicates at the speed of light. Has a resolution of planchs constant. Everything constist of energy, matter and information. The universe appears to be procedurally generated: Things dont appear to exist until you look at them.
How do you control AI's from wrecking havoc in the world? You feed them a fake one.
This universe is a simulation, and we are the AIs.
 
Or are we in alternate timelines? If not, whoever is controlling my Simulation seems to be a Noob. Maybe we need a Hero to guide us in these times of need? And here is my vote:
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