Jaron's World Are We Trapped in God's Video Game?

[brownelvis54]

I often wondered this too, as probally most have.

"There are certain questions about virtual reality (VR) that I’ve been asked a few times a day, every day, for over a quarter century. The e-mails still come in, from a kid in Korea or a grandmother in Australia: Will VR ever get so good that we will no longer be able to tell it’s VR? Is it possible we are already living in VR? Recently even The New York Times got into the act, interpreting an argument from philosopher Nick Bostrom to mean that “it is almost a mathematical certainty that we are living in someone else’s computer simulation.”

Let’s consider the second possibility. Can consciousness arise inside a computer simulation?

 

[Smersh]

Funnily enough, I've sometimes wondered if we are all part of a kids' computer game. As to whether or not consciousness can arise in a computer simulation, certainly not at our current level of technology but as to the future, who knows? I wouldn't care to rule it out completely.

 

[brownelvis54]

Here is the rest of the article



http://discovermagazine.com/2007/nov/ar ... tart:int=0

 

[sacr3]

Well, like the Big bang, and God, its a possibility I suppose. I sometimes sit there and look at the Quantum world and wonder "..hmm...is it even real?".

Could just be a world in which we can interact in. Then again could just be the result of an expansion of space from a dot.. could be a world created by an almighty being, could be a piece of matter that is within another universe that has a different time. (har har)

"shrugs" I don't know.

 

[origin]

I often wondered this too, as probally most have.

Let me assure you I have never wondered if I was a video game.

 

[SpeedFreek]

It all depends if you took the red pill or the blue pill. Of course, if you took the "wrong" one, you won't even remember being offered these pills.

 

[origin]

It all depends if you took the red pill or the blue pill. Of course, if you took the "wrong" one, you won't even remember being offered these pills.

"I HATE this place... this zoo. Its the smell... if there is such a thing" A. Smith

 

[sacr3]

I often wondered this too, as probally most have.

Let me assure you I have never wondered if I was a video game.

"never say never" Right?

I think nearly everyone at one time in their life ponders the actual reality of this world. Some just say "hmm..wonder if this is a video game, eh? hahah" and some actually go down to the scientific level.

Big bang is just as ridiculous as a video game world, and god.. they're all ridiculous

So I won't laugh at this suggestion, nor will I agree to it.

 

[origin]

Big bang is just as ridiculous as a video game world, and god.. they're all ridiculous.

No they are not all equal. There is logical evidence which leads to a viable theory for the big bang. There is no logical evidence for a video game universe or god.

 

[sacr3]

Big bang is just as ridiculous as a video game world, and god.. they're all ridiculous.

No they are not all equal. There is logical evidence which leads to a viable theory for the big bang. There is no logical evidence for a video game universe or god.

Everything you see, everything I see, this whole universe was once a tiny ball of matter? Mmm, of course. Completely Logical.

They're all ridiculous, regardless of their "Evidence".

 

[SpeedFreek]

Big bang is just as ridiculous as a video game world, and god.. they're all ridiculous.

No they are not all equal. There is logical evidence which leads to a viable theory for the big bang. There is no logical evidence for a video game universe or god.

Everything you see, everything I see, this whole universe was once a tiny ball of matter? Mmm, of course. Completely Logical.

They're all ridiculous, regardless of their "Evidence".

It is completely logical to assume that if we observe that everything at the largest scales is now a lot further apart than it used to be, then in the past it was all a lot closer together.

If cosmological redshift is an indication of how long light has been travelling, and the size of an object is an indication of how close it was when it emitted that light, then the galaxies whose light has been travelling for the longest time were really close to us when they emitted that light.

If it seems as if all the clusters of galaxies are becoming more distant from each other as time passes, then it is completely logical to assume that the further back in time you look, the closer they were to each other. How far back can we go before logic breaks down?

 

[brownelvis54]

I often wondered this too, as probally most have.

Let me assure you I have never wondered if I was a video game.

I also never wondered if I was in a video game either................................It was just in the title of the article I read. I have wondered ..................how good VR will get in mylife time, and could in be possible we are in a VR world already and not know it? I also often when will computers become smarter than humans...................outsmart humans?

 

[sacr3]

It is completely logical to assume that if we observe that everything at the largest scales is now a lot further apart than it used to be, then in the past it was all a lot closer together.

If cosmological redshift is an indication of how long light has been travelling, and the size of an object is an indication of how close it was when it emitted that light, then the galaxies whose light has been travelling for the longest time were really close to us when they emitted that light.

If it seems as if all the clusters of galaxies are becoming more distant from each other as time passes, then it is completely logical to assume that the further back in time you look, the closer they were to each other. How far back can we go before logic breaks down?

I Understand this is the "biggest" theory we have as to how it all started, but when I hear a Man put down any other thoughts on how it all began by saying all this mass we see was a tiny little chunk, from the size of an atom to the size of a needle, and it just expanded.. Really now.

If they said the Universe itself was the size of.. I don't know, A galaxy and then expanded from that size maybe It would be a bit more believable. I suppose its just the size they claim it was that gets me.

But then questions arise, why was there this dense ball of matter/spacetime.. where did it sit.. where did it come from. That I understand won't beable to be answered.. but to me so far all beliefs sound ridiculous

 

[SpeedFreek]

I Understand this is the "biggest" theory we have as to how it all started, but when I hear a Man put down any other thoughts on how it all began by saying all this mass we see was a tiny little chunk, from the size of an atom to the size of a needle, and it just expanded.. Really now.

If they said the Universe itself was the size of.. I don't know, A galaxy and then expanded from that size maybe It would be a bit more believable. I suppose its just the size they claim it was that gets me.

But then questions arise, why was there this dense ball of matter/spacetime.. where did it sit.. where did it come from. That I understand won't beable to be answered.. but to me so far all beliefs sound ridiculous

Well in that case it is a good thing that science isn't about belief then. The Big-Bang is not a belief, it is a scientific theory that explains the observations we have made, better than any other theory so far.

The idea that we are trapped in God's video game is essentially asking if our universe was constructed as a plaything by a God, which is basically what creationism is all about (although creationist gods tend to take the universes they create very seriously). If we know of no way to test the hypothesis, it cannot become a theory.

To be pragmatic here, what if I say that whoever might have created this simulation has done a very good job of concealing it from us and leaving lots of false clues around that are supposed to make us come to the conclusion that it all began with the Big-Bang?