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Comment by shanxS | Hacker News Reader

Sometimes I wonder what it’d be like to live in simulated universe.

Well you are in a way, what is a simulation ? It's just a set of rules you follow that are simpler than the more complex environment that it runs in: I suppose if we could "see" "outside" the "universe", we'd understand that maybe our reality is very simple and limited compared to the "reality" outside. Maybe this would be true infinitely, or maybe the outside reality would be much more logical than ours, and we'd accept it's finite.

But since we have a beginning, and a flow of time, we probably also have a birth, a mother, and maybe even a purpose... but that's a very human way to think, might all just be random soup.

But imagine there's a self-aware agent in a simulation we create, he starts thinking the same thoughts, everyone mock him "we're all just random, there is no God, no design, how could so much energy be spent on such a useless giant block of empty space for any reason", he would have to sort of agree, but he would be sort of wrong. And discovering us, would bring him no solace: we can't tell him of our own designers ourselves. Discovering them, would bring us no solace either, for the same reason. That's why the concept of God is stupid: God has a God too, so what do we do now, solved no problem to accept His existence.

I think modern people have so much faith in this reality, they'd have little chance accepting that it is other than it seems. Any evidence would have to be stark.

Actually, physics supports the probability that we live in a simulation. Our universe has the highest limitation of speed and the smallest units of length and energy.

Neuroscience, psychology, public opinion polls, and internet forums demonstrate that we do.

The problem is, the nature of this style of simulation, as opposed to the Bostrom theory ("the" simulation theory (singular, there can be only one)), makes it (nearly) impossible to realize.

This is both tragic and hilarious, especially since we have extensive knowledge of this flaw.

That concept of God is stupid, some are tautological, and some are experiential. Eg the concept of God is love (if you have faith in the concept and reality of love being real).

When thinking about this one, I always wonder if it even matters.. playing both "Yes" and "No" scenarios doesn't really offer any insight for me. Maybe it's a degree of nihilism but it makes me not get overwhelmed.

A simulation has a nonzero chance of having exploits, and it's debatable whether it is in our best interest to discover them.

What's an "exploit"? Is electricity an exploit of that weird phenomenon where a balloon sticks to a wall sometimes?

I’d imagine that’s an application of a rule, whereas an exploit is a violation of a rule that allows for (a && !a) or some such inconsistency.

God created electromagnetism as a way to transmit power between the fusion plant and its simulated planet, and is now delighted that we also use it to trade Pokemons back and forth.

I consider biting my tongue when eating a glitch in the matrix. If there's a higher level exploit, I definitely don't wanna know!

Consciousness is the exploit.

“I don't know, Timmy, being God is a big responsibility” https://qntm.org/responsibility

The energy and matter in the universe is actually a big analog quantum computer simulating the result of a set of equations.

Nobody said the simulation had to be run on semiconductors.

It's less commonly said, but the territory isn't the map either.

It would be exactly like this one

It would probably slow down or cause elevated heat between two mirrors.

You say that as if you aren't. What proof do you have either way?

Pretty sure all of you are in my simulation... Right? Or maybe I'm just in a coma and this is a coma dream...

why does it matter?

If we are, we're in a sandbox that cant be escaped. live your best life and get on with it

If we aren't Live your best life and get on with it.

I've never seen the point of the question.

Sometimes people like to exercise their brains with random what-ifs. I've never seen the point of people that never let their brain wander.

What if we could escape the sandbox? Our software has crappy exploits all the time, why wouldn't theirs?

Watch the show Pantheon sometime! No spoilers, just highly relevant.

That series blew me away, both seasons, every episode is just totally awesome. Hard to reccomend without spoiling.

What's it even like to live in a non-simulated one!

The Universe tries its best to catch up with Math. So, Math isn't fully simulable by the real?

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