Thread: Living in a simulation

If you were to build a simulation of the universe on a computer, any intelligent life that would eventually rise would, I assume, act and 'think' just as we do, with increasing amounts of processing power as their brains allow them. They would search for answers to the origin of the universe but in a simulation I would assume they would observe mathematical constants and phenomena stemming from undetectable origins.


In short, would a simulated civilization of life ever be able to discover that they are indeed just a computer simulation? I say it is likely not possible, though I also think that such a simulated universe's inhabitants would be just as real as we ourselves are, in terms of their experiences and beliefs.

I don't personally believe we are living in a simulation, but I don't discount the possibility of anything I don't know the absolute truth about.

You can actually take this theory one step further by saying you only need to simulate the life of an individual. When the objects around that individual vanish you simply stop processing them, or minimize the processing down to key events only. Much like the movie the Truman show. This would allow an individual to feel as if the world and universe is a vast entity of unlimited objects moving in constant motion when in reality only bits and pieces change as they interact with them. This would save a ton of processing power.

The individual in question would only be presented with new ideas as the "creator" deemed them necessary to add on. So the new invention they read about in the news paper actually was created by the "creator" and the individual would be none the wiser. What's even more cool is that the creator could place the entire simulation on pause while new things were prepared. The individual in the simulation would again be none the wiser. Something like the atom for example would only be simulated to it's core if the individual needed to observe it. In a day to day life only the broader end results would be calculated instead of the very fine details that would be invisible to the individual. In this way an individual could experience "life" as if they were not alone with many of the events unfolding to cater specifically to that individual, or perhaps to help them learn.

Originally Posted by (In)Sanity

Something like the atom for example would only be simulated to it's core if the individual needed to observe it. In a day to day life only the broader end results would be calculated instead of the very fine details that would be invisible to the individual.

Applying the same concepts to a simulation involving multiple consciousnesses again, this point of yours sounds a lot like events of quantum mechanics observation measurement problem, the uniformity of the universe on the macro scale in relativity and the problems between the two ideas. Spooky. Thanks for thinking openly.

Edit: I would like to propose to the scientific community the possibility that our universe is actually just the greatest MMO ever made

There is an interesting paper in which the authors argue that our universe is almost certainly a simulation. Their logic appears impeccable. I'll try to fnd a link for you.

The ultimate irony would be if you or I were actually in a simulation created by our ancestors in "their own image" long long ago after they had progressed to a level far beyond what we know of. Perhaps even placing us in an era from their past to run various scenarios to figure out what could have been changed in their own time-line. No this is not a religious statement.

The thing about a simulation if "time is relative", so it could speed up, slow down and even stop and the "life" inside the simulation would be none the wiser.

Food for thought, or clock cycles

I said before that I don't think people would be able to figure out that they're in a simulation but now I'm changing my mind. I'm beginning to think that such a conclusion would be one of the most logical explanations for any such universe.

Time for me to start research on this by attempting to bend spoons.