Uncovering a Simulation

Are you shocked by QM(as in classical mechanics)?Or is it QFT that is shocking you?

Well we have to be made of something at the most fundamental level, why not energy and waves? But, technically we are made of particles too, and atoms, and molecules, and cells etc, etc...The energy & waves is just the most micro part we know about the universe, and everything in it.Also, reality is what it is. Bats use sonar to see reality. We use our eye's. Other species don't see a reality at all. Shouldn't you feel privileged, rather than shocked to experience the reality you get to see and find out how it works? Nothing about you will change no matter what you come to find out about reality, it always was and always will be nothing more than what you experience...for a short while, till it's over, so enjoy the ride.

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"All great truths begin as blasphemies""I smoke pot. If this bothers anyone, I suggest you look around at the world in which we live and shut your mouth."--Bill Hicks"I never knew there was another option other than to question everything"--Noam Chomsky

Hi Abogot,I'd say The better of the current unifying theories seem to be going this route. A few reasons I believe.

• 1. A simulation is a man made concept. Lets give you the benefit of the doubt and say that yes, God created something along the lines of a simulation. However, since it is God who built it it's not going to be something like a human created-simulation, it's going to be something much more comeplex...like our current reality. SO if God created a simulation, since it is the only thing we know that exists, it is real in every sense of the word...Gods simulation is the reality and there is NO need to call it a simulation because it is the only one. The definition of simulation is: 'the imitation of some real thing'(wiki). SO by that definition there has to be a real reality somewhere to imitate from...why can't we just be the real thing and a simulation exist somewhere else? But then again this brings me back to the first point, and that is, simulations are a man made concept because we use them to imitate what we see. What is God seeing that he created us as an imitation of it? Another reality somewhere? If you say that he is not imitating anything else and this is the only simulation there is, then by definition you are not describing a simulation, you have described a single creation. Are you saying that you are a creationist Abogot?
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• 2. It removes free will. Not in the spiritual sense, or some other philosophical sense, I just mean in our ability to choose what we want for our futures, what we want to work in, what dreams one may have and have the free will to pursue it, or not. I mean free will in that the mechanical fuction of our brains are independant from anything else in the universe.
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• 3. It would require an intelligent designer. Intelligence is the by-product of evolution and natural selections applied to a planet for 3.5 billion years, whoever created the simulation had to have undergone some kind of similar evolutionary process and now you run into the same old argument of, 'who created the designer?', and NOW the added new one of 'is that designer also in a simulation? How would HE know HE was not in a simulation HIMSELF?'. It becomes one of those dreaded on going, never ending philosophical questions that I believe are un-necessary.
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• 4. Specifically for the scenario I choose, (Eternal universe with infinite number of Big Bangs), alot of physicist seem to be agreeing with this one. However, it would not remove the simulation paradox, but the above 3 reasons were good enough to do that, IMO.
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• 5. The last reason I believe is simply that you are making a giant leap in speculating what is factual about QM. I think your simulation paradox requires alot more from QM than we know about it.

Abogot, we don't know anything about reality, we experience our own particular brand of reality, and we have made sense of it. We do NOT live in the quantum world, we cannot see the quantum world, we do not go in and out of a quantum state of reality...so to focus on a quantum mechanical world and that be how you base your understanding or your reality seems, again, un-necessary. Enjoy understanding your reality, it's complex enough.Your paradox reminds me of RAZD's signature, I don't know if he made that up himself but, it's very profound and seems to fit the theme of the topic. We as conscious beings have been able to understand a large portion of whats going on in our wolrd and universe, but we seem to never be satisfied with just knowing almost enough, we have to conjure up amazing scenarios just to quench that curiosity. However, I do admit that it makes for great conversations over a couple of drinks.Edited by onifre, : spellingEdited by onifre, : No reason given.

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"All great truths begin as blasphemies""I smoke pot. If this bothers anyone, I suggest you look around at the world in which we live and shut your mouth."--Bill Hicks"I never knew there was another option other than to question everything"--Noam Chomsky

Hi Abogot,In my opinion you have not yet addressed the points I made about the Simulation Paradox.

• 1. If God(or whatever else anyone wishes to call it), created a simulation, then as per the definition of simulation(the imitation of some real thing'), there has to be a real reality that God is imitating. As I pointed out, if you say that this reality we perceive is the only simulation, then again, by definition, it is not a simulation, it is just a single creation...be it any type of reality it is, it would still be just one, and as such not a simulation.
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• 2. A simultaion would require an intelligent designer. Intelligence is the by-product of evolution and natural selections applied to a planet for 3.5 billion years, whoever created the simulation had to have undergone some kind of similar evolutionary process and now you run into the same old argument of, 'who created the designer?'
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• 3. And point 2 leads us to the other paradox of, "How does God know that He himself is not in a simulation? In fact how does He know that He is a God at all? We humans can create simulations, are we going to be Gods? But, if we are in a simulation, AND we can create simulations, the paradox becomes never ending. At that point, to me, it seems like just another one of those philosophical paradox's that have no real answers, other than subjective interpretations.

Care to tackle an of those 3 points?

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"All great truths begin as blasphemies""I smoke pot. If this bothers anyone, I suggest you look around at the world in which we live and shut your mouth."--Bill Hicks"I never knew there was another option other than to question everything"--Noam Chomsky

Hi Abogot,Do you feel you should be reading into these quotes so deeply?

First, nothing is self-arising, nothing is self-designed, energy fields are not conscious. It just seems that you are using these quotes as definative evidence of something existing other than the reality you are conscious of.I'd like to know a bit more about what you feel QFT suggest about reality. I cannot believe that you think it means nothing is real, do you?

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"All great truths begin as blasphemies""I smoke pot. If this bothers anyone, I suggest you look around at the world in which we live and shut your mouth."--Bill Hicks"I never knew there was another option other than to question everything"--Noam Chomsky