Simulations all the way down—the philosophical debate on the nature of our Universe.

Ever since Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom proposed his simulation argument in 2001, the nerdiverse has attempted to assess the possibility that reality is not really real, that what we experience as our Universe is instead the product of a computer simulation. Popular figures such as Elon Musk and Neil deGrasse Tyson have offered their own conclusions, but taking a firm stance was not the point of Bostrom’s argument. Instead, Bostrom’s position is nuanced and careful, and it doesn’t arrive at fixed answers.

The Universe in a box

The trilemma

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The blue pill

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462 sats \ 2 replies \ @OriginalSize 31 Jan

Tired. Why are we so fascinated with this question?! I've heard some good answers on it, but it's like the energizer bunny. So I wonder, why do we keep asking, and clicking?

I believe it's because science and technology have squeezed spirituality into a such a tiny box that the spiritual part of our brain is left with wheels spinning. If we're lucky we transfer our religion to other things (like Bitcoin) but many haven't seen Satoshi's light so they keep hammering on reality itself. Theoretical physics requires more math than most of us know so the best we can do is grab onto something squishy like this.

Am I wrong?

193 sats \ 0 replies \ @0xbitcoiner OP 31 Jan

That's a good point of view. I think it is the incessant search for answers about our surroundings or where we come from that always awakens questioning.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @drlh 31 Jan

Science squeezed spirituality? What transfer of religion? What do you mean?

350 sats \ 2 replies \ @Malachi17 31 Jan

No, it isn't, and yes, we can.

221 sats \ 0 replies \ @SwearyDoctor 31 Jan

this is the only real answer. It's one of these pseudo-serious thought experiments that's not even worth debunking.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @0xbitcoiner OP 31 Jan

https://imgprxy.stacker.news/ayfhYRd6CQEzmPu_S4GfT_9qRCK-LThzUKyEhRAfcHA/rs:fit:1280:720/aHR0cHM6Ly9tLnN0YWNrZXIubmV3cy85MDMy

101 sats \ 1 reply \ @k00b 31 Jan

Yes and I'm not sure we could tell unless told by someone we trust to be "outside the simulation." Anything that happens inside a simulation is real regardless of how strange it seems because simulation people have no reference for what something real is like.

170 sats \ 0 replies \ @0xbitcoiner OP 31 Jan

it is a logical and coherent reasoning

41 sats \ 0 replies \ @Entrep 31 Jan

No matter if it is a simulation, as far as I make it in life then it has to be the best simulation ever

66 sats \ 5 replies \ @herschel 31 Jan

For me, while I know it's not the intent of Bostrom, this idea plays into the clownosophy about imitation intelligence being superior to human intelligence and to consciousness itself. That's why the anti-human movement likes to propagate it. Imo.

20 sats \ 4 replies \ @0xbitcoiner OP 31 Jan

I didn't know there was an anti-human movement. I'm going to research it.

0 sats \ 3 replies \ @herschel 31 Jan

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @0xbitcoiner OP 31 Jan

I had a hunch that Nietzsche was behind this

Criticism of humanism as over-idealistic began in the 19th century. For Friedrich Nietzsche, humanism was nothing more than an empty figure of speech – a secular version of theism. Max Stirner expressed a similar position in his book The Ego and Its Own, published several decades before Nietzsche's work. Nietzsche argues in Genealogy of Morals that human rights exist as a means for the weak to constrain the strong; as such, they do not facilitate the emancipation of life, but instead deny it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antihumanism

66 sats \ 1 reply \ @herschel 31 Jan

That's right over the target. I wonder what Wikipedia says about how it's not ego, but a fascination with the fact that our intelligence is already integrated with our universe without any machines, ones, or zeros?

20 sats \ 0 replies \ @0xbitcoiner OP 31 Jan

https://imgprxy.stacker.news/BXx3n7YWV1clHpC5FhVtcspurg8uNXGG01jnQkB-lTc/rs:fit:1280:720/aHR0cHM6Ly9tLnN0YWNrZXIubmV3cy82NDEz

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @thebitcoinbugle 31 Jan

It's definitely a simulation that was poorly programmed. Biden just appointed John Podesta as Climate Czar

Could Our Universe Be a Simulation? How Would We Even Tell ?

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