In Poul Anderson's Genesis, a far future post-organic intelligence creates simulated environments with conscious inhabitants who think that they really are living in ancient Greece, in nineteenth century England or in an alternative history etc. Andrea summarizes current arguments to the conclusion that we are now living in such a simulation.
(i) If there is one material environment containing many simulated environments, including simulations within simulations, then it is statistically more probable that we are living in one of the simulations than in the original material environment.
(ii) Apparently, sub-atomic particles are observed to exhibit properties that would conform to the simulation theory but I have lost track of the argument.
See:
It gets complicated - and it is getting late here. But Anderson's sf is still at the forefront of speculation.
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I don't believe such speculations. I know very well I am physically real and living in an objectively sensed universe. I am glad looked at ideas about conscious simulations existing within the mind of an AI, but I don't think he believed they'll become actual.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Appearance and reality differ. The only question is by how much.
Paul.
We are living projections within this simulation, but as we are unaware we consider it to be real life. As we are currently in it already, that says something about where we have come from and what happened to that real world.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Schiere!
Paul: This is getting too Berkeleyan and reminds me of how Dr. Sam Johnson growled that he could refute Berkeley by kicking a rock.
Mr. Schiere: I am glad we are seeing a new voice here, the more the better!
I still don't believe in "conscious simulations" within an AI. I could bite my finger, and it would feel painfully real to me.
Ad astra! Sean
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