> Eliezer S. Yudkowsky wrote:.. there's.. at least a 50% chance of this
being...
> a 100% probability. My intuitions, though, tell me that this Universe
> is real down to the quark level, which I don't think would be necessary
> if this were a simulation. Then again, in this sort of situation it's
> kind of hard to trust one's intuitions - but I still do.
Reality sure is funny stuff...
I answered this question to my own satisfaction in 1994 when our first Worlds program actually worked...especially when we included the softbot with extensive knowledge of bartending. The answer is: a virtual world is an actual world under all conditions where the simulated cognitives are unaware that their world is a simulation. Once interior consciousness is available, it is real. I have been aware that we are a simulation since 1994. Yet, a simulation is real where consequences are real/cared about. Consciousness is the only REAL thing...(that I know of). I invite you to visit www.activeworlds.com which is one of the companies resulting from Worlds Inc. Thus, my conclusion is that whether a world is simulated on a hypersupermegametacompumaniac...or a balsa wood abacus of sufficient complexity...it's still a real world.
dave gobel
founder
worlds inc.