From: hal@finney.org
Date: Mon Dec 03 2001 - 14:48:32 MST
Nick writes:
> Do you think you are currently living in a computer simulation (like the
> Matrix)? No? Thought so.
Isn't this a case of jumping to conclusions? What evidence do we have
one way or the other?
Robin Hanson proposed that simulations would be more likely to be
interesting, or perhaps to be such that future visitors could interact
with present-day people incognito (see his paper,
http://hanson.gmu.edu/lifeinsim.html). To the extent that we live in
"interesting times" there could be some slight evidence in favor of the
possibility. But it is hard to come to very concrete conclusions since
we know so little about the probable motivations of our super-powerful
descendants.
So I would not answer "No" very quickly to the question of whether we
are living in a simulation. The question is very much open IMO.
Hal
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 08:12:20 MST