From: Hal Finney (hal@finney.org)
Date: Wed May 22 2002 - 00:57:05 MDT
Curt Adams writes:
> The recursion requires that the universe be digital, which isn't proved,
> to put it mildly. In any case, if that offends you, put in a randomizer
> and there's no loop. If that entity is so limited, anyway, so are we
> in the same way and for the same reason.
It's true, with a randomizer there is no loop, but there are still only a
finite number of states (fewer than there would have been because you're
using some of your resources to run your randomizer!). So now you can
jump around pre-explored states at random instead of running through
them sequentially. But you will have no memory of your trajectory.
It would be as though you were granted a form of resurrection which
consisted of reliving each day of your life in random order, without
any awareness that you weren't living the day for the first time.
If you think of the universe as a four-dimensional space-time
structure, in a sense every moment that we live is embedded "forever"
in the vast space-time block that is the universe and its history.
Each moment existed/exists/will exist in a timeless sense. Being able
to re-experience moments at random does not seem to me to represent a
true expansion of life.
For another perspective, imagine that the time-line of the universe
is drawn on a piece of notebook paper, from bottom (big bang) to top
(big crunch, we'll assume for this philosophical point). The universe
begins, runs for a while, and then ends, a sad story. Now curve the
paper into a cylinder, touching the bottom to the top to make time loop
from the end back to the beginning. This makes the universe seem to go
on "forever", repeating the same thing over and over again. But it is
really a meaningless transformation, twisting or turning the paper does
not change the essence of what the universe is.
Bending the paper in this way is an empty mathematical transformation that
is unobservable and has no real effect. It does not turn a limited life
into immortality. Living with a finite supply of resources is limited
in much the same way. The immortality you achieve is an illusion.
Hal
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