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Simulated reality is the idea that reality could be simulated — often computer-simulated — to a degree indistinguishable from 'true' reality. It could contain conscious minds which may or may not know that they are living inside a simulation. In its strongest form, the "Simulation hypothesis" claims we actually are living in such a simulation. It has been suggested that simulation software be merged into this article or section. ...
For other uses, see Reality (disambiguation). ...
The Simulation Hypothesis contends that reality is in fact a simulation (most probably a computer simulation), of which we, the simulants are totally unaware. ...
This is different from the current, technologically achievable concept of virtual reality. Virtual reality is easily distinguished from the experience of 'true' reality; participants are never in doubt about the nature of what they experience. Simulated reality, by contrast, would be hard or impossible to distinguish from 'true' reality. This article is about the simulation technology. ...
The idea of a simulated reality raises several questions:
- Is it possible, even in principle, to tell whether we are in a simulated reality?
- Is there any difference between a simulated reality and a 'real' one?
- How should we behave if we knew that we were living in a simulated reality?
Types of simulation
Brain-computer interface In a brain-computer interface simulation, each participant enters from outside, directly connecting their brain to the simulation computer. The computer transfers sensory data to them and reads their desires and actions back; in this manner they interact with the simulated world and receive feedback from it. The participant may even receive adjustment in order to temporarily forget that they are inside a virtual realm (e.g. "passing through the veil"). While inside the simulation, the participant's consciousness is represented by an avatar, which could look very different from the participant's actual appearance. // A brain-computer interface (BCI), sometimes called a direct neural interface or a brain-machine interface, is a direct communication pathway between a human or animal brain (or brain cell culture) and an external device. ...
Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and ones environment. ...
An avatar (abbreviations include AV, ava, avie, avy, avi, avvie, avis, and avvy) is an Internet users representation of himself or herself, whether in the form of a three-dimensional model used in computer games,[1] a two-dimensional icon (picture) used on Internet forums and other communities,[2...
The Cyberpunk genre of fiction contains many examples of brain-computer interface simulated reality. Berlins Sony Center reflects the global reach of a Japanese corporation. ...
Virtual people In a virtual-people simulation, every inhabitant is a native of the simulated world. They do not have a 'real' body in the 'outside' reality. Rather, each is a fully simulated entity, possessing an appropriate level of consciousness that is implemented using the simulation's own logic (i.e. using its own physics). As such, they could be downloaded from one simulation to another, or even archived and resurrected at a later date. It is also possible that a simulated entity could be moved out of the simulation entirely by means of mind transfer into a synthetic body (an example of this in fiction is when SID 6.7 escapes his simulated reality in the movie Virtuosity). Another way of getting an inhabitant of the virtual reality out of its simulation would be to "clone" the entity, by taking a sample of its virtual DNA and create a real-world counterpart from that model. The result would not bring the "mind" of the entity out of its simulation, but its body would be born in the real world (Just like in the novel Loop, from the Ring series). In transhumanism and science fiction, mind transfer (also referred to as mind uploading or mind downloading, depending on ones point of reference), whole body emulation, or electronic transcendence refers to the hypothetical transfer of a human mind to an artificial substrate. ...
Virtuosity is a 1995 science fiction movie telling the story of a virtual villains successful attempt to escape into the real world. SID 6. ...
Virtuosity is a 1995 science fiction movie directed by Brett Leonard. ...
The structure of part of a DNA double helix Deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, is a nucleic acid molecule that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms. ...
// A loop is generally something that closes back on itself such as a circle or ring. ...
Look up ring in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
This category subdivides into two further types:
and Artificial consciousness (AC), also known as machine consciousness (MC) or synthetic consciousness, is a field related to artificial intelligence and cognitive robotics whose aim is to define that which would have to be synthesized were consciousness to be found in an engineered artifact. ...
- Solipsistic simulation in which consciousness is simulated and the "world" participants perceive exists only within their minds.
Emigration In an emigration simulation, the participant enters the simulation from the outer reality, as in the brain-computer interface simulation, but to a much greater degree. On entry, the participant uses mind transfer to temporarily relocate their mental processing into a virtual-person. After the simulation is over, the participant's mind is transferred back into their outer-reality body, along with all new memories and experience gained within. In transhumanism and science fiction, mind transfer (also referred to as mind uploading or mind downloading, depending on ones point of reference), whole body emulation, or electronic transcendence refers to the hypothetical transfer of a human mind to an artificial substrate. ...
Intermingled
 Morpheus teaches Neo inside a small simulated reality An intermingled simulation supports both types of consciousness: players from the outer reality who are visiting (as a brain-computer interface simulation) or emigrating, and virtual-people who are natives of the simulation and hence lack any physical body in the outer reality. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (852x480, 35 KB) Screen-shot from movie The Matrix, for use in the Simulated reality article which makes many references to the movie. ...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (852x480, 35 KB) Screen-shot from movie The Matrix, for use in the Simulated reality article which makes many references to the movie. ...
The Matrix movies feature an intermingled type of simulation: they contain not only human minds (with their physical brains remaining outside), but also the 'agents', who are sovereign software programs indigenous to the computed realm. This article is about the 1999 film. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
Arguments
We are living in a simulation
Nick Bostrom's argument The philosopher Nick Bostrom investigated the possibility that we may be living in a simulation.[1] A simplified version of his argument is: Nick Bostrom (Boström in the original Swedish) is a philosopher at the University of Oxford, and known for his work on the anthropic principle. ...
- i. It is possible that a civilization could create a computer simulation which contains individuals with artificial intelligence.
- ii. Such a civilization would likely run many – say billions – of these simulations (just for fun; for research, etc.)
- iii. A simulated individual inside the simulation wouldn’t know that it’s inside a simulation – it’s just going about its daily business in what it considers the “real world”.
Then the ultimate question is – if one accepts that points 1-2-3 are at least possible, which of the following is more likely? - a. We are the one civilization out there in the universe that will eventually develop the ability to run AI simulations? Or,
- b. We are one of the billions of simulations that has run? (Remember point iii.)
In greater detail, his argument attempts to prove the trichotomy, that: A trichotomy is a splitting into three parts, and, apart from its normal literal meaning, can refer to: trichotomy (mathematics), in the mathematical field of order theory trichotomy (philosophy), for the idea that man has a threefold nature In taxonomy, a trichotomy is speciation of three groups from a common...
- either
- intelligent races will never reach a level of technology where they can run simulations of reality so detailed they can be mistaken for reality; or
- races who do reach such a level do not tend to run such simulations; or
- we are almost certainly living in such a simulation.
Bostrom's argument uses the premise that given sufficiently advanced technology, it is possible to simulate entire inhabited planets or even larger habitats or even entire universes as quantum simulations in time/space pockets, including all the people on them, on a computer, and that simulated people can be fully conscious, and are as much persons as non-simulated people.
If we then assume that the human race could reach such a technological level without destroying themselves in the process (i.e. we deny the first hypothesis); and that once we reached such a level we would still be interested in history, the past, and our ancestors, and that there would be no legal or moral strictures on running such simulations (we deny the second hypothesis) - then
- it is likely that we would run a very large number of so-called ancestor simulations;
- and that, by the same line of reasoning, many of these simulations would in turn run other sub-simulations, and so on;
- and that given the fact that right now it is impossible to tell whether we are living in one of the vast number of simulations or the original ancestor universe, the likelihood is that the former is true.
Assumptions as to whether the human race (or another intelligent species) could reach such a technological level without destroying themselves depend greatly on the value of the Drake equation, which gives the number of intelligent technological species communicating via radio in a galaxy at any given point in time. The expanded equation looks to the number of posthuman civilizations that ever would exist in any given universe. If the average for all universes, real or simulated, is greater than or equal to one such civilization existing in each universe's entire history, then odds are rather overwhelmingly in favor of the proposition that the average civilization is in a simulation, assuming that such simulated universes are possible and such civilizations would want to run such simulations. The Drake equation (rarely also called the Green Bank equation or the Sagan equation) is a famous result in the speculative fields of exobiology, astrosociobiology and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. ...
Frank Tipler's Omega Point Physicist Frank Tipler envisages a similar scenario to Nick Bostrom's argument: a hypothetical cosmological scenario where, as the Universe comes to an end in a Big Crunch, the computational capacity of the Universe is capable of increasing at a sufficient rate that this computation rate is accelerating hyperbolically faster than time runs out. In principle, a simulation run on this Universe-computer can thus continue forever in its own terms, even though the external Universe lasts only a finite time. Frank J. Tipler is a professor of mathematical physics at Tulane University, New Orleans, physicist, theologian and cornucopian philosopher. ...
Nick Bostrom (Boström in the original Swedish) is a philosopher at the University of Oxford, and known for his work on the anthropic principle. ...
This article is about the cosmological theory. ...
The implication of this theory for present-day humans is that this ultimate cosmic computer will essentially be able to resurrect everyone who has ever lived, by recreating all possible quantum brain states within the master simulation. This would manifest as an "emigration" or "virtual person" simulated reality. From the perspective of the inhabitant, the Omega Point represents an infinite-duration afterlife, which could take any imaginable form due to its virtual nature. At first glance, Tipler's hypothesis requires some means by which the inhabitants of the far future can recover historical information in order to reincarnate their ancestors into a simulated afterlife. However, if they really have access to infinite computing power, that is no problem at all -- they can just simulate "all possible worlds". (This line of thought is continued in Platonic simulation theories). Omega point is a term invented by French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin to describe the ultimate maximum level of complexity-consciousness, considered by him the aim towards which consciousness evolves. ...
For other uses, see Afterlife (disambiguation). ...
Infinity is a word carrying a number of different meanings in mathematics, philosophy, theology and everyday life. ...
In philosophy and logic, the concept of possible worlds is used to express modal claims. ...
Simulated reality is the idea that reality could be simulated — often computer-simulated — to a degree indistinguishable from true reality. ...
However, recent observations suggesting an accelerating universe mean that the Big Crunch, on which the theory was originally predicated, is now thought an unlikely scenario.
Computationalism & Platonic simulation theories Computationalism is a philosophy of mind theory stating that cognition is a form of computation. It is relevant to the Simulation Hypothesis in that it illustrates how a simulation could contain conscious subjects, as required by a "virtual people" simulation. For example, it is well known that physical systems can be simulated to some degree of accuracy. If computationalism is correct, and if there is no problem in generating artificial consciousness from cognition, it would establish the theoretical possibility of a simulated reality. However, the relationship between cognition and phenomenal consciousness is disputed. It is possible that consciousness requires a substrate of "real" physics, and simulated people, while behaving appropriately, would be philosophical zombies. This would also negate Nick Bostrom's simulation argument; we cannot be inside a simulation, as conscious beings, if consciousness cannot be simulated. A computer is a device or machine for processing information from data according to a program — a compiled list of instructions. ...
A Phrenological mapping of the brain. ...
Look up Cognition in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Look up computation in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Simulated reality is the idea that reality could be simulated — often computer-simulated — to a degree indistinguishable from true reality. ...
Unsolved problems in cognitive science: How is it possible to resolve the Hard Problem? The term hard problem of consciousness, coined by David Chalmers[1][2], refers to the hard problem of explaining why we have qualitative phenomenal experiences. ...
Artificial consciousness (AC), also known as machine consciousness (MC) or synthetic consciousness, is a field related to artificial intelligence and cognitive robotics whose aim is to define that which would have to be synthesized were consciousness to be found in an engineered artifact. ...
Redness is the canonical quale. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and ones environment. ...
A philosophical zombie or p-zombie is a hypothetical being that is indistinguishable from a normal human being except that it lacks conscious experience, qualia, sentience, or sapience. ...
Nick Bostrom (Boström in the original Swedish) is a philosopher at the University of Oxford, and known for his work on the anthropic principle. ...
Some theorists[2][3] have argued that if the "consciousness-is-computation" version of computationalism and mathematical realism (also known as mathematical Platonism) are both true our consciousnesses must be inside a simulation. This argument states that a "Plato's heaven" or ultimate ensemble would contain every algorithm, including those which implement consciousness. Platonic simulation theories are also subsets of the multiverse theories and theories of everything. A computer is a device or machine for processing information from data according to a program — a compiled list of instructions. ...
Philosophy of mathematics is that branch of philosophy which attempts to answer questions such as: why is mathematics useful in describing nature?, in which sense, if any, do mathematical entities such as numbers exist? and why and how are mathematical statements true?. The various approaches to answering these questions will...
Platonic idealism is the theory that the substantive reality around us is only a reflection of a higher truth. ...
The Ultimate Ensemble is a speculative possible feature of theories of everything (TOEs), suggested by Max Tegmark. ...
For other uses, see Multiverse (disambiguation). ...
This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...
Dreaming In order to demonstrate the possibility that what we accept as reality is a simulation there should be some evidence that we could point to in order to extrapolate that it is in fact an illusion. Dreaming is one such example where ordinary people are fooled into believing a simulated reality (a dream) is the "true" reality. However, given practice or even chance, it is possible for one to realize that they are dreaming whilst they dream, thus entering a lucid dream. For other uses, see illusion (disambiguation). ...
Hypnos and Thanatos,Sleep and His Half-Brother Death by John William Waterhouse Wikibooks has a book on the topic of Lucid dreaming A lucid dream is a dream in which the person is aware that he or she is dreaming while the dream is in progress. ...
The existence of dreams resolves the questions of whether simulations indistinguishable from "true" reality are possible and if humans are too intelligent to be easily fooled by them. As a result the "dream hypothesis" cannot be ruled out, although it has been argued that common sense and considerations of simplicity rule against it.[4] For other uses, see Common sense (disambiguation). ...
Simulated reality is the idea that reality could be simulated — often computer-simulated — to a degree indistinguishable from true reality. ...
The philosophical underpinnings of this argument begin with Descartes, who was one of the first philosophers to question the distinction between reality and dreams. In Meditations on First Philosophy, he states "... there are no certain indications by which we may clearly distinguish wakefulness from sleep",[5] and goes on to conclude that "It is possible that I am dreaming right now and that all of my perceptions are false".[5] This same dream argument is posed by Zhuangzi in which Chuang Chou dreamed he was a butterfly and woke up wondering how to tell the difference between the real world and the dream. René Descartes René Descartes (IPA: , March 31, 1596 – February 11, 1650), also known as Cartesius, worked as a philosopher and mathematician. ...
For other uses, see Reality (disambiguation). ...
Dreaming is the subjective experience of imaginary images, sounds/voices, thoughts or sensations during sleep, usually involuntarily. ...
While people dream, they usually do not realize they are dreaming (in non-lucid dreams). ...
Zhuangzi (Traditional: 莊å; Simplified: 庄å, Pinyin: ZhuÄng ZÇ, Wade-Giles: Chuang TzÅ, lit. ...
Chalmers (2003) discusses the dream hypothesis, and notes that this comes in two distinct forms:
- that he is currently dreaming, in which case many of his beliefs about the world are incorrect;
- that he has always been dreaming, in which case the objects he perceives actually exist, albeit in his imagination.[6]
Both the dream argument and the Simulation hypothesis can be regarded as skeptical hypotheses; however in raising these doubts, just as Descartes noted that his own thinking led him to be convinced of his own existence, the existence of the argument itself is testament to the possibility of its own truth. While people dream, they usually do not realize they are dreaming (in non-lucid dreams). ...
A skeptical hypothesis is a hypothetical situation that raises doubts about knowledge. ...
René Descartes René Descartes (IPA: , March 31, 1596 – February 11, 1650), also known as Cartesius, worked as a philosopher and mathematician. ...
Another state of mind in which an individual's perceptions have no physical basis in the real world is called psychosis. Psychosis is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a loss of contact with reality. Stedmans Medical Dictionary defines psychosis as a severe mental disorder, with or without organic damage, characterized by derangement of personality and loss of contact with reality and causing deterioration...
Quasi-religious arguments Prayers. A simulation may have been built for the purpose of its inhabitants, and so it may respond to their wishes if properly expressed. (This is the secular version of having one's prayers answered if delivered using the correct ritual.) If any sort of prayer or wishing is found to be effective, and is verified to be scientifically inexplicable, then it is grounds to suspect that reality is being simulated.
Interventions. The director of the simulation may choose to intervene from time to time in a way that violates the simulation's normal rules. The director may even choose to manifest him/her/itself to the inhabitants. (This is another secular version of a common religious meme.) For other uses, see Meme (disambiguation). ...
Past lives. The inhabitants may have entered the simulation after living for a period of time in an outer world or in a previous simulation, and so they may possess recoverable "past life" memories. If such memories can be proven to be both accurate and inexplicable, then reality may be simulation which inhabitants can visit multiple times. Déjà vu is a similar concept such inhabitants may experience for the same reasons. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...
For other uses, see Déjà vu (disambiguation). ...
All three arguments suffer from the same two problems.
- The evidence for the religious phenomena appealed to is debatable
- If true, these phenomena can be also explained theologically. They are not evidence for simulated reality over and above other hypotheses. However, such explanations are not necessarily contradictory with simulated reality.
Theology finds its scholars pursuing the understanding of and providing reasoned discourse of religion, spirituality and God or the gods. ...
Look up Hypothesis in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
We are not living in a simulation
Computability of physics - Further information: Computational universe theory
A decisive refutation of any claim that our reality is computer-simulated would be the discovery of some uncomputable physics, because if reality is doing something no computer can do, it cannot be a computer simulation. In fact, known physics is held to be computable.[7] Computational Universe Theory is a subset of an interrelated group of theories maintaining that in some form the universe is a computer. The computational universe theory is based upon one or more of the following assumptions. ...
Computability theory is that part of the theory of computation dealing with which problems are solvable by algorithms (equivalently, by Turing machines), with various restrictions and extensions. ...
The objection could be made that the simulation does not have to run in "real time"[8]. But it misses an important point: the shortfall is not linear, rather it is a matter of performing an infinite number of computational steps in a finite time.[9] These objection do not apply if the hypothetical simulation is being run on a hypercomputer, a machine more powerful than a Turing machine[10]. Unfortunately, there is no way of working out if computers running a simulation are capable of doing things that computers in the simulation cannot do. No one has shown that the laws of physics inside a simulation and those outside it have to be the same, and simulations of different physical laws have been constructed.[11] The problem now is that there is no evidence that can conceivably be produced to show that the universe is not any kind of computer, making the Simulation Hypothesis unfalsifiable and therefore scientifically unacceptable, at least by Popperian standards.[12] It has been suggested that Real-time computing be merged into this article or section. ...
Hypercomputation is the law of methods for the computation of non-computable functions. ...
This page discusses how a theory or assertion is falsifiable (disprovable opp: verifiable), rather than the non-philosophical use of falsification, meaning counterfeiting. ...
Sir Karl Raimund Popper, CH, FRS, FBA, (July 28, 1902 – September 17, 1994), was an Austrian and British[1] philosopher and a professor at the London School of Economics. ...
CantGoTu Environments The concept of a CantGoTu Environment takes the ideas embedded in the Diagonal Argument of George Cantor, the Undecidability theorems of Kurt Gödel, and the limits of computability highlighted by Alan Turing, and applies them to Virtual Reality environments. The argument is set out in The Fabric of Reality (1997) by David Deutsch, and runs thus: Cantors diagonal argument, also called the diagonalisation argument, the diagonal slash argument or the diagonal method, was published in 1891 by Georg Cantor as a proof that there are infinite sets which cannot be put into one-to-one correspondence with the infinite set of natural numbers. ...
Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Philipp Cantor (March 3, 1845 – January 6, 1918) was a mathematician who was born in Russia and lived in Germany for most of his life. ...
In logic, a decision problem is determining whether or not there exists a decision procedure or algorithm for a class S of questions requiring a Boolean value (i. ...
Kurt Gödel (IPA: ) (April 28, 1906 Brünn, Austria-Hungary (now Brno, Czech Republic) – January 14, 1978 Princeton, New Jersey) was an Austrian American mathematician and philosopher. ...
Computation can be defined as finding a solution to a problem from given inputs by means of an algorithm. ...
Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS (23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, logician, and cryptographer. ...
This article is about the simulation technology. ...
The Fabric of Reality is a 1997 book by physicist David Deutsch, which expands upon his views of quantum mechanics and its meanings for understanding reality. ...
David Deutsch (born 1953) is a physicist at Oxford University. ...
- Imagine a computer built to render every possible Virtual Reality. Suppose all possible environments produced by this generator can be laid out sequentially, as Environment 1, Environment 2, etc. Take time slices through each of these of equal duration. (Deutsch specifies one minute, but this could, in principle be anything, e.g. Planck time.) Now construct a new environment as follows. In the first time-period, generate in the environment anything which is different from Environment 1, and in the second time period, anything different from Environment 2, and so on. This new environment cannot be found in the sequential layout of environments specified earlier, as it differs from all possible environments by what happens in one particular time-slice. Hence this means that no such universal VR generator can be created, and there are environments which effectively can never be rendered by any means.[13]
However, later on in the book, Deutsch goes on to argue for a very strong version of the Turing principle, namely: "It is possible to build a virtual reality generator whose repertoire includes every physically possible environment." This article is about the simulation technology. ...
In physics, the Planck time (tP), is the unit of time in the system of natural units known as Planck units. ...
Alonzo Church, Alan Turing, and David Deutsch contributed to the Church–Turing–Deutsch principle, also known as the CTD principle, of computer science. ...
However, in order to include every physically possible environment, the computer would have to be able to include a full simulation of the environment containing itself. Even so, a computer running a simulation need not have to run every possible physical moment to be plausible to its inhabitants.
Computational load - Virtual people
As of 2007, the computational requirements for Molecular dynamics are such that it takes several months of computing time on the world's fastest computers to simulate 1/10th of one second of the folding of a single protein molecule. [14] [15] Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...
Molecular dynamics (MD) is a form of computer simulation wherein atoms and molecules are allowed to interact for a period of time under known laws of physics, giving a view of the motion of the atoms. ...
To simulate an entire galaxy would require more computing power than can presently be envisioned, assuming that no shortcuts are taken when simulating areas that nobody is observing.
In answer to this objection, Bostrom calculated that the whole of human history would require roughly 1033 to 1036 calculations to simulate.[1] He further calculated that a planet-sized computer built using known nanotechnological methods would perform about 1042 calculations per second -- and a planet-sized computer is not inherently impossible to build, (although the speed of light could severely constrain the speed at which its subprocessors share data). In any case, a simulation need not compute every single molecular event that occurs inside it; it may only process events that its participants can actively percieve. This is particularly the case if the simulation contained only a handful of people; far less processing power woudl be needed to make them believe they were in a "world" much larger than was actually the case.
- Brain-computer interface
Some [attribution needed] have argued that a dream is a reality being simulated by certain parts of the dreamer's brain by other parts of the dreamer's brain - possibly showing that a 'computer' less powerful than a whole human brain can simulate oft-believable realities for the senses. Similar arguments would apply to vivid recollections, imaginings, and especially hallucinations. However, all of these things are usually less vivid and do not have to consistently obey the laws of physics, which our world does and which constraint presumably requires more computational power. (Another point some [attribution needed] have made about hallucinations is that the hallucination cannot be interracted with in a rich, vivid way requiring simulation of multiple senses, possibly because the brain knows it does not have the computing power to support such interraction.) - Validity of the arguments
In any case, it is perhaps erroneous to apply our current sense of feasibility to projects undertaken in an outer reality, where resources and physical laws may be very different. It also assumes designers would need to simulate reality beyond our natural senses.
Also, a simulated reality need not run in realtime. The inhabitants of a simulated universe would have no way of knowing that one day of subjective time actually required much longer to calculate in their host computer, or vice-versa. Isaac Asimov pushed the limits of this by claiming that, unbeknownst to the inhabitants, the simulation could even run backwards, or in pieces on different computers, or with a million generations of monks working weekends on abacuses - all without the simulation missing a beat 'in simulation time'. Simulated reality is the idea that reality could be simulated — often computer-simulated — to a degree indistinguishable from true reality. ...
It has been suggested that Abax be merged into this article or section. ...
Irrelevance The existence of simulated reality is unprovable in any concrete sense: any "evidence" that is directly observed could be another simulation itself. In other words, there is an infinite regress problem with the argument. Even if we are a simulated reality, there is no way to be sure the people running the simulation are not themselves a simulation, and the operators of that simulation are not a simulation, ad infinitum. Given the premises of the simulation argument, any reality, even one running a simulation, has no better or worse chances of being a simulation than any other. Look up Ad infinitum in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Occam's razor | “ | All other things being equal, the solution with the fewest assumptions is preferable. | ” | It has been noted that there is no definitive way to tell whether one is in a simulation. It is generally the case that any number of hypotheses can explain the same evidence[16]. This situation often prompts the use of a heuristic rule called Occam's razor, which prefers simpler explanations over more complex ones, and is often implicated in skeptical criticisms of far-fetched hypotheses.[17][18][19][20] Look up Heuristic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
For the House television show episode called Occams Razor, see Occams Razor (House episode) Occams razor (sometimes spelled Ockhams razor) is a principle attributed to the 14th-century English logician and Franciscan friar William of Ockham. ...
This article is about the psychological term. ...
Since it is a heuristic rule, and not a natural law, it is not an infallible guide as to what is ultimately the truth, but only what is usually best to believe, all other things being equal. If we assume Occam's Razor applies, then it would tell us to reject simulated reality as being too complex, in favor of reality being what it appears to be.
Moral license Widespread acceptance of the idea of simulated reality may create a hazardous situation: if everyone believes that reality is an illusion, then they may feel free to commit crimes and atrocities. Released from the empathetic restraint of their knowledge that life is precious and irreplaceable, would-be criminals might run rampant. They might even feel virtuous in doing so, thinking that they are simply making the game more interesting for the other players.
A similar moral shakeup is instigated by the idea that some or most of the other people inside the simulation may actually be bots. Simulated reality is the idea that reality could be simulated — often computer-simulated — to a degree indistinguishable from true reality. ...
However, if we assume that a simulation may consist of multiple participants in a world that is totally indistinguishable from the 'real' world, then some concept of ethics and morality may still apply. For example, if during a simulation a participant picks up a hammer and smashes the hand of another participant, resulting in pain that is identical in all ways neurologically to 'real' pain, then there may still be negative consequences if and when they awake, albeit the hand would not actually have been smashed. (Although if the person was not a 'real' person but also a simulation, then to all intents and purpsoes the hand would have been smashed).
In addition, the behavior of children and adults playing video games who are aware that it is a virtual environment seem to point toward ethics and moral codes still applying. Although anecdotal at best, game designers go to great lengths to control player killers who do precisely what is outlined earlier in this section: wantonly killing other players, breaking social norms already established among players, etc. Player versus player, or PvP, is a type of combat in MMORPGs, MUDs and other computer role-playing games pitting a players skill against anothers, where the goal is ultimately the death of the opponents player character. ...
When examining the possibility of an afterlife, Bostrom points out, "Your fate in that afterlife could be made to depend on how you behaved in your present simulated incarnation." [21] Therefore, the possibility of "higher levels" may result in a situation where it is in the best interest of participants to behave ethically for fear of reprisals from those existing in those higher levels. In other words, simply because you're living in a simulation does not necessarily mean there will not be negative consequences for actions once outside of the simulation.
Scientific and technological approaches
A computed simulation may have voids or other errors that manifest inside. If one can be found and tested, and if the observers survive its discovery, then it may reveal the underlying computational substrate. However, lapses in physical law could be attributed to other explanations, for instance divine intervention, or inherent instability in the nature of reality. Also, certain bugs could be explanations for odd every-day experiences, such as Déjà vu, explained in The Matrix as a glitch in the program when something is changed. A software bug is an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program that prevents it from behaving as intended (e. ...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (852x480, 45 KB) A void in a holodeck simulation, illustrating the sort of bug which if discovered would imply that one is inside a simulation. ...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (852x480, 45 KB) A void in a holodeck simulation, illustrating the sort of bug which if discovered would imply that one is inside a simulation. ...
A holodeck on the Enterprise-D; the arch and exit are prominent. ...
Star Trek: Insurrection (Paramount Pictures, 1998) is the ninth Star Trek feature film. ...
A software bug is an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program that prevents it from behaving as intended (e. ...
For other uses, see Déjà vu (disambiguation). ...
This article is about the 1999 film. ...
In fact, bugs could be very common. An interesting question is whether knowledge of bugs or loopholes in a sufficiently powerful simulation are instantly erased the minute they are observed since presumably all thoughts and experiences in a simulated world could be carefully monitored and altered. Of course, if this is the case we would never be able to act on discovery of bugs. In fact, any simulation significantly determined to protect its existence could erase any proof that it was a simulation whenever it arose.
Hidden messages or "Easter eggs" The simulation may contain secret messages or exits, placed there by the designer, or by other inhabitants who have solved the riddle, in the way that computer games and other media sometimes do. People have already spent considerable effort searching for patterns or messages within the endless decimal places of the fundamental constants such as e and pi. In Carl Sagan's science fiction novel Contact, Sagan contemplates the possibility of finding a signature embedded in pi (in its base-11 expansion) by the creators of the universe. The first easter egg. ...
e is the unique number such that the value of the derivative of f (x) = ex (blue curve) at the point x = 0 is exactly 1. ...
When a circles diameter is 1, its circumference is π. Pi or π is the ratio of a circles circumference to its diameter in Euclidean geometry, approximately 3. ...
Insert non-formatted text here Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer and astrobiologist and a highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics, and other natural sciences. ...
Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ...
Contact is a science fiction novel written by Carl Sagan and published in 1985. ...
A positional notation or place-value notation system is a numeral system in which each position is related to the next by a constant multiplier, a common ratio, called the base or radix of that numeral system. ...
However, such messages have not been found, and the argument relies on the messages being truthful. As usual, other hypotheses could explain the same evidence. In any case, if such constants are in fact infinite, then at some point an apparently meaningful message will appear in them (this is known as the infinite monkey theorem), not necessarily beause it was placed there. Given enough time, a chimpanzee typing at random will allegedly type out a copy of one of Shakespeares plays. ...
The Easter Egg Theory also assumes that a simulation would want to inform its inhabitants of its real nature; it may not.
Processing power A computer simulation would be limited to the processing power of its host computer, and so there may be aspects of the simulation that are not computed at a fine-grained (e.g. subatomic) level. This might show up as a limitation on the accuracy of information that can be obtained in particle physics.
However, this argument, like many others, assumes that accurate judgments about the simulating computer can be made from within the simulation. If we are being simulated, we might be misled about the nature of computers.
Taken one step further, the "fine grained" elements of our world could themselves be simulated since we never see the sub-atomic particles due to our inherent physical limitations. In order to see such particles we rely on other instruments which appear to magnify or translate that information into a format our limited senses are able to view: computer print out, lens of a microscope, etc. Therefore, we essentially take on faith that they're an accurate portrayal of the fine grained world which appears to exist in a realm beyond our natural senses. Assuming the sub-atomic could also be simulated then the processing power required to generate a realistic world would then be greatly reduced.
Heisenberg uncertainty principle German physicist, Werner Heisenberg, discovered that in the quantum world observers cannot obtain perfect information about every aspect of a system: “The more precisely the position is determined, the less precisely momentum is known in this instant, and vice versa.” Werner Karl Heisenberg (December 5, 1901 – February 1, 1976) was a celebrated German physicist and Nobel laureate, one of the founders of quantum mechanics and acknowledged to be one of the most important physicists of the twentieth century. ...
For a less technical and generally accessible introduction to the topic, see Introduction to quantum mechanics. ...
This is often, but inaccurately, stated as meaning that "the observer has an effect on the observed". In quantum physics, the outcome of even an ideal measurement of a system is not deterministic, but instead is characterized by a probability distribution, and the larger the associated standard deviation is, the more uncertain we might say that that characteristic is for the system. ...
Observer Effect is the name of the 87th episode from the television series Star Trek: Enterprise. ...
This "disturbance" interpretation of the uncertainty principle is similar to how scenes are sometimes rendered in video games, where computational resources are limited. Some areas of the simulation may not be rendered until a participant looks at them. This might resemble "observer effect" to a participant. In quantum physics, the outcome of even an ideal measurement of a system is not deterministic, but instead is characterized by a probability distribution, and the larger the associated standard deviation is, the more uncertain we might say that that characteristic is for the system. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
Observer Effect is the name of the 87th episode from the television series Star Trek: Enterprise. ...
However, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle and observer effect can be explained without assuming that we are currently living in a simulation. The universe could just be that way. In quantum physics, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, sometimes called the Heisenberg indeterminacy principle, expresses a limitation on accuracy of (nearly) simultaneous measurement of observables such as the position and the momentum of a particle. ...
Observer Effect is the name of the 87th episode from the television series Star Trek: Enterprise. ...
Digital physics and cellular automata In theoretical physics, digital physics holds the basic premise that the entire history of our universe is computable in some sense. The hypothesis was pioneered in Konrad Zuse's book Rechnender Raum (translated by MIT into English as Calculating Space, 1970), which focuses on cellular automata. Juergen Schmidhuber suggested that the universe could be a Turing machine, because there is a very short program that outputs all possible programmes in an asymptotically optimal way. Other proponents include Edward Fredkin, Stephen Wolfram, and Nobel laureate Gerard 't Hooft. They hold that the apparently probabilistic nature of quantum physics is not incompatible with the notion of computability. A quantum version of digital physics has recently been proposed by Seth Lloyd. None of these suggestions has been developed into a workable physical theory. Theoretical physics employs mathematical models and abstractions of physics, as opposed to experimental processes, in an attempt to understand nature. ...
Digital physics holds the basic premise that the entire history of our universe is computable, that is, the output of a (presumably short) computer program. ...
For other uses, see Universe (disambiguation). ...
Computability theory is that part of the theory of computation dealing with which problems are solvable by algorithms (equivalently, by Turing machines), with various restrictions and extensions. ...
Statue in Bad Hersfeld Konrad Zuse (June 22, 1910 Berlin - December 18, 1995 Hünfeld) was a German engineer and computer pioneer. ...
Calculating Space is the title of MIT´s English Translation of Konrad Zuse´s book Rechnender Raum (published in Germany in 1969), the first book on digital physics. ...
Calculating Space is the title of MIT´s English Translation of Konrad Zuse´s book Rechnender Raum (published in Germany in 1969), the first book on digital physics. ...
Jürgen Schmidhuber (born 1963 in Munich) is a computer scientist and artist known for his work on machine learning, universal Artificial Intelligence (AI), artificial neural networks, digital physics, and low-complexity art. ...
An artistic representation of a Turing Machine . ...
In computer science, an algorithm is said to be asymptotically optimal if, roughly speaking, for large inputs it performs at worst a constant factor worse than the best possible algorithm. ...
Edward Fredkin was an early pioneer of digital physics (in recent work he uses the term digital philosophy (DP)). His main contributions include his work on reversible computing and cellular automata. ...
Stephen Wolfram (born August 29, 1959 in London) is a scientist known for his work in theoretical particle physics, cellular automata, complexity theory, and computer algebra, and is the creator of the computer program Mathematica. ...
Gerard t Hooft at Harvard University Gerardus (Gerard) t Hooft (born July 5, 1946) is a professor in theoretical physics at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. ...
The word probability derives from the Latin probare (to prove, or to test). ...
Fig. ...
Seth Lloyd is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. His research area is the interplay of information with complex systems, especially quantum systems. ...
It can be argued that the use of continua in physics constitutes a possible argument against the simulation of a physical universe. Removing the real numbers and uncountable infinities from physics would counter some of the objections noted above, and at least make computer simulation a possibility. However, digital physics must overcome these objections. For instance, cellular automata would appear to be a poor model for the non-locality of quantum mechanics. Computational Universe Theory is a subset of an interrelated group of theories maintaining that in some form the universe is a computer. The computational universe theory is based upon one or more of the following assumptions. ...
Look up continuum in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor demonstrates the Meissner effect. ...
In mathematics, the real numbers may be described informally as numbers that can be given by an infinite decimal representation, such as 2. ...
In mathematics, an uncountable set is a set which is not countable. ...
A physical theory is said to exhibit nonlocality if, in that theory, it is not possible to treat widely separated systems as independent. ...
For a less technical and generally accessible introduction to the topic, see Introduction to quantum mechanics. ...
Other issues
Non-player characters or "bots" Some of the people in a simulated reality may be automatons, philosophical zombies, or 'bots' added to the simulation to make it more realistic or interesting or challenging. Indeed, it is conceivable that every person other than oneself is a bot. Bostrom called this a "me-simulation", in which oneself is the only sovereign lifeform, or at least the only inhabitant who entered the simulation from outside. The Canard Digérateur of Jacques de Vaucanson, hailed in 1739 as the first automaton capable of digestion. ...
A philosophical zombie or p-zombie is a hypothetical being that is indistinguishable from a normal human being except that it lacks conscious experience, qualia, sentience, or sapience. ...
A bot, most prominently in the first person shooter PC game types (FPS), is a robotic computer controlled entity that simulates an online or LAN multiplayer human deathmatch opponent, team deathmatch opponent or a cooperative human player. ...
Bostrom further elaborated on the idea of bots:
In addition to ancestor-simulations, one may also consider the possibility of more selective simulations that include only a small group of humans or a single individual. The rest of humanity would then be zombies or “shadow-people” – humans simulated only at a level sufficient for the fully simulated people not to notice anything suspicious. It is not clear how much [computationally] cheaper shadow-people would be to simulate than real people. It is not even obvious that it is possible for an entity to behave indistinguishably from a real human and yet lack conscious experience.[1] The idea of "zombies" may have been borrowed from the video game industry where computer generated characters are known as Non-Player Characters ("NPCs"). The term 'bots' is short for 'robots'. The usage originated as the name given to the simple AI opponents of modern video games. A non-player character is a fictional character in a role-playing game whose role is generally created and performed by the gamemaster. ...
// This disambiguation page covers alternative uses of the terms Ai, AI, and A.I. Ai (as a word, proper noun and set of initials) can refer to many things. ...
Subjective time A brain-computer interface simulated reality may be required to progress at a rate that is near realtime; that is, time within it may be required to pass at approximately the same rate as the outer reality which contains it. This might be the case because the players are interacting with the simulation using brains which still reside in the outer reality. Therefore, if the simulation were to run faster or slower, those brains could notice because they were not contained with it. Simulated reality is the idea that reality could be simulated — often computer-simulated — to a degree indistinguishable from true reality. ...
In computer science, real-time computing (RTC) is the study of hardware and software systems which are subject to a real-time constraint—i. ...
It is possible that time passes slower or quicker for brains in a dream state (i.e. in a brain-computer interface trance); however, the point is that they still function at a finite, biological speed, and the simulation must track with them. Unless those interacting with the simulation are augmented and capable of processing information at the same rate as the simulation itself. For the linguistic concept, see augment (linguistics). ...
A virtual-people or emigration simulated reality, on the other hand, need not. This is because its inhabitants are using the simulation's own physics in order to experience, think, and react. If the simulation were slowed down or sped up, so also would the inhabitants' own senses, brains, and muscles, as well as every other molecule inside. The inhabitants would perceive no change in the passage of time, simply because their method of measuring time is dependent on the cosmic clock that they are seeking to measure. (They could perform the measurement only if they had some access to data from the outer reality.) Simulated reality is the idea that reality could be simulated — often computer-simulated — to a degree indistinguishable from true reality. ...
Simulated reality is the idea that reality could be simulated — often computer-simulated — to a degree indistinguishable from true reality. ...
For that matter, they could not even detect whether the simulation had been completely halted: a pause in the simulation would pause every life and mind within it. When the simulation was later resumed, the inhabitants would continue exactly as they were before the pause, completely unaware that (for example) their cosmos had been paused and archived for a billion years before being resumed by a completely different director. A simulation could also be created with its inhabitants already possessing memories as though they had already lived part of their lives before; said inhabitants would not be able to tell the difference unless informed of it by the simulation. (Compare with the five minute hypothesis and Last Thursdayism). The five-minute hypothesis was an idea put forth by the philosopher Bertrand Russell that claims the universe sprang into existence five minutes ago from nothing, with human memory and all other signs of history included. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
One practical implication of this is that a virtual-people or a hybrid simulation does not require a computer powerful enough to model its entire cosmos at full speed. Per the Turing completeness theorem, a simulation can progress at whatever speed its host computer can manage; it would be constrained by available memory but not by computation rate. In computability theory, an abstract machine or programming language is called Turing complete, Turing equivalent, or (computationally) universal if it has a computational power equivalent to a universal Turing machine (a simplified model of a programmable computer). ...
Recursive simulations A simulated reality could contain a computer that is running a simulated reality. The 'parent' simulator would be simulating all of the atoms of the computer, atoms which happen to be calculating a 'child' simulation. By way of illustration: imagine that a human is playing a game of The Sims in which one of the player's Sims (simulated people) is playing a computer game in the game. For games with Sim in the title, see List of Sim games. ...
This recursion could continue to infinitely many levels -- a simulation containing a computer running a simulation containing a computer running a simulation and so on. The recursion is subject only to one constraint: each 'nested' simulation must be:
-
- smaller than its parent reality, because its own memory must be a subset of the parent's;
...and must be at least one of the following: -
- slower than its parent reality, because its own calculations must be a subset of the parent's; or
- less complex than its parent reality, via simplifications of processes that are computationally intensive in the parent reality; or
- less complete than its parent reality, via approximations of objects that nobody is observing.
The latter is the basis of the idea that quantum uncertainties are circumstantial evidence that our own reality is a simulation. However, this assumes that there is a finite limitation somewhere in the chain. Assuming an infinite number of simulations within simulations, there need not be any noticeable difference between any of the subsets.
Simulated reality in fiction Simulated reality is a theme that pre-dates science fiction. In Medieval and Renaissance religious theatre, the concept of the world as a theater is frequent. Works, early and contemporary, include: Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ...
Literature Accelerando (ISBN 0441012841) is a 2005 science fiction novel by British author Charles Stross. ...
Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Charles David George Charlie Stross (born Leeds, October 18, 1964) is a writer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. ...
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