Elon Musk on whether this is a simulation
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Re: Elon Musk on whether this is a simulation
I think part of the argument on this topic is that we as humans don't have the effective tools to come up with answers on whether this is a simulation. IBM Watson should be the best equipped? And perhaps he should be asked continuously going forward indefinitely and if he is saying no as of now, might he one day say yes?
Re: Elon Musk on whether this is a simulation
Watson would only reply with a new question
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Re: Elon Musk on whether this is a simulation
How is this theory useful in any way?
If it was true or not, what would change for me?
If it was true or not, what would change for me?
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Re: Elon Musk on whether this is a simulation
I was just looking through some notes from a few years ago about hormones. Hormones really control our lives because they control our biology. This is what the study of endocrinology deals with. I remember seeing a video years ago about how many computer programmers have switched to biology to find ways to optimize health and wellness and live longer.
The thing is we look to the bigger picture (Gods, universe) to feel like we are being controlled by something larger but the reverse is also relevant, the smaller is something to factor in to this debate on how the microworlds shape our simulations.
The thing is we look to the bigger picture (Gods, universe) to feel like we are being controlled by something larger but the reverse is also relevant, the smaller is something to factor in to this debate on how the microworlds shape our simulations.
Re: Elon Musk on whether this is a simulation
Yes. Certainly, we know our perceptions are limited -- we can't even hear those damn dog whistles. The next question was whether we could just invent machines to "cover" our own limited perceptions.stand@desk wrote:I think part of the argument on this topic is that we as humans don't have the effective tools to come up with answers on whether this is a simulation. IBM Watson should be the best equipped? And perhaps he should be asked continuously going forward indefinitely and if he is saying no as of now, might he one day say yes?
This was thought to be the case until relatively recently. That thing Jacob mentioned as a novel -- the three-body problem, was a mathematical issue that to which Henri Poincare proved there was no general mathematical solution for in the late 1800s.
This, and other more philosophical observations, have led many to conclude that we simply can never know all that there is to know. Complexity theory, which evolved from the three-body problem, also addresses this.
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Re: Elon Musk on whether this is a simulation
@Dragline - That novel is not so much about THAT three-body problem. It refers to the Alpha Centauri star system which is likely a three-star system. In the book aliens live on a planet orbiting one of the three suns and because of the three body problem, climate changes in unpredictable ways making life harsh. Because of this, the aliens decide to invade Earth. To prepare the invasion, they send a single synthetic particle (called a sophon, a scifi concept) which also acts a supercomputer. The purpose of this particle, which moves as the speed of light and interacts with matter at will because it traverses the entire planet some 100 times per second at c-speed, is to destroy all the data collection for advanced physics projects, essentially injecting noise and confusion thus preventing human progress in science---keeping physics at a 20th century level and only allowing engineering to progress. The goal is to make the invasion easier---with exponential progress, who knows what science will look like in 2350 when the ships arrive. That was called the sophon lockdown.
The idea was/is presumably similar to the way the Allies couldn't act on all the information they found from decoding Enigma transmission and furthermore how they had to create fake missions in order to preserve the proper Gaussian noise level so the Germans wouldn't figure out that the code had been broken.
Point of my post above: You don't need computers or gods to explain quantum noise. It could also be other things.
The idea was/is presumably similar to the way the Allies couldn't act on all the information they found from decoding Enigma transmission and furthermore how they had to create fake missions in order to preserve the proper Gaussian noise level so the Germans wouldn't figure out that the code had been broken.
Point of my post above: You don't need computers or gods to explain quantum noise. It could also be other things.
Re: Elon Musk on whether this is a simulation
Cryptonomicon by Stephenson details this. hilarious.jacob wrote:The idea was/is presumably similar to the way the Allies couldn't act on all the information they found from decoding Enigma transmission and furthermore how they had to create fake missions in order to preserve the proper Gaussian noise level so the Germans wouldn't figure out that the code had been broken.
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Re: Elon Musk on whether this is a simulation
@brute - This is some seriously "cool stuff". For more popculture, also, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mincemeat and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Bodyguard ... AFAIR, this kind of thinking (cybernetics and signal processing) was developed right around that time. Neal Stephenson's research borders on awesome. Probably because he has a background in physics
Re: Elon Musk on whether this is a simulation
has jacob read Mother Earth, Mother Board? it's available free online (90s wired article). amazing. Stephenson follows a transoceanic cable as it's being laid, through sewers in the Philippines to old telephone museums in the UK. many of the locations in Cryptonomicon are actually taken from this article, where he visited them, or similar locations.
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Re: Elon Musk on whether this is a simulation
I liked that book but I don't recall that it made me laugh.BRUTE wrote:Cryptonomicon by Stephenson details this. hilarious.jacob wrote:The idea was/is presumably similar to the way the Allies couldn't act on all the information they found from decoding Enigma transmission and furthermore how they had to create fake missions in order to preserve the proper Gaussian noise level so the Germans wouldn't figure out that the code had been broken.
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Re: Elon Musk on whether this is a simulation
@brute - I have.
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Re: Elon Musk on whether this is a simulation
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultur ... simulation
I've always assumed most people had their tongue planted in their cheek when they talked about this stuff. I guess I was wrong.
I've always assumed most people had their tongue planted in their cheek when they talked about this stuff. I guess I was wrong.
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Re: Elon Musk on whether this is a simulation
Come on now! I wrote a piece of fan-fiction universe=simulation because Heisenberg uncertainty principle=discrete math simulation when I was 20---and probably lots of others did it too. That was in year 1995. Thankfully, my vodka-fueled works were eventually and permanently lost to software rot, because, sad, damn! This [line of thought] is not useful and it's pretty shameful or telling wrt current times that such sophomoric ideas now qualify as TED talks or CEO wisdom. Pfffft!
Re: Elon Musk on whether this is a simulation
I communed with the Master Simulator and located your old works. But I won't reveal them if you send a healthy amount of Itunes gift card $$ and bitcoin to special accounts. I'll have my agent call you from an undisclosed location in Central Asia.
Re: Elon Musk on whether this is a simulation
Jacobukowskijacob wrote:Thankfully, my vodka-fueled works were eventually and permanently lost to software rot, because, sad, damn!
Vodka!? I would have imagined this as your drink of choice.
Re: Elon Musk on whether this is a simulation
it's funny because jacob likes lentils
Re: Elon Musk on whether this is a simulation
At this point, I'm sure poor @jacob regrets ever mentioning lentils to our community full of smartasses.
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Re: Elon Musk on whether this is a simulation
It even made it into Scientific American:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... mulation1/
I swear they are becoming more like Popular Science sometimes. I've subscribed since I finished college in 1987.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... mulation1/
I swear they are becoming more like Popular Science sometimes. I've subscribed since I finished college in 1987.
Re: Elon Musk on whether this is a simulation
Vodka generally has the best Alcohol/$ ratio.
Re: Elon Musk on whether this is a simulation
Definitely, and easy to loose track of consumption.C40 wrote:Vodka generally has the best Alcohol/$ ratio.
@Jacob - Time for a literary revival perhaps ?