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Are we a Simulation?

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posted on Aug, 17 2008 @ 04:17 PM
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I think that's an interesting theory.

Ray Kurzweil and others suggest that we will reach a technological singularity where humans will be able to download consciousness into simulated realities on say a quantum or super computer.

You then look at what people like Seth Lloyd, a professor of mechanical engineering at MIT.

He said this in an interview.

Technology Review:In your new book, you are admirably explicit: you write, "The Universe is indistinguishable from a quantum computer." How can that be true?

Seth Lloyd: I know it sounds crazy. I feel apologetic when I say it. And people who have reviewed the book take it as a metaphor. But it's factually the case. We couldn't build quantum computers unless the universe were quantum and computing. We can build such machines because the universe is storing and processing information in the quantum realm. When we build quantum computers, we're hijacking that underlying computation in order to make it do things we want: little and/or/not calculations. We're hacking into the universe.

www.technologyreview.com...

So the question is, are we in a quantum computer filled with simulated realities and earth is one of them or are we in a universe that just behaves like a quantum computer? Seth Lloyd seems to suggest that the universe is a quantum computer.

Why would a race generate a simulated reality like earth?

Maybe we belong to this immortal race and the only way we could experience mortality is through earth like simulations.

Maybe earth is a simulated prison. When immortals began to abuse their immortality they are sent to an earth like simulated prison. You do your time here and then you die. You either return to the race of immortals or you have to enter another earth like simulation.

I say it's a 30% chance that we are living in a simulated reality and maybe higher because if a race advanced passed the singularity they would be able to simulate realities and you couldn't tell the difference.

Nick Bostrom Professor, Director, Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford University has some interesting papers on this.

ABSTRACT. This paper argues that at least one of the following propositions is true: (1) the human species is very likely to go extinct before reaching a “posthuman” stage; (2) any posthuman civilization is extremely unlikely to run a significant number of simulations of their evolutionary history (or variations thereof); (3) we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation. It follows that the belief that there is a significant chance that we will one day become posthumans who run ancestor-simulations is false, unless we are currently living in a simulation. A number of other consequences of this result are also discussed.

You can read more papers and articles here:
www.simulation-argument.com...

This would mean our bodies died years ago and our consciousness was downloaded into a computer that simulates these different realities.

I personally think we are an 0 civilization or a civilization that hasn't simulated yet but I could be wrong.

EDIT; Maybe we didn't die and these simulated realities are back ups to our biological immortality. We might be able to cure any disease through things like nanotechnology and slow down aging but that wouldn't stop us from dying from accidents. Just speculation.

[edit on 17-8-2008 by polomontana]



posted on Aug, 17 2008 @ 04:25 PM
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Yes we are and this man has seen it from a vantage like no other. Scroll down to Sat, Jun 7, 2008 and listen to Jerry Wills tell you about how the sim looks from somebody on the outside watching it.



posted on Aug, 17 2008 @ 08:11 PM
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I like this find. If a professor of mechanical engineering is agreeing with such possibilities, then why not all of humanity? However, I guess it would not do much in the sense of productivity, but at least the populous's consciousness would be wedged wider open.



posted on Aug, 18 2008 @ 03:23 PM
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Dude holy crap.

It's like.... I'll have a new epiphany, new to me anyway.... and I'll come on ATS a few days later only to find like five to 10 threads blossoming in about a 3 day period about the same thing!

I frickin' swear man... this is getting frickin crazy.

Although... the goddamn chances of it being a crazy coincidence are quite slim.

This is so "weird", lemme find the threads started I've found so far... maybe some I haven't.

[edit on 18-8-2008 by dunwichwitch]

[edit on 18-8-2008 by dunwichwitch]

Posted them but for some reason they got erased frrom the final edit?

[edit on 18-8-2008 by dunwichwitch]



posted on Aug, 18 2008 @ 03:27 PM
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Check out the Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot...a classic of the New Physics. It deals which exactly that.



posted on Sep, 1 2008 @ 02:17 PM
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I'll throw my own spin into the mix:

Yes, we are living in a simulated universe. However, that simulation is not a result of any more advanced civilization, but of God itself.



posted on Sep, 4 2008 @ 04:39 PM
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I read about this in a book I think was called "Taking the red pill". The conclusion was that we were most likely generated by computers. I found it funny to read someone using logic to justify such a ridiculous idea.



posted on Sep, 12 2008 @ 02:59 PM
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If someone can prove something ridiculous like this, then it might be that everything else proven with logic is ridiculous, too??!! So it might be better to return to mythological thinking.



posted on Sep, 12 2008 @ 03:07 PM
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Well I do believe the universe itself is like a quantum computer. For some reason, I have always had this inner thought that I was inside a training program.

The real question is what is consciousness.



posted on Sep, 12 2008 @ 03:11 PM
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it seems to me after reading that sound is the origin of the universe, that we are real. And our event streams are somewhat constrained by the big unmovable realities each dimension faces the branching potentials. The de-ja-vou moments could be because of time potentials fulfilling themselves and particles in your mind sync with whatever change in the timeline took place, a correction perhaps. And i also like to think we are like a guitar string resonating as our maker or originator is playing some very harmonic tweeky tunes, keeping his color and sound alive.



posted on Sep, 12 2008 @ 03:17 PM
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This simulation sucks.

Seriously now,

I see it more as dimensions, several which simulate the other.

[edit on 12-9-2008 by Tomis_Nexis]



posted on Sep, 12 2008 @ 03:31 PM
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Originally posted by polomontana
Why would a race generate a simulated reality like earth?


I don't think this is the case, and even if it were, at the highest level the universe would have to create itself.

But it does make sense that it all works more or less like a simulation. The fastest way to your destination is a straight line, and starting with subatomic particles to create with may not be the fastest method of creating the reality we currently perceive.

I liken it to a shared dream, and the idea of a quantum computing universe certainly goes along with that. Also, holographic/fractal universe theories are basically the same thing.

We could be in a simulation of a simulation of a simulation... like the 13th Floor (great movie btw). Once we figure it all out, we'll be able to create a microcosm of the universe ourselves. Wouldn't that be fun?



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