[extropy-chat] Re: Analyzing the simulation argument

[ben]

Dan Clemmensen wrote:

 > If you believe you are in a sim, why do you think the sim includes
anything but yourself and your perceptions? By what criteria can you
distinguish between a sim that encapsulates just yourself, and a sim
that includes any particular larger "universe"?

 > For example, you mention "inertia," "gravitational influence," "other
matter in the universe," and "astronomical observations." If you are the
only object int he sim, then all of these concepts are amenable to
direct manipulation. How can you select a point on the sim continuum?

 > At one end of the continuum, The entire universe is being simulated. 
All of us are emergent consequences of the laws of the simulated 
universe.  At the other end of the continuum, your current state is the 
only thing  being simulated. it was constructed one microsecond ago, it 
embodies only the current microsecond of your existence, and it will 
terminate one microsecond from now. How do you choose?>For myself, the 
question is intrinsically undecidable, and all points on  the simulation 
continuum are indistinguishable from the no-sim hypothesis.
I therefore choose to treat the simulation hypothesis as a
non-starter, except as a basis for harassing fellow extropians.


Dan, i believe you have just won the simulation argument!

ben