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From: Anders Sandberg <anders@aleph.se><br>
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<pre style="font-size: 9pt;"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">..></font><tt>On 2012-12-18 21:26, <a href="mailto:ablainey@aol.com">ablainey@aol.com</a> wrote:
</tt><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">></font><tt>> Well we can both claim some prior credit for this old chestnut although
>> I can't say it was something I was seriously considering back in 87. I
>> did certainly put forward the probability factor based upon future
</tt><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">></font><tt>> simulation before Nicks paper.
</tt><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">></font><tt>
</tt><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">></font><tt>It is interesting that the basic idea was floating around in our
</tt><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">></font><tt>community long before the paper. In a sense reality as a simulation is
</tt><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">></font><tt>of course ancient (think Plato, Buddhism and Descartes) and as Nick
</tt><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">></font><tt>points out right at the start, futurists and sf authors have already
</tt><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">></font><tt>talked about vast future computing (and mind simulations).
</tt><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">></font><tt>
>I guess it the simulation argument would have been a case of Stigler's
</tt><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">>></font><tt>law of eponymy if Nick's name had gotten attached to it.
</tt><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">></font><tt>
</tt><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">></font><tt>In general, our community has plenty of other equally interesting
>notions as part of the intellectual air we breathe. Yet many of these
</tt><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">></font><tt>are unknown on the outside, so when one of us writes something that
</tt><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">></font><tt>makes the concept citable it is often seen as a brilliant insight. So I
</tt><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">></font><tt>urge you all: write more stuff!
</tt><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">></font><tt>
</tt><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">></font><tt>
</tt><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">></font><tt>--
</tt><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">></font><tt>Anders Sandberg
</tt><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">></font><tt>Future of Humanity Institute
</tt><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">></font><tt>Oxford University</tt><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br>
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I think <font size="2">timelessness</font> plays a big part. We may see something as self evident and normal to discuss. W<font size="2">hile those that might peer review o<font size="2">ur <font size="2">writings</font> or stop it long <font size="2">before</font> that stage think it i<font size="2">s unworthy of consideration. <br>
<font size="2"><font size="2">I have lost count of the times I have been poo pooed for some <font size="2">strange</font> idea only to see it being t<font size="2"><font size="2">o</font>uted as the latest greatest idea 10 years later.</font> </font>Granted the co<font size="2">mpany I keep isn't ideal for testing new ideas<font size="2"> and when in the appropriate company I a<font size="2">m usually <font size="2">reticent</font> or far to interested in what they have to say.</font></font><br>
</font>Thank<font size="2"> ou<font size="2">r lucky star<font size="2">s for the I<font size="2">n</font>ternet, At le<font size="2">a<font size="2">st <font size="2">it<font size="2"> is some kind of chronological record of our mad musings.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font> <br>
Still its not a new problem. Everyone thinks <font size="2">the</font> Wright brothers were first<font size="2"><font face="arial">.</font></font> Obviously no ill will for N<font size="2">ick, a good man doing a good job. It is our own fault if we fail to write our ideas down. Sadly one of my biggest <font size="2">flaws.</font></font></font><br>
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