[ExI] A Simulation Argument

BillK pharos at gmail.com
Mon Jan 14 13:54:57 UTC 2008


On Jan 14, 2008 5:03 AM, Ian Goddard wrote:
>  There's no inherent tower of turtles in sim-theory.
> The hypothesis that our visible universe is
> computer-generated is not a theory about the origins
> of reality, or everything. For example, the hypothesis
> that some 'God' created the whole of reality begs the
> question about the creation of that god, raising the
> 'tower of turtles' problem. But simulation theory
> makes claim about how reality was created, it just
> proposes that our universe isn't reality.
>
>  Another way to look at it is this: suppose we created
> a computer sim with aware occupants. They would not
> engage the tower-of-turtles problem were they to posit
> that they were in a simulation. ~Ian
>


You are just playing with words.

If any being / thing creates a simulated world *ever* then it is de
facto the possible start of a descending tower of simulations.
And then the being / thing speculates that maybe his own universe is
in a simulation, starting the upward spiral of simulations.

There is no way that you can insist that only one level of simulation
is permissible, just because it suits your speculation.


BillK



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