Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?

[Saturn]

Here is a little something for those Matrix fans:

http://www.simulation-argument.com/

"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."

 

[Eudaimonist]

If we are living in a computer simulation, I request a transfer to Everquest II or DAOC. Thank you.

 

[Saturn]

If we are living in a computer simulation, I request a transfer to Everquest II or DAOC. Thank you.

How about requesting your keepers to create a new environment for you, where you were the king of Earth and everyone did what you said. Or you could maybe be Bill Gates, or Bill Clinton, or Alexander the Great. Use your imagination!

Maybe the religious concept of Heaven really does exist, but in a computer simulation.

 

[Eudaimonist]

How about requesting your keepers to create a new environment for you, where you were the king of Earth and everyone did what you said. Or you could maybe be Bill Gates, or Bill Clinton, or Alexander the Great. Use your imagination!

LOL! Why not aim for a god if we go down that route? But I have no desire for mindless followers or selfless servants, so gods and kings are out for me.

 

[Saturn]

Maybe the religious concept of Heaven really does exist, but in a computer simulation.

Who would have ever thought: Heaven in a chip.

 

[AdamAnderson21]

The Matrix is about religous ideas particularlly Christian Gnosticism and Buddhism. It uses more concrete ideas such as computer programs to talk about more abstract ideas such as religious ones. A couple things I remembe off the top of my head are that Neo is an anagram for One. Another character's name is Trinity. The ship is called the Nebacanezar, another biblical reference. The main general idea without getting into specifics is that The Matirx would in a sense be our physical world, and the real world in the movie would be the spiritual world. Great series of movies. One of my favorites. Presents esoteric teachings of religions fantastically. There is a paper written about the religious and philosophical ideas in The Matrix. It might be on their website, I'm not sure. Peace.

 

[AdamAnderson21]

I found an interview with the Wachowski Brothers. It talks about some of the religious and spiritual elements.

Question: "There are quite a few hidden messages in the movie that I notice the more I watch it." Can you tell me about how many there are?"
Wachowski brothers: "There are more than you'll ever know."

Question: "Your movie has many and varied connections to myths and philosophies, Judeo-Christian, Egyptian, Arthurian, and Platonic, just to name those I've noticed. How much of that was intentional?"
Wachowski brothers: "All of it."

Question: "Are all the religious symbolism and doctrine throughout this movie intentional, or not?"
Wachowski brothers: "Most of it is intentional."

Question: "How long did it take to come up with the script?"
Wachowski brothers: "We wrote the script before we had even directed Bound [1996]. And had been working on it up until the time of production [1999]."

Question: "Do you guys hold to any religious beliefs?
Wachowski brothers: "Non-denominational"

Question: "Did ideas from Buddhism influence you in making the film?
Wachowski brothers: "Yes. There's something uniquely interesting about Buddhism and mathematics, particularly about quantum physics, and where they meet. That has fascinated us for a long time."

Question: "Is the title 'The Matrix' related to the mitochondrial matrix located in cells; the site of cell respiration, the creation of energy in humans?"
Wachowski brothers: "Like the movie itself, there is a lot of word play, a lot of hidden other meanings, a lot of multiple meanings. Besides that, we also like the definition, the mathematical definition of the use of matrix, or the use of it in terms of a woman's womb."

Question: "What was the thinking behind the use of numbers that can be read both ways like 303 on the hotel door where Neo meets his destiny?"
Wachowski brothers: "Like the wordplay, there's a lot of numbers play in the movie as well."

Question: "How did you finally chose the names of the characters?
Wachowski brothers: "They were all chosen carefully, and all of them have multiple meanings."

Question: "Have you ever been told that the Matrix has Gnostic overtones?"
Wachowski brothers: "Do you consider that to be a good thing?"

Question: "Do you believe that our world is in some way similar to 'The Matrix', that there is a larger world outside of this existence?"
Wachowski brothers: "That is a larger question than you actually might think. We think the most important sort of fiction attempts to answer some of the big questions. One of the things that we had talked about when we first had the idea of The Matrix was an idea that I believe philosophy and religion and mathematics all try to answer. Which is, a reconciling between a natural world and another world that is perceived by our intellect."

Question: "What is the symbolism of all the analog rotary phones?
Wachowski brothers: "There's a couple of meanings. We liked the analog nature of older technology. We liked the suggestion of old original phone hackers. It sort of suggested the big Rube Goldberg device that's in the mirror scene."

Question: "Was the Alice in Wonderland theme just a whim, or do you guys have a big love of it?
Wachowski brothers: "Big fan! It is a brilliant book. Many of the themes we tried to echo in The Matrix."

Question: "Do all of the things that happen in the Matrix have some computer-based analogy...or did you just do some of it because it was cool?"
Wachowski brothers: "Yes. We like to try and pack as much stuff as we can in when we do a movie. So some of the stuff we do relates to the narrative, and some of the stuff we do because we like."

Wachowski brothers: "Somebody asked us about the street names in the movie and all of them are significant. They are all based on places in Chicago."

Question: "Did you know right away that it would be a trilogy?
Wachowski brothers: "We knew we had too much material for one movie."

Question: "Do you appreciate people dissecting your movie? Do you find it a bit of an honor or does it annoy you a little, especially when the person may have it all wrong?
Wachowski brothers: "There's not necessarily ever an 'all wrong'. Because it's about what a person gets out of the movie, what an individual gets out of the movie."

 

[The-Doctor]

If I'm living in a computer simulation I want more lives and better weapons

 

[Norseman]

If I'm living in a computer simulation I want more lives and better weapons

All your base are belong to us.

 

[Norea]

Okay. I'm gonna explain a few things. First we can't be a simulation because we either cannot prove it is a simulation since we ourselves are 'Sims' within that simulation or we can prove it is and thus are not 'Sims.' With that being said, it's clear from the point of view of physics that we're not a simulation. Even though I love Ed Fredkin[Only MIT Professor without a HS degree or College Degree] he's a bit off on his assertions of a simulation.

BUT we are in fact computational with regard that all physical processes are clearly transforming information. The current view is that information that is contained within a system governs the outcome of that particular system. Like DNA in the body, and the total momentum of a car, each aspect of a physical system is computing the outcome of each action. At the quantum level, it is positted that we may have 'hologram's that store the fundumental information that allows objects seem 'real.'

That basically means the info that makes your car, your cake, your PC game and etc are all equally real. Even the info in a book is as real as you. Such a proposition may seem a bit unsettling but it further validates the proposition of an objective reality vs the subjectivist banter that many exies[existentialists] and other such nutters try to shove down folx throats on TLC and Discovery Channel.

-- Bridget