Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: RobC on 15/04/2019 18:43:34

Title: Could the universe be a simulation?
Post by: RobC on 15/04/2019 18:43:34

Recent expressed views ranged from a reluctant yes from Zohreh Davoudi to no from Lisa Randall and maybe's from Max Tegmark and David Chalmers.

Title: Re: Could the universe be a simulation?
Post by: yor_on on 15/04/2019 18:56:13

Maybe.
If so, what is 'free will'?

Title: Re: Could the universe be a simulation?
Post by: alancalverd on 15/04/2019 19:06:45

Simulation of what?

Title: Re: Could the universe be a simulation?
Post by: RobC on 15/04/2019 20:21:25

Quote from: alancalverd on 15/04/2019 19:06:45

Simulation of what?

So it's basically whether in the beginning god hit the enter key and then there was light
or if he hit the delete key and then there was light.

Title: Re: Could the universe be a simulation?
Post by: yor_on on 16/04/2019 15:39:22

Or maybe it just happened :)

Title: Re: Could the universe be a simulation?
Post by: geordief on 16/04/2019 15:46:33

Quote from: alancalverd on 15/04/2019 19:06:45

Simulation of what?

What I thought. That is turtle territory ,isn't it?

But if we try to design a virgin  universe from scratch ,only limited by our powers of imagination ,is that still a simulation  based on our past experiences? An offshoot ,no matter how remote and extrapolated from the universe we do live in and observe.

Title: Re: Could the universe be a simulation?
Post by: yor_on on 16/04/2019 15:57:34

simulation: Representation of something.

would that be it :)

what is a simulation in this case?
Take HUP, the observation defines the particle, or wave.

Take what you use to create a theory.
Thoughts

Title: Re: Could the universe be a simulation?
Post by: jeffreyH on 16/04/2019 19:35:43

If we were living in a computer simulation then there would inevitably be bugs in the system. It is impossible to eliminate all computer errors. These would be detectable. So what 'bugs' do we have in our universe?

Title: Re: Could the universe be a simulation?
Post by: chiralSPO on 16/04/2019 20:35:56

Quote from: jeffreyH on 16/04/2019 19:35:43

If we were living in a computer simulation then there would inevitably be bugs in the system. It is impossible to eliminate all computer errors. These would be detectable. So what 'bugs' do we have in our universe?

Would they necessarily be detectable to the subprograms (us) within the major program? ie if the program is laggy and buffering, would we perceive a stop and start, or would it appear continuous and smooth within the running program?

Title: Re: Could the universe be a simulation?
Post by: yor_on on 16/04/2019 21:12:26

Spot on Chiral. Looked at another way it's a question about what time is? A flow, or discrete? Would we notice any difference?

Title: Re: Could the universe be a simulation?
Post by: evan_au on 16/04/2019 22:19:39

Some philosophers suggest that our presence in a simulation might be testable because there must be some limit on the resolution of the simulation, ie something that cannot be broken down any further.
But that is not very different from the argument of Democritus that there must be something that is indivisible, ie atoms.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulation_hypothesis

There is even a kickstarter project to test the hypothesis:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/simulation/do-we-live-in-a-virtual-reality

Title: Re: Could the universe be a simulation?
Post by: yor_on on 16/04/2019 22:27:21

And here we go again, saving the world.
Eh, that was what the kickstarter program reminded me of :)

Title: Re: Could the universe be a simulation?
Post by: alancalverd on 16/04/2019 22:40:26

My contempt for philosophers grows daily.