I want simulations

[moonbogg]

OK, after the bashers fill up the first few replies, maybe someone who cares will chime in.
I have been valuing the experience of life more than anything lately. I used to be focused purely on trying to achieve goals or going after one thing or another, and those things are meaningful and they are fine, but the experience of life has me much more intrigued lately.
I'm talking about the stuff noone talks about, like almost never, because it is so taken for granted and seems so automatic and necessary that it doesn't seem special, but everyone enjoys it.
I'm talking about stuff like the following: I was 15 years old and visiting the central coast of california for the weekend with my family, and as we are walking around we are looking for a place to have dinner later. Its late August and the sun is warm and the late afternoon is approaching, and suddenly the clouds partially cover the sun and it starts to shower lightly, giving off that clean, fresh scent of wet concrete that fills the air, reminding me that fall is approaching as the temparature falls a few degrees from the clouds and light rain. Right as that happens a really cute girl across the street catches my eye and my mind starts whirling like a tornado filled with thoughts about "what if" regarding her and I. This is pure bliss as I enjoy this moment, all the while knowing that ontop of it all I still have a nice dinner with my family to look forward to and the rest of the weekend to enjoy. After that I get to return home to my friends and do all the fun things we like to do in our spare time.
Its little experiences like those that seems so huge and meaningful. Those are good enough to be the point of it all, and I want more of it. I want to see the world through the lense of not just me, but others as well, and in the future I think that will be possible and it can't come soon enough as far as i'm concerned.
I focus more on how to enrich my experiences and find myself taking notice of the symphony of rich experience that is life.

 

[TecHNooB]

what kind of simulation?

 

[ControlD]

nm

 

[moonbogg]

what kind of simulation?

Realistic simulated reality. The kind that is talked about taking place during the technological revolution known as the singularity.

 

[SlitheryDee]

If we're talking about simulations that are indistinguishable from reality, why not go all the way with virtual girl rather than just think about it? I would assume that the knowledge that you are in a simulation would take some of the magic away from that particular moment anyway. It would only be so long before the simple tactile experiences of a pleasant moment would wear thin. I would almost immediately go for simulations of things that I couldn't experience in reality.

 

[moonbogg]

If we're talking about simulations that are indistinguishable from reality, why not go all the way with virtual girl rather than just think about it? I would assume that the knowledge that you are in a simulation would take some of the magic away from that particular moment anyway. It would only be so long before the simple tactile experiences of a pleasant moment would wear thin. I would almost immediately go for simulations of things that I couldn't experience in reality.

You wouldn't know. Imagine if a future civilization created "ancestor simulations" and you are, right now, a simulated ancestor of a highly advanced species. Thats what i'm refering to. It would be reality by almost any conceivable standard and we could be in one right now and have no idea.

 

[Murloc]

You wouldn't know. Imagine if a future civilization created "ancestor simulations" and you are, right now, a simulated ancestor of a highly advanced species. Thats what i'm refering to. It would be reality by almost any conceivable standard and we could be in one right now and have no idea.

why would they even do that to their kids? It's not like the simulation we're in is better or worse than any other era of history, happiness has always been relative, so they could just live in their own time instead of stopping humanity and living in simulations forever.

I would almost immediately go for simulations of things that I couldn't experience in reality.

you can already do that AFAIK

 

[SlitheryDee]

You wouldn't know. Imagine if a future civilization created "ancestor simulations" and you are, right now, a simulated ancestor of a highly advanced species. Thats what i'm refering to. It would be reality by almost any conceivable standard and we could be in one right now and have no idea.

Well that's different. I thought we were talking about using simulations to experience awesome stuff as though we were actually there. In your scenario, we gain nothing by being simulated. Indeed we can freely assume that we ARE being simulated right now and it wouldn't make a difference to us.

 

[AstroManLuca]

cool story bro

 

[moonbogg]

Well that's different. I thought we were talking about using simulations to experience awesome stuff as though we were actually there. In your scenario, we gain nothing by being simulated. Indeed we can freely assume that we ARE being simulated right now and it wouldn't make a difference to us.

You gain a shitload. After you die, you wake up and realize that you were in a simulation. You get to reflect on the life you just lived and the experiences you had and you learn from them. Then, you get to try it again as someone different, or perhaps even a random placement into the simulated reality. Its a gamble. You could end up suffering greatly. But thats what it would take to come to respect and understand the long road that your ancestors had to travel on in order to give rise to your current, advanced society where suffering is minimal and everything is in abundance.

 

[D1gger]

Better Than Life is the simulation you want.

 

[blackangst1]

Just be careful. Shit can be dangerous.

 

[ultimatebob]

Kinda sounds like a Star Trek holodeck.

It might be fun to download other people's simulations and mess with them... maybe I can turn the cute girl from moonbogg's beach scenario into an evil bitch that kicks you in the nuts when you try to flirt with her

 

[SlitheryDee]

You gain a shitload. After you die, you wake up and realize that you were in a simulation. You get to reflect on the life you just lived and the experiences you had and you learn from them. Then, you get to try it again as someone different, or perhaps even a random placement into the simulated reality. Its a gamble. You could end up suffering greatly. But thats what it would take to come to respect and understand the long road that your ancestors had to travel on in order to give rise to your current, advanced society where suffering is minimal and everything is in abundance.

If you're part of a simulation, wouldn't you just be a program running in that simulation? In that case, after you die you just go in the recycling bin, unless the ones responsible for the simulation wanted to make a simulated afterlife.

It's likely that the beings running these simulations would not be living as us, but simply simulating us and observing the results. They might place themselves in the simulation to observe and shape events within it, but I see no reason for them to actually be us and forget who they were outside the simulation while inside it. So we're probably just bits in a planet sized ultracomputer if we're anything at all. When they pull the plug we simply cease to be.

 

[moonbogg]

If you're part of a simulation, wouldn't you just be a program running in that simulation? In that case, after you die you just go in the recycling bin, unless the ones responsible for the simulation wanted to make a simulated afterlife.

It's likely that the beings running these simulations would not be living as us, but simply simulating us and observing the results. They might place themselves in the simulation to observe and shape events within it, but I see no reason for them to actually be us and forget who they were outside the simulation while inside it. So we're probably just bits in a planet sized ultracomputer if we're anything at all. When they pull the plug we simply cease to be.

I've read some ideas that we could be in a simulation now. Someone figured that if at any point in time, beings became advanced enough and wanted to create simulated universes, then we are most likely to be in a simulation rather than in a genuine universe, since the simulated ones would greatly out number the genuine ones. If the simulation ends, we may end with it.
There could be a top level universe in which simulated universes are created, and further simulations created in those. It is a cascading effect. The simulations could be sovereign and left alone, or they could be used for its creators to have their own experiences in the simulation.

 

[rise]

enjoy

 

[sdifox]

So, you want the holodeck.