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nick bostrom: are we living in a matrix? more possible than you might think

Started by blakeborgeson · 10 months ago

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3 comments

  • Dan Graham

    1 year ago

    I didn't like this argument when I read it a couple of years ago. Like many arguments for the existence of God, it plays tricks with large near-infinite numbers.

    It seems to me that you could come up with any large number of potential reasons for our existence that a sufficiently advanced race of beings might have created us for.

    Ex: It could also be that species that achieve a certain level of technological maturity infect new planets with young DNA in order to watch them develop. I could then make the exact same argument about our existence, assuming a sufficiently large number of planets, that we are likely a seedling race from some other technologically advanced race.

    Many, many other 'causes' for existence could exist when you start to take technology out to its limits and add in recursion, all of which could create similar existence arguments.
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  • soundslikeaustin

    1 year ago

    I didn't read the argument, but i think it must be crap because humanity is a terrible fuel source; especially since the vacuum of space does not prevent machines from using the power of the sun as an energy source more directly that humans. Enslaving humans would be extremely inefficient.
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  • blakeborgeson

    1 year ago

    @soundslikeaustin I 100% agree with your comments as they pertain to the movie 'the matrix', although that wasn't quite what the post was about. You should check it out. But yeah, what's the primary energy source for the human race? Doesn't make sense.

    @dan Yeah, I agree with your criticism of the argument, but the thing that makes this particular possible explanation for our existence a bit more meaningful to me is that it's actually hard to come up with a reason why we wouldn't want to run billions simulations of our existence in the distant future, given the computational ability. I can better visualize the potential benefits of running simulations than I can for any other seedling-esque hypothesis I've heard. I'd be interested in hearing other hypothetical future 'causes' that seem plausible.
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