Do you think this universe is reality, or a simulation?
It just seems so weird to me that as we try to look deeper into a quantum scale, things become more uncertain and erratic (almost like a form of compression artifacts?) and as we try to explore at an astronomical scale, it becomes increasingly difficult due to the characteristics of light/information (and even with the detection of gravitational waves).
Even the fact that our human brains are supposedly the most complex mechanism in the universe seems like some kind of lazy story-telling, like saying "uh, don't worry about how it works, just trust me that it does."
All I know is that I'm sitting here in what feels like some kind of specific location in my head, and it doesn't make sense to me that any of this would just be naturally-occurring and without a higher level of observation.
Probably a simulation, not that it makes much difference.
It's just incredibly unlikely that this is the first universe and that of all the previous universes nobody has created a synthetic universe for whatever reason, be it boredom, madness, or to power their spaceship. All it would take is for one universe to negate a killswitch for internal simulation and you've got billions of universes splintering off from that one.
Although we could be in a universe with a killswitch installed, meaning that the moment we try to simulate a universe of our own everything ceases to exist.
Hunter Garcia
I think it is all one fantasy
A Deep♂Dark♂Fantasy
Elijah Scott
...
Matthew Gomez
It's not that the brain is literally the most complex thing in the universe, it's that it's the most complex thing we've found so far; the best part about that is we all have one, and they've been with us the whole time. your brain named itself
Ian Cruz
Here's another thing I don't get: if a kill switch or heat death of the universe is actually happening at some point into the future, all of the energy that brought forth space, time, and matter will cease to exist. So how am I existing right now if at some point even the concept of "the past" won't exist?
Not sure I've written that very coherently; sorry.
Nathan Sanchez
I thought that matter and energy cannot be destroyed. So it doesn't make sense to me either. There is no beginning or end is that is true.
Connor Mitchell
yeah - matter/energy can transform from one to the other… but not be destroyed…
Isaiah Cox
Well, as I understand it (please correct me if I'm wrong), it's more the fact that the entity that hosted the concept of matter/energy and imposed those rules is being destroyed, rather than directly destroying matter and energy.
Elijah Flores
A metaphysics thread. Cool.
I have the suspiction that all the enery of the universe, added up, equals 0.
In the same way that matter and antimatter exists, "antienergy" should exist too.
From the void "+" and "-" are created. We are aware of just one of the two poles.
0= +1-1
Dylan Fisher
holy fuckin' shitballs batman! i'll take a gram and a half of whatever you're on…
Jordan Powell
Why should antienergy exist?
Kayden Taylor
Dark matter? Not the user you were replying to but from what I understand we don't know much about it except that it's out there. Maybe that's the counterbalance that zeros out the equation.
Easton Barnes
yeah, dude, i'll go along with that… it would explain everything from nothing… but… the real mindfucker is… how… and what's outside the universe we know about…?
Eli Anderson
This one makes no sense.
This one does. It is a great question. That paradox come to me has "If my fate is to die, and when I die I lose all my memories (no brain to host them), how I am able to remember anything?"
Of course this paradox only has sense from your Point of View.
Because antimatter does exist.
Caleb Richardson
BAZINGA!!!!!
Jonathan Hernandez
Wow, that really makes a lot of sense to me. It's a fantastic concept. The nothing gives rise to everything. Or maybe even the other way around?
You're jumping to conclusions. I mean how much information do we really have about everything? Like none. Maybe in 100 years we will know more.
Jaxson Long
I don't really trust Meme deMeme Memeson all that much. Lots of fluff from that guy.
Adrian Lee
next to nothing, really…
Jace Hughes
Because somewhere in the universe are the parts to cancel you out, everything you consist of is caused by a split that shouldn't have happened and one day will collapse back in on itself.
Heat death is caused by the stars and other sources of energy being extinguished, meaning that life in all forms (biological and synthetic) can no longer be sustained. The killswitch is hypothetical and exists only if we are in a simulated universe with one built in, which it may not have, but we won't know until we create a universe ourselves, and then only if the universe continues to exist.
Not a sciencefag but this is what I've gleamed from lurking the internet.
Life is an emergent system of the universe. You've evolved to remember things because it suited your evolution, not because of any grander scheme.
Sebastian Allen
"Universe" is where we fit everything we know. Nothing is outside of it. Your thoughts and dreams too.
I think the problem comes from "time" and our limited perception of it. Einstein did put velocity and time as the same phenomena. Two sides of the same coin.
And velocity can only exist if you have distances. To have distances you need more than one point of reference.
Everything is way more interconnected than what we think.
Caleb Cox
okay… but time is more readily explainable as entropy… everything is becoming increasingly chaotic and can not be reverted back to a less chaotic state… like baking a cake… once the cake's baked, you can't unbake that fucker… that's what time is… einstein, bless, was looking at time as light… not taking into account what time means in terms of moving forard through it…
James Nguyen
Of course. But how in the hell am I aware of it?
Kevin Morgan
drugs…
Xavier Flores
Like the Truman Show, but at a molecular level? Nah man. That's a big assumption to make just because you're surprised by how quantum physics work.
Simulation or not, things have to somehow scale up and work. Even if there is an act of magic in the middle down the road, we will see that magic and try to understand how it makes things work at a grander level. There's nothing we can't understand given enough time and work.
James Turner
I think I need to smoke more to understand this thread.
Nicholas Sanders
It is a serious question. Awareness is what doesen't seem to fit in the big scheme.
Or are you advising a trip?
Elijah Barnes
This is something I would love to know. I'm aware of my thought processes as if observing them. So who am I, as an observer, watching this brain working?
Gabriel Bennett
You mean that dumb clown who said whooa hackings everywhere man why don't we, like, create like the perfect unhackable system bro???
Ian Nguyen
so you're talking about sentience?
Jonathan Davis
Here's some good background music for this cozy thread
Nicholas Davis
he's just quotable… read the other story and do your own search… there are legit physicists working on that shit… and they got the funding because there's evidence that suggests it…
You very well might be the universe experiencing itself as a person
Wyatt Wright
coz u smart nigga
Evolution has allowed you over time to develop a computer in your head greater than anything the human race has developed along such lines. You are a very clever computer, good job you.
Aiden Clark
oh, fuck man… so you're moving away from physics into religion…? or do you want an answer from a biological/chemical point of view…?
Carter Price
This is one that puzzles me. Who am I if NOT the universe, you know? But then at the same time, I am not the only person. The "Other Minds" thing. Those other minds are not me. I think I would know if it was me or not, and it's not me. It also seems odd that I, as the universe, would put such physical and mental limitations on myself.
Eli Morales
shit man - it's all just a dream… and even if you are here alone, imagining the rest of us… then think about it like a dream…. everyone in your dream seems to act independently, but they're all just figments of whatever your brain is doing… so… we could all be yuou… and we're just acting in the random patterns your brain makes us, in order to make sense of yourself…?
Jace Morales
This is hubris, you silly sack of carbon. You're here because someone left their Super Deluxe Universe Simulator 80983 running overnight until mold started to develop inside it.
Aiden Morales
So I am the "chemical computing" that is happening inside my brain? And why not the Chemical computing of my classmate?
…sorry
Please
Adrian Lee
Because you're the sum of your thoughts and experiences, and so is he. You weren't able to perceive until your brain started to form, and after that you became you.
Thomas Sanchez
Random chance I'd wager. Why are you, you? Just because. Why is he, him? Just because.
Christian Johnson
oh, man… you realise that no-one has all the answers yet…? if they did, religion wouldn't exist, because we'd know… anyway, your question was… awareness doesn't seem to fit in the big scheme…? so… the answer to that is, and this is speculative, that all life is a complete accident of chemicals/peptides/aminoacids that randomly occurred… and from that a heap of mutation… and gradual development of a nerve cortex into a large mass that became a brain… have you seen that image of how our brain sees our bodies? I can't post it here, because i'm on tor, and Holla Forums won't allow me to post images… but our brains see our bodies as mostly eyeballs, tongue, ears, feet, and hands… because that's where the sensory information comes into it from… so… really… 'we', or 'you' knowing that you exist is the combined input from those sensors… developing a sense of self comes from your interactions with the world and other brains around you… chemically… it's a big mess… and overall, in the 'scheme of things', we shouldn't really exist, as we're an accident… does any of that make sense? there's a whole lot of chemsitry/biology/anthropology/psychology that can explain it all a bit better… but really… all those fields are all looking for the same answers you are…
Tyler Cook
Yeah, I know.
Reminder that you have only one point of view. It is subjective and is the only one you have access. Truly, different persons and minds exist, but only one universe.
This is what the human condition is.
Caleb Myers
Yeah, I (kinda) know how the machine I am works.
But an accident… tell me, there is any chemical reacction that happens by accient? Or any drop of water that falls in a place by accident? Things happens, thats it. Right, wrong, accident, expected, useful, useless,… are all mental tags.
The astonishing fact that I am right here, right now, aware of it, remains.
Zachary Jackson
nigga I WISH I felt like I looked that good
Leo Walker
that's the shit… they modelled that on me, you know… but with a bigger dick (not because mine's bigger, but because it gives me them feels)…
Asher Bailey
bug got dat lazy right wing
Nolan Ramirez
yeah, man… you know… in an infinite universe there are infinite possibilities… so… the randomness of those chemicals coming together is an extremely improbable, but most likely happened, not because of some divine decree, but because shit happens… as for your awareness of yourself, read the rest of it… awareness, of self, or anything else, only comes through input… if you had no receptors in your body at all (no eyes/ears/mouth/nerves/etc) then you would not have any external input, and your brain would not be capable of thinking, as there would be nothing to stimulate thought into being… you can't peceive yourself without a way to perceive yourself…
Carson Long
You are now aware out of the infinite universe possibilities this is the only one you'll occur in, yet you'll still occur an infinite number of times anyway.
Kevin Walker
yep… i do understand that… but… more than likely… variations of me… from different choices made at different points… you understand the concept of infinite dimensions? where every single reaction, chemical, physical, mental, or otherwise, creates a new reality with differing results in each universe?
Oliver King
Ya, no shit things get weird the smaller we go. How are we supposed to measure stuff that small? It's like using a meter stick to measure the thickness of a hair. It's possible (get a clump of hairs, measure diameter, count the hairs, and with some math magic you get an answer), but it's hard as shit and not perfect. Did you just think it'll be turtles all the way down?
How about this: you are a piece of the universe. You are not just in the universe, you are the universe. Like a big firework, there was a huge explosion, then everything started twirling around everything else. The are smaller and smaller explosions until those little sparks started replicating and coping themselves. Until all the explosions stopped, and the universe is complete. Back to where it started: nothing.
Chase Powell
What if we're just some infinitely small particle in some infinitely larger universe?
Kayden Allen
Yes, but it depends if you take a deterministic outlook. The way I see it is that Earth would always play out the exact same time line, because the exact same circumstances will always be there to create Earth and the circumstances leading up to the creation of you, and thus everything you do, will remain the same.
There is no free will, but free will as a concept doesn't exist because you can't see the future, so you don't know what you're going to do, and the choice you make is the one you were always going to make because you would always have made the decisions and been in the surroundings that led up to that moment where you had to make a choice.
Like the ending of men in black? If true, what does that change? All we can know is this universe.
Luke Adams
What I'm trying to say is you always end up in this thread. There is no other way it can be because the starting conditions are always the same. You merely have the illusion of choice when your decision is decided by the chemicals in your brain and your prior experiences, which are determined by whatever was happening beforehand, just like everything else that has happened on our planet.
Leo King
yeah… if you know what they're called, you should also know that they represent a pause while thinking…
Parker Davis
You should have paused for longer.
Daniel Walker
no…they don't…at..all…
Zachary Reyes
Everybody. Everybody, please. Be calm. From nothing we are everything, but from everything we are nothing.
Samuel Davis
you are right user. i've been under the false impression that was the definition for years. i have learned from you.
Blake Gonzalez
Life is a learning experience, no harm done
Mason Thompson
In an infinite timeline, everything that can happen has already happened, and has happened an infinite number of times.
So given that AI species could exist then they would exist. If they (an infinite number of them) could make a simulated universe, then they would have - an infinite number of times.
Ethically, though, there would be some concerns about creating a simulated universe - like if the entity that created a simulated universe put a reset mechanism in the program so that if an entity within that program created a like program then the system would reboot. So you'd have to be damn well sure you were living in an organic reality before booting up your new program.
Oliver Sullivan
Man, this thread started out so good.
Camden White
This Black Aryan at the Erkenbrand alt-right conference seems to think that we're in a computer simulation that was devised by the victorious Nazis:
now in all honesty, Imagine the way the universe works. Atom to atom, million little reactions from photons being absorbed to chemical reactions involving trading electrons. matter itself is a large mind creating the laws of the universe. Life itself is a strange off branch of the laws of the universe where it reproduces the action of trading and gathering information, energy, with a self propelled reason for existence, much like the small microscopic organisms in your body that allow you to operate certain functions.
that was a little sidetracked, but rather related. The universe is a simulation, but simulation is a reality. It makes no difference.
Blake Williams
KEK
Caleb Hill
...
Juan Wood
I often think my life is twisted to fit a pattern that doesn't match my intent. For example: I tried to call a Marine Corps recruiter when I was a kid, mis-dialed and said "uh.. Marines"? Aperently I had called someone at my school by mistake: the next day most of the school knew about my "prank call". If I were widely known I would understand. But why would such a thing become school-wide gossip overnight even if it had been a prank call?
And many times my words and actions have been misinterpreted to mean something I never even thought, sometimes making me look better, sometimes worse, but always twisted into the pattern of a perfectly normal person. A person I don't even faintly resemble. I'm supposed to be Chad Anybody and whatever I do my life will be turned into a Chad Anybody life. I feel like I could go on a killing spree and either certainly not get caught or have it twisted over time into "a dispute with a neighbor" or something and completely forgotten within ten years.
Benjamin Edwards
pepe as Edric? bijaz seems a better fit
Oliver Gonzalez
Did kek create himself, or has he always been?
Alexander Rivera
He is chaos made order. He made himself.
Elijah Lopez
If he's chaos made order, does that mean he destroyed himself?
Anthony Williams
Yes.
Luke Bennett
...
Robert Walker
Indeed.
Daniel Lewis
Aristotle's allegory of the cave never really stopped being believed.
You can call it the Matrix, or Six day Creationism, or the old Egyptian Isis cult that believed we are trapped in a snake's dream.
The long and short of all these theories is that some things in this world don't add up. Physics breaks down in the extremes of astrophysics and sub atomic physics. Some of our fossil record is out of whack.
Maybe we don't have the big picture, or maybe this is like finding a glitch or inconsistency in a video game.
Isaiah Russell
...
Jason Cox
Aristotle put it out as an allegory. I don't think we are in a literal cave.
