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The Computational Requirements for the Matrix
goombah99 writes "Nick Bostrom discusses the computational requirements needed to simulate human existence. He offers a proof based on the anthropic principle, that you are almost certainly a computer simulation and not "real". The idea is that given that humans don't go extinct in geologically short time then eventually computer capability will allow complete simulation of the human cortex. Consequently, there must be far more simulations running in future millennia than seconds since you were born. Thus its astronomically more likely you are a simulation than real ... if humans don't go extinct shortly. Recalling the 13th floor, Robin Hanson discusses how one should try to live in a simulation. David Wolpert also weighs in on the physical limits of Turing machines for simulation of the universe. This also may explain why time travel seems impossible: we dont meet visitors from the future since only the present is being simulated."
drugs are bad mmmmkay
Where is the red pill?
They said someone would try to persuade me that time travel was impossible. You have just validated their existence.
this article is way too deep for 3 am. i'll just wait until /. accidently reposts it sometime later this week at a more reasonable hour.
but either way, i wouldn't believe this because it would be too scary if it were true.
I'm simulated.
Can I still be stimulated?
Its not bullet time, so much as FPS lag.
God spoke to me
No, I'm telling you your just trapped.
Feed me a stray cat.
So I'm just a piece of code then? I bet I'm not even indented properly. Bastards!
I hope I don't get optimized away...
Does terminating the game of life make us mass murderers?
Advantages: We will be able to communicate with the people who run our world from the "real" world. I can already see people on IRC asking all kinds of favors, like "I want to be rich. Someone important. Like an actor."
Disadvantages: Script kiddies will get into the machines of the "real" world and they'll perform a DOS attack. Next thing you know, you're just walking down the street minding your own business when suddenly the street you were on turns into a toxic waste dump and a couple of identical cats walk by.
But anyway, if we ever do build a simulation, we should definitely connect our Internet into the world we make. That way, people who figure it out will be able to communicate with us. We'll tell 'em we're God... Screw the Prime Directive.
Cos I have a few changes I would like to make to this simulation. Simple things like
Person* Timesprout = GetPerson(xxxxx); Timesprout->physique = "Addonis";
Timesprout->attraction_level = "irristible to supermodels and actresses;'
Timesprout->wealth = BILL_GATES->wealth * 10;
Timespout->abode[0] = "Island paradise surrounded by beautiful nubile girls";
Timesprout->car[0] = "Ferrari spider";
I'll see how these work out before commiting more.
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
I just had my 8th Corona. All of this crap just made more sense.
So what your saying is that if life as we know it is a simulation then the meaning of life() is Return 0;
Im dreaming ofa big bndwdth, That can resist the
I think, therefore I think I am.
So are you suggesting distributed computing via humans for our robot leaders? To what end? Do they wanna find aliens too?
ymmv
Taking bets on how many people actually say "Computer, end program" out loud while reading this post.
I mean everytime they move their heads there's like no interstitial animation whatsoever. Same goes for insects. Freaky. Plus my email has been acting up - yeah, I think the Gnostics had it right all along...
sig-free as of 28 July 02!
So the whole life flashing before your eyes when you die is just your log file being tared, gzipped and dumped to a tape on a shelf somewhere.
You can download the Boost library for C++ and have a Matrix in your own computer already. I think it even has a Matrix class. So you can pose and possibly answer important questions like:
Sure is interesting to think about. (Heh heh...)
Sunlit World Scheme. Weird and different.
... so many people I meet could be replaced by small shell scripts without any noticeable effects.
No, silly. That's passe. People will be sshnuke'ing the whole internet looking for backdoors (and wearing tight leather). That's the current hip thing.
By Jove, I've figured it out! Like, there's not enough power to simulate all of America. So only the coasts are simulated! That's why nobody knows anyone that actually lives in, say, Topeka or Tulsa! THERE IS NO TULSA! Only fake video feeds of it!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Trinity: Morpheus, the post was modded down, I don't know how.
Morpheus: I know, they used the overrated exploit. There's no time, you're going to have to get to another post.
Trinity: Are there any trolls?
Morpheus: Yes.
Trinity: Goddammit.
Morpheus: You have to focus, Trinity. There are mod points at Wells and Lake. You can make it.
Trinity: All right.
Morpheus: Go.
By reading this comment, you immediately waive any and all rights regarding it.
Me:"Computer, end program." DSFSDVXcvxvxcvzzzz [NO CARRIER]zzzzzzzz
Jesus saves,
but God make backup copies!
Oh great. That means not only are we a simulation, but I have the likes of Crow T. Robot watching it and making pithy comments about my life.
Karma: Frotzed (mostly due to the Frobozz Magic Karma Company)
I think the biggest flaw in his argument actually supports possibility of living in a "matrix" even more. He assumes that the consciousness of 6 billion people in the world are being simulated. Why? What if I'm the only simulation? All the other people in the world could just be representations for me to interact with.
I know you think this is your simulation, but sorry, it's really mine. I'm the "real" on here.
Since the holodeck routinely causes that kind of severe trouble for the crew, you'd think they'd stop using the damn thing. It's like, if every other week my toaster tried to kill me, I'd eventually get rid of it.
1. Get your self few smoke grenades.
2. Now, make a nice light smoke screen around you.
3. Spin your self around like a maniac.
If your frame rate drops dramatically, it's time to call your Matrix administrator.
stand back! this guy keeps forgeting to hit preview, then posts a correction with errors in it.
No, File under: "Things not to say in prison."
Just do a simple: make world. If your kernel config file is propery set up (don't forget the "SIMULATE_EXISTENCE" flag!), upon reboot you will be living in a simulation.
So you're saying that God just got bored and went away?
What happens when He discovers Quake? Is the Uncertainty Principle the result of sloppy overclocking?
Finally, what happens to us when His mom tells him to shut down the computer and go outside to play?
~Idarubicin
> Someone above made a comment about using humans
> as "processors", which would have made a much
> more plausible technical reason for the AI
> keeping the humans around
It would certainly fit in with agents taking over anything "still hardwired to the system", i.e. programming the wetware of a copper top's brain, overlaying the agent's mind so the agent could take over their avatar.
Remember the Woman in Red scene?
Which reminds me, this was left on the cutting room floor, for obvious reasons:
Mouse: How do the computers know what chicken tastes like? Maybe that's why everything tastes like chicken. They didn't know what it tasted like in reality!
Switch: That's why the Woman in Red's kootch tastes like chicken, eh Mouse?
(Everyone laughs. Mouse is redfaced.)
Dozer: Switch, you goddamned dyke. You are da shit! (High-fives her.)
"Has [being a kidnapped teenage girl, raped repeatedly for months] changed you?" - Katie Couric to Elizabeth Smart
Okay. If this is just some simulation, then when (and if) we get to the point in our simulated time where we have technology to simulate the world, that would me the computers supporting us would have to use double the resources, because it would be simulating us simulating the universe. So everytime the new simulation got to the point (assuming the guy in charge of us doesn't shut us down) where their technology could simulate the universe then it would require more power. Eventually, to support all the simulations, it would seem that we would need an infinite ammount of memory, because every level of simulation would add so much overhead. One more thing... just still assuming we are in a simulation... do you think we're running under Windows, *nix or Mac? Hmmmmm........
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