Is the universe a computer simulation? Im going to post two videos here about Swedish philosopher Nick Bostroms Simulation Argument. The first (in the OP) is a quick summary of it by Sam Harris during a debate on the possibility of an afterlife. He also adds an interesting point about what this could mean for the truth of religion. The video is long, but the summary of the argument is under 3 minutes, and happens between 18:12 and 21:00. (However, if youre interested, the debate as a whole is about the afterlife, and it is a very interesting one). The second video (in the first comment on this thread) is Bostrom himself giving a longer (~20 minutes) summation of his argument that 1 of 3 propositions is true: 1. Civilizations that achieve our current level of technology always go extinct before they can simulate an entire universe in detail; 2. Civilizations that do achieve that level of technological maturity always lose interest in such simulations; or 3. We are very probably living in a computer simulation of a universe, rather than a real universe. What are your thoughts? I dont know of any large fraction of scientists or thinkers that really takes this argument seriously. As he says in the video, everyone acknowledges the craziness of the idea. Nevertheless, it is one of the most interesting and original ideas about the nature of existence that Ive seen. Again, the Sam Harris bit is 18:12-21:00.
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 05:51:38 +0000
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