Can someone explain me what’s the point of this post? No offense intended; reading the first paragraph made my mind literally explode wondering what the hell I’ve just read.
I haven’t read Permutation City (a comment mentioned it) and in fact I approached all LW material I’ve read with only my previous experience and reasoning abilities, and ALL topics such as this that feel so meta, out-of-this-world, and seemingly with no practical implications make no sense to me.
Nope, you’re pretty much bang-on here. The stuff being discussed has no observables and no practical applications. Mostly, it appears to be a way for the author to feel better about the topic, as he claims to be prone to panic attacks and existential anxiety.
Permutation City is only required reading to understand Dust Theory. I’m arguing that the odds of us being simulated (if the reference class includes the whole multiverse) is extremely high. I also believe in the information theory of identity; this means that part of our consciousness is really being implemented in the physical world. This, following the lines of argument, gives hypothetical future FAIs a motive to simulate us.
I didn’t realize how hard this was to follow if you aren’t already familiar with these concepts. Sorry!
Can someone explain me what’s the point of this post? No offense intended; reading the first paragraph made my mind literally explode wondering what the hell I’ve just read.
I haven’t read Permutation City (a comment mentioned it) and in fact I approached all LW material I’ve read with only my previous experience and reasoning abilities, and ALL topics such as this that feel so meta, out-of-this-world, and seemingly with no practical implications make no sense to me.
Am I missing something?
Nope, you’re pretty much bang-on here. The stuff being discussed has no observables and no practical applications. Mostly, it appears to be a way for the author to feel better about the topic, as he claims to be prone to panic attacks and existential anxiety.
Permutation City is only required reading to understand Dust Theory. I’m arguing that the odds of us being simulated (if the reference class includes the whole multiverse) is extremely high. I also believe in the information theory of identity; this means that part of our consciousness is really being implemented in the physical world. This, following the lines of argument, gives hypothetical future FAIs a motive to simulate us.
I didn’t realize how hard this was to follow if you aren’t already familiar with these concepts. Sorry!