We should distinguish between possible worlds that have low realityfluid due to implausible physics (like FTL travel, which only occurs in simulations, because causal universes don’t look like that), and those that have low realityfluid due to implausibly fine-tuned sociology/psychology/&c. (which mostly occur in simulations rather than the basement, because the fine-tuning is most parsimoniously explained in terms of what Powers in the basement are interested in simulating).
This thought occasioned by how I’m really enjoying Hello, Tomorrow! on Apple TV+. It’s about salesmen hawking real estate on the moon in a setting with robots and rockets but 1950s-like culture and æsthetics, which gives it an extra layer of fine-tuning: it’s not just that the real future doesn’t look like that (as is the problem with most science fiction, where the present day’s depiction of the future bears the “design signature” of the present day); it’s that it’s a present-day depiction of a 1950s depiction of the future. An analogue of this show that was actually made in the 1950s wouldn’t have a racially integrated cast (without special remark), or present-day production values, or make use of any number of TV storytelling tropes that were popularized in recent decades that I’m not enough of a film buff to be aware of.
We should distinguish between possible worlds that have low realityfluid due to implausible physics (like FTL travel, which only occurs in simulations, because causal universes don’t look like that), and those that have low realityfluid due to implausibly fine-tuned sociology/psychology/&c. (which mostly occur in simulations rather than the basement, because the fine-tuning is most parsimoniously explained in terms of what Powers in the basement are interested in simulating).
This thought occasioned by how I’m really enjoying Hello, Tomorrow! on Apple TV+. It’s about salesmen hawking real estate on the moon in a setting with robots and rockets but 1950s-like culture and æsthetics, which gives it an extra layer of fine-tuning: it’s not just that the real future doesn’t look like that (as is the problem with most science fiction, where the present day’s depiction of the future bears the “design signature” of the present day); it’s that it’s a present-day depiction of a 1950s depiction of the future. An analogue of this show that was actually made in the 1950s wouldn’t have a racially integrated cast (without special remark), or present-day production values, or make use of any number of TV storytelling tropes that were popularized in recent decades that I’m not enough of a film buff to be aware of.
(strong upvoted mostly to get more object-level discussion higher-in-the-queue)
I’m confused at what relevance this comment has to the thread here.
Everything is relevant in an open thread!
That’s what I get for only looking at the local situation, and not looking at all the comments. But thanks for answering my question!