Today, we often simulate our human ancestors’ lives, e.g., Civilization. Our descendants will like want to simulate their own ancestors, namely us, and they may have much-improved simulation technology which support sentience. So, our simulators are likely to be our (post-)human descendants.
This sounds a lot like “If our simulators are like us then they are like us” or (more fairly) “if our simulators are like us in respect X, then they are also likely to be like us in respect Y,Z...”
Do we have any reason to think the simulators will be like us in respect to the issue of wanting to simulate beings like themselves?
I think it’s more that if we are being simulated, the most likely simulating party is our future, if we take our OWN propensity to simulate our past as evidence. Human simulators are far more likely to simulate humans out of all possible intelligences than other intelligences are.
Does that imply that the laws of the basement universe are even more ‘boring’ than our own? They decided to spice it up a little with ‘magic’ like… umm… well, I can’t think of any disposable rules. Maybe the weak force, to make nukes possible. But that doesn’t seem very fun.
Thanks. There was also a comic in which the people of world realize that they are in a simulation, a video game. They all refuse to fight for the simulator’s entertainment. The last panel is the teenager playing the game who says “this is boring” and turns it off. Do you have a link for that one?
Some people consider games like WoW boring, so… it depends. Even if the basement universe is more boring for its inhabitants, it does not need to be more boring for us.
Maybe our second law of thermodynamics is a limitation of the game. A time limit to prevent basement universe basement dwellers to literally spend eternity playing. :D
If our simulators are human, that implies that their universe has laws of physics similar to our own. But if we’re living in a simulation, I think it’s more plausible that our simulators exist in a world operating under different laws of physics (e.g. they live in a universe which is more amenable to our-universe-scale simulation.) So I think other factors are in play which could lessen the probability that we are being simulated by humans, let alone our future.
This sounds a lot like “If our simulators are like us then they are like us” or (more fairly) “if our simulators are like us in respect X, then they are also likely to be like us in respect Y,Z...”
Do we have any reason to think the simulators will be like us in respect to the issue of wanting to simulate beings like themselves?
I think it’s more that if we are being simulated, the most likely simulating party is our future, if we take our OWN propensity to simulate our past as evidence. Human simulators are far more likely to simulate humans out of all possible intelligences than other intelligences are.
If our simulations were conscious, many of them would logically conclude that our world is inhabited by orcs and elves with magical powers.
Does that imply that the laws of the basement universe are even more ‘boring’ than our own? They decided to spice it up a little with ‘magic’ like… umm… well, I can’t think of any disposable rules. Maybe the weak force, to make nukes possible. But that doesn’t seem very fun.
Relevant SMBC
Thanks. There was also a comic in which the people of world realize that they are in a simulation, a video game. They all refuse to fight for the simulator’s entertainment. The last panel is the teenager playing the game who says “this is boring” and turns it off. Do you have a link for that one?
Some people consider games like WoW boring, so… it depends. Even if the basement universe is more boring for its inhabitants, it does not need to be more boring for us.
Maybe our second law of thermodynamics is a limitation of the game. A time limit to prevent basement universe basement dwellers to literally spend eternity playing. :D
If our simulators are human, that implies that their universe has laws of physics similar to our own. But if we’re living in a simulation, I think it’s more plausible that our simulators exist in a world operating under different laws of physics (e.g. they live in a universe which is more amenable to our-universe-scale simulation.) So I think other factors are in play which could lessen the probability that we are being simulated by humans, let alone our future.