Tech billionaires think we live in the Matrix and have asked scientists to get us out

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: neoholographic

They're not alone , MIT Cosmologist Max Tegmark also believes the Universe may be a mathematical construct, a belief I think has merit.

EXCELLENT POST!

I'm in the middle of Tegmark's great book "Our Mathematical Universe." He has some really good ideas and that a really good video you linked to.

Another book you can check out "Is God a Mathemetician" by Mario Livio. It's not a religious book but a very good book about mathematics that's in line with Tegmark's thinking.

So these billionaires wish to sacrifice their life of wealth and luxury to wake up in a human farm type reality similar to the matrix. Fair play to the dumba**es.

Not a fan of the whole theory, nor string theory. I could easily say it's a simulation of something we just experienced in reality. I don't like it how we are dedicating time and resources to proving that life doesn't exist, it's a fabrication of a computer. Japanese anime/ matrix has contributed far to much to the warping of people's grasp of reality. Anything measured/observed could contribute to any proposed theory if that's your train of thought.

It's the exact same attributing everything in life to left wing/right wing perspectives, if that's the way you think. I could say good/ bad, caring/ selfish, right/wrong. If you already have it embedded in your train of thought everything could be attributed to simulation

a reply to: swanne

All universes have their importance and are a part of the greater scheme of things. Saying that one of them is an illusion just because we found a movie cool, is not only foolish but in my opinion also disrespectful to those 13 billion years of evolution the Universe has just gone through.

Yes, we wouldn't want to hurt one of the universe's feelings do we. Let's not disrespect this universe I mean look what it has been through. It would also be disrespectful to the universe's family members to not recognise this.

Jeez what a load of drivel.

How ignorant can you be if you think that a movie is the driving force behind this theory, and not the other way around.

Has this got something to do with what Dr. James Gates Jr found? 1's & 0's

a reply to: PoetryInMotion

The movie IS the driving force to the common man's acceptance of such theory though. The people accepting such theories with little to zero understanding of the concept and it's effects. The films/Japanese anime put it into relatively simplistic constructs, far from the simplicity of the concept.

Without exposure from those films many would not be intrigued by the concept and would find it laughable that everything they experience/experienced is 1z and 0z.

So what is it a simulation of. Future us reliving our "peak" in history. Are we an alien race fooled into thinking we are human? Computer programmes deceived into thinking we are mortal organisms? Direct simulation of a parallel universe? An after thought of alien race, a what if other lifeforms existed programme?

Stupid theories require stupid questions, some of who on ats may find these questions important or with some sort of valid meaning. They do not.

a reply to: neoholographic

If they want to at least temporarily break out of the simulation, all they have to do is die. Oh, and leave all their money to me lol.

Cheers - Dave

But what if none of it/us is real? What if they push to break us all out of a simulation and, really, it's just "game over"?

a reply to: neoholographic


The Hale Bop Crew had bitchin' uniforms so better dress snappy or it won't fly... (pun intended)

Type hello to 'Neo' when You get 'there'...

a reply to: swanne

The evidences of the Universe's age, by the way, are everywhere. Cosmic background radiation, dwarf star age, the Sun's rate of nuclear fusion, the expansion of galaxies, the age of rocks on Earth, the fossils embedded in rocks, the giant meteor that left a world-extinction event and a crater in Yucatan, the materials on Earth which have been forged in the heart of a dying star. But no, let's ignore that science. Let's ask scientists to upload our minds into stupid hard drives, but let's ignore what astrophysics and geology have to say about the universe and the world.

But if reality was a simulation then everything you can measure in it is simulated too so your point is moot.

a reply to: GemmyMcGemJew

The movie IS the driving force to the common man's acceptance of such theory though. The people accepting such theories with little to zero understanding of the concept and it's effects. The films/Japanese anime put it into relatively simplistic constructs, far from the simplicity of the concept.

Like I said if you think that that movie is the only thing backing up the theory then you are simply ignorant.

So what is it a simulation of.

I personally don't think it is a "simulation" in the sense that it mimics another "real" reality. I do think our reality is the result of some sort of computer program.

a reply to: swanne

You are basically implying that just because something is "out there," it can't possibly be contained in someone else's "in there." That is anthropomorphism.

a reply to: kosmicjack

If it is a simulation, it is a remarkably robust one. As you might expect, since it would have about four billion years to evolve.

I am thoroughly comfortable with the idea (typically misunderstood and hyped by neoholographic in a recent thread about an actual theory concerning natural selection among competing sensory simulacra) that our perception of the world is nothing like the reality of it. Most thinking people are cool with the idea, which was probably first formulated by Indian religious thinkets c. 1000BC. It was well established by the Buddhist era, so nothing new there.

However, from there to 'computer simulation' is to extrapolate too far. From the linked article:

Earlier this year, Tesla boss Elon Musk said that there's "a billion to one chance we're living in base reality", meaning the billionaire thinks the odds are that we are living in a computer simulation.

That's an unwarranted guess. Musk, who is a pretty smart guy, understands that the experience of our senses is an abstract of reality, not reality itself. His statement does not mean that he thinks the universe is a computer program.

And if it was one, what of it? A computer program needs a computer to execute it. There's always a real world somewhere. It can't be turtles all the way down.

swanne is absolutely correct when he says the Holographic Principle merely admits that you can take a photo of the universe. Those who think we're living in a hologram should remember that a hologram, like a photo, is always of something.

Agreed, the world is not always a very nice place. But the poor OP had been trying for years to prove wishes can come true because 'quantum physics' and still hasn't managed to overcome ugly, implacable old reality. I wouldn't like to see anyone else lose their shirt on that spavined old nag. Even a beggar couldn't ride it.

a reply to: swanne

what was the date... in your dream... how many years did u live?

a reply to: neoholographic

Excellent Video

a reply to: neoholographic

I wonder what "it" is like, outside of the simulation. hmmm

a reply to: Astyanax

If it is a simulation, it is a remarkably robust one.

Is it? I would say that matter is remarkably not robust at all since it is almost completely made up of empty space. The argument that it looks and feels real is hardly an argument.

Just like the appeal to Earth's history is not a valid argument.

That's an unwarranted guess. Musk, who is a pretty smart guy, understands that the experience of our senses is an abstract of reality, not reality itself. His statement does not mean that he thinks the universe is a computer program.

That is your unwarranted guess. Or rather making stuff up. This is what he said, literally,

Asked whether he was saying that the answer to the question of whether we are in a simulated computer game was “yes”, he said the answer is “probably”. He said that arguably we should hope that it’s true that we live in a simulation. “Otherwise, if civilisation stops advancing, then that may be due to some calamitous event that stops civilisation.”

www.independent.co.uk... .html

Don't make stuff up.

And if it was one, what of it? A computer program needs a computer to execute it. There's always a real world somewhere. It can't be turtles all the way down.

Yes and? Does this negate the theory being proposed here? It sounds like you are saying, "so what it is a simulation there still has to be a real word out there, na na."

As if this still makes you victorious in your belief that reality is real.

a reply to: neoholographic

Think about that for a second. I mean if the world is already f'ed up as it is and we're living in a matrix or the matrix imagine what the world outside the matrix is like, there are two reasons why we'd create a matrix:

1 - An experiment
2 - To escape reality

either way I'd rather stay here than find out that the "real world" is far darker.

a reply to: PoetryInMotion
Do you care to ponder why we live in a computer programme? What is the purpose/need and is it humans/aliens who designed this? Did you feel this way before you were introduced to this theory? Did the big bang happen in this programme? Would genuinely like to know your perspective on this because it is difficult to look past the matrix in terms of purpose.

Or is god a computer programmer ?

So we are all living in a computer program, right, where is this computer? who types all the programs for all the snowflakes, blades of grass, tree leaves, raindrops, grains of sand, pebbles, clouds, lightening, storms, people, dogs, cats, birds, sheep, pigs, cattle, lions, elephants, snakes, horses, fish, and everything else?

a reply to: PoetryInMotion

You don't seem to have understood what I said. Surely I wasn't that obscure?

I may be wrong about Mr Musk's beliefs, but I am not wrong in my interpretation of the statement as reported in the OP's link. Your link returns a 404; until you fix that you don't have a case. Fix the link.

I don't know what you mean by my 'appeal to Earth's history'. Are you saying Vedic philosophers didn't come up with the concept of Maya three thousand years ago? Or are you confusing the evolution of sensoria with the evolution of the Earth?