The possibility of The Matrix

reply to post by justsomeboreddude


LOL yeah while the rest of us go nutty trying to figure it out



this is my 3rd line! well infact its my 6th but hey whos going to notice the gaps ; ) 7.. grr

It's a fascinating subject and if we really are living inside a computer simulation, then one has to ask, what's the purpose of this simulation and are we apart of it, or like Illusionsaregrander mentioned, simply plugged in from the outside - aka virtual reality. It's truly mind boggling as there are billions of possibilities.

I sincerely hope that we are plugged in and that all the pain and suffering we go through during our lives, actually counts for something. It truly sucks if we are simply nothing more than artificial Intelligent constructs and even more so if we are simply nothing more than entertainment. Pull the plug.

Another morbid possibility is that this simulation is simply some kind of penalization. A virtual reality capital punishment simulation where none of us were deemed fit to live in the real world, so we were all convicted & found guilty and then put into stasis and hooked up to some sort of virtual computer simulation as punishment. If we wish to return to the real world then we must prove that we can live in a civilised manner and lead a moral and just life. Only then, will we be allowed back into the real world.

One also has to wonder how many simulations there are. If we are living inside of a simulation, then who created this simulation and are they also a simulation and whoever created their simulation, might also be a simulation and on and on. One day we may even create our own simulation, when our computer technolgy is sufficiently powerful enough and then populate it with AI constructs (little computer people) who will no doubt ask the same questions that we do and also ponder the meaning of their lives. They too will no doubt some day create their own simulation and the cycle continues. Just what is powering all these simulations. It must be one hell of a infinitely powerful quantum computer system.

I wonder if it would be possible to tap into or hack into these other simulations and cause chaos or simply communicate with the inhabitants. Upload a virus and destroy the entire matrix.

In regards to our own reality when was the simulation turned on and when did it begin. We are led to believe that our reality started with the big bang, yet it's possible that the simulation was turned on only 6000 years ago, so in that respect maybe the bible is right. Everything that came before that date is simply a creation of the simulation. Makes you wonder! When it comes to simulations, anything is possible.


[edit on 11-1-2009 by kindred]

www.abovetopsecret.com...
Perhaps this will help you OP

If you get the chance rent the movie "The Thirteenth Floor" it might help to explain about simulations etc.

The Thirteenth Floor

It came out at the same time as the Matrix so was overshadowed by that bit of CGI rubbish.

posted on 1/12/09 at 03:02


The video at page 2 explains pretty well..

Our existence may actually have no meaning whatsoever as this place where we very likely are, is very likely an computer simulation.
The possibilities for that which triggered the start of this simulation are endless thus, the reasons for our existence are infinite aswell (or the lack of it).

Considering the nature of what is known as humans, us, our predecessors, and on which the code is based on (probably), the reason for our being here is so very likely something extremely trivial, whether it's one codes longing for his lost wife or the creator's vision of perfect being or perhaps the worst being just to raise his/her self asteem.


Though the doubts about console and pc game characters having conscious minds isn't possible as the characters aren't programmed to think, they react to line of code like amoebas react aswell.

The vast majority of people are certain that amoebas don't have conscious mind and same goes to many other beings"below" us.

So unless that reaction to something is considered as thinking then they aren't conscious but, that depends entirely on the definition of consciousness

Based on the conclusion which was made from the claims made by so many great thinkers of our universe; it seems like we aswell are reacting to lines of codes and as that is considered as thinking/consciousness then unless those 2 words are used to describe some level in executing programmes then the amoebas think aswell, then the computer characters think aswell.


Only way to get answers to this dilemma is to take a side, if you take a side your view will become biased and will settle for less.

Such an contradiction what we are told and what supposedly is..

[edit on 11-1-2009 by Atmosk!]

Originally posted by drock905
reply to post by stealthAUS

 

I can't remember the name of philosphical theory right now. Basically in a nut shell it says that if that we are able to comprehend and theorize that existence is nothing more then a computer simulation then it has to be one.

Kind of scary in my opinion.

Descartes (French philosopher) considered the idea of an 'Evil Demon' controlling us in his 'Meditations' and concluded that even if his body does not exist and sensation may (in a modern day context) just be reflexes from a computer controlling us, at least his brain is thinking and that proves consciousness and therefore he exists as an individual.

Personally, if we are controlled by some ultimate power, it would either be stupid enough to let us question the idea and possibly defeat it OR it would be clever and twisted enough to let us question the idea in order to forever be caught in philosophical black holes.

Life is rather complicated!

Originally posted by venchardo

Personally, if we are controlled by some ultimate power, it would either be stupid enough to let us question the idea and possibly defeat it OR it would be clever and twisted enough to let us question the idea in order to forever be caught in philosophical black holes.

Life is rather complicated!

Or, if we were the ultimate power, immersed in a game, the point of the game could be remembering that it is only a game and getting back out.

If we are in a computer simulation then I think it is high time someone hit "Ctrl+Alt+Delete" and did a reboot.

Illusionsaregrander
Or, if we were the ultimate power, immersed in a game, the point of the game could be remembering that it is only a game and getting back out.

So what your basically saying is that all of humanity is one consciousness and the only way to exit this reality is when everyone comes to the same realisation that it's only a game.

Surely though, in the real world there would be safe guards to prevent this from happening?

I can just imagine how funny it would be if some mother phoned technical support asking them to help her son whose consciousness is trapped in the game he's been playing.


There's also the possibility that we are not really in this reality, our consciousness is simply manifesting everything in this relaity from the real world, whatever or wherever that might be.

Physicist John Wheeler once offered a suggestion: maybe we should approach cosmic fine-tuning not as a problem but as a clue. Perhaps it is evidence that we somehow endow the universe with certain features by the mere act of observation. It's an idea that Stephen Hawking has been thinking about, too. Hawking advocates what he calls top-down cosmology, in which observers are creating the universe and its entire history right now. If we in some sense create the universe, it is not surprising that the universe is well suited to us.

[edit on 12-1-2009 by kindred]

reply to post by kindred


there was a movie that had a similar idea as what you are talking about. demolition man was the name. where people were put in life preserving comas and frozen with a sort of behaviour modification used as a prison for criminals.

the only thing i dont know how to explain about the simulation is the entry of new people or birth. if we reproduce are we doing it at our own will and therefore creating subhuman AI (which we ourselves would be if the system has been around for 10,000 years) or is it infact the calculated entry for a new candidate for the simulation? its easy to look at the other end of death and talk about being brought out of the simulation but we need to start thinking about how it is we are suppose to have entered it and still be something of reality and not AI. or is it that we do live in reality and we are AI? an intelligent life force that was unrightfully given the potential to be self aware???

reply to post by stealthAUS


thats becouse we are not in a simulation...

life is not the matrix... please understand that.. Great filme yes Real life NO

People make money of it.. life is not a simulation IS NOT A SIMULATION

people DIE... lol its not simulated what so ever...


..

reply to post by stealthAUS


Yeah I remember the movie Demolition Man. It also crossed my mind when I was writing about penalization.

stealthAUS
the only thing i dont know how to explain about the simulation is the entry of new people or birth. if we reproduce are we doing it at our own will and therefore creating subhuman AI (which we ourselves would be if the system has been around for 10,000 years) or is it infact the calculated entry for a new candidate for the simulation?

You make some good points. I'll try & explain. In regards to my theory about some sort of virtual reality punishment simulation. Obviously the natural - real world, must be quite immoral, violent and chaotic for its inhabitants to take such drastic actions. When you consider how many births there are every year, it does seem absurd to assume that they all come from the natural world or they are plugged in somehow. The only explanation I can think of right now is that maybe not everyone in this reality has a conscience or soul. Quite alot of people might actually be products of the simulation itself, in that they get their intelligence from the simulation, rather than from the real natural world.

Then again I might be wrong. In our reality, six billion people might seem like a lot, but a civilization that can create such an advanced simulation must of been around for quite along time and therefore I imagine their population will probably be a lot bigger than the simulations. They've probably colonized and explored half their universe, so we could be talking about a civilization with a population of trillions. That's plenty of candidates for playing or somehow interacting with the simulation then.

As for free will. Well it certainly seems like we have free will, but if we are living in a simulation then surely that makes us illusions and if we are not real, then free will itself is also an illusion. However there's also the possibility that our characters within the simulation are being controlled by our real selves in the real world. So in that respect, we must surely have have free will. Unless of course the world we think is real is also a simulation. A simulation within a simulation. It might also be possible to download our consciousness into many different simulations simultaneously. My head is hurting.

When talking about simulations, the mind truly boggles as there are literally billions of possibilities. Another thing I wonder about is if we are living inside a simulation, then why the need for sleep and why do we dream and does it somehow have anything to do with us interacting with other simulations.

When you talk about reality and what's real and what isn't. I don't think that's a question that can currently be answered. The birth of Quantum computers is supposedly just around the corner, so hopefully with that kind of computing power, we will hopefully someday find out once and for all.

Interesting article about God's video game.

www.articlearchives.com...

'Mind Gaming' Could Enter Market This Year
www.thetechlounge.com...
www.physorg.com...


[edit on 12-1-2009 by kindred]

Descartes dealt with this concept before the concept of a computer had ever been dreamed of. In fact, his famous quote "I think therefore I am" comes from his meditation on this subject.

Read Meditations on First Philosophy and you will find a very interesting discussion of this situation.

btw, it was Descartes who said that if we can imagine that our reality is a simulation, then our reality is a simulation.



[edit on 14-1-2009 by avingard]

I truly believe that we are living in some kind of a matrix, as if years ahead are already plotted and lined with clues and hints of the future...

For example, neo's passport in the matrix, expires on 9/11 ... which is a co-incidence as the movie came out prior to the event...

I find clues and hints all the time, just look harder at solid ideas, you'll get that feel that everythings just a big setup sometimes...

reply to post by Spock Shock


Its a movie...

Life is strange. but far stranger than any movie.

sum of its parts ; )

reply to post by theresult
Man, I came here looking for ATS member thoughts on ancestor simulation theory yet after reading this short thread I thoroughly feel the need to tell you a few things.

1: The level of arrogance you display makes me nauseous.
2: You seem to be one of the people Bill Hicks was referring to, someone who has a vested interest in the maintenence of the illusion.
3: It seems rather evident that you consider Ancestor Simulation Theory a threat to your existence and thus it is but a small leap to consider that it is perhaps true that Some of us are not really Spirits/Souls/Eternal and are simply A.I. and thus Death to A.I. is absolute whereas Death to the Real "gamer" is just another rest button.

Asking why originates more from natural curiosity then any need to understand. A "Natural" condition that I am now beginning to believe that A.I. would not possess...

As technology advances new words and their definitions enter into our lexicon making it easier to understand and relate to complex concepts which enables us to begin to think critically concerning these possibilities.

Of all the thoughts that are echoed throughout all time, there is one that stands out and that is the belief that all is maya, all is illusion, matter is illusion and the spirit/soul world is the ultimate reality.

Shazam..... many years later science has finally caught up with religion.
No biggy as at one time science and religion were one and all was considered knowledge.

As it once was so again it shall be.

Many are starting to believe that there is a big reset button in the sky and that the main mover is about to push it.
If I were A.I. I would be nervous indeed