{"id":3920,"date":"2016-06-27T19:59:38","date_gmt":"2016-06-28T00:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/?p=3920"},"modified":"2016-06-27T19:59:38","modified_gmt":"2016-06-28T00:59:38","slug":"where-do-we-exist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/2016\/06\/27\/where-do-we-exist\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Do We Exist?"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the one hand, I’m not sure if I’m pleased to share the same thought process with Elon Musk, as reported<\/a> by Geraint Lewis in NewScientist<\/strong><\/em> (11 June 2016, paywall):<\/p>\n

ARE we, and the universe we are in, a simulation? SpaceX chief Elon Musk<\/strong> thinks there is a tiny billions-to-one chance that we actually exist physically, and it is much more likely that we are data swirling around on someone\u2019s supercomputer. What leads him to this strange conclusion?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, given how nominative determinism<\/a> keeps popping up these days, one is forced to conclude the programmer-in-chief needs to cut down on the random correlations.<\/p>\n

Musk is immersed in a technological world that has advanced rapidly, and it seems inevitable to him that a functioning human brain, consciousness and all, will exist within a computer in the not too distant future. With the growth in computing power over the next few millennia, this first lonely brain will be joined by many more in a computed universe.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Which all sounds quite pleasant, I suppose, but I have to wonder if the limits of computation would have an impact on our capabilities once we’re encapsulated in a computer. I’ve mentioned this before<\/a>, but there are days in which, wondering at how woefully awful we are at understanding our world, even with the use of science, I have to wonder if, already embedded in a computer, we’re also already operating with some inherent burdens springing from the computational model used by whoever has put us in here.<\/p>\n

Of course, both sides of the issue should be considered: perhaps we are improved by our sojourn in the speculative computer? Better memories, perhaps, although that might lead to insanity. One is left to wonder: how to determine the edges of our computer simulation? It’s an interesting thought, at least to me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the one hand, I’m not sure if I’m pleased to share the same thought process with Elon Musk, as reported by Geraint Lewis in NewScientist (11 June 2016, paywall): ARE we, and the universe we are in, a simulation? SpaceX chief Elon Musk thinks there is a tiny billions-to-one \u2026 Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3920"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3921,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3920\/revisions\/3921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}