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Are We Lving in the Matrix? [Oxford Prof Says There's 20% Chance We're All Living in a Computer]
Wireless Flash News Service ^
| May 13, 2003
| wire report
Posted on 05/14/2003 4:13:00 PM PDT by ewing
click here to read article
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To: dighton
Oh frig! Not only that, but he's an agent!
81
posted on
05/14/2003 5:35:54 PM PDT
by
Dr.Deth
To: ewing
I've always wondered what happens to Philosophy majors...
82
posted on
05/14/2003 5:36:58 PM PDT
by
k2blader
(Haruspex, beware.)
To: walkingman
Very good point! How do we know that what we consider natural numbers are so considered by other races? What if they count by .2 instead of 1?
83
posted on
05/14/2003 5:37:38 PM PDT
by
JenB
(One day 'til The Matrix)
To: Focault's Pendulum
Slartibartfast wants to have a word with you....as soon as the dolphins leave. I once had a mouse named Slartibartfast.
84
posted on
05/14/2003 5:40:24 PM PDT
by
Ramius
Comment #85 Removed by Moderator
To: RightWhale
main()
{
while(1){
fork();
}
}
Actually if the Universe ran that, it'd be more like Armageddon. >;)
86
posted on
05/14/2003 5:43:44 PM PDT
by
Pyrion
Comment #87 Removed by Moderator
To: JenB
That's decimalism. Maybe the pan-dimensional mice use base 13, and therefore their computers are based on 13. Douglas Adams claimed that base 13 was a coincidence, but clearly it's a result of his subconscious being affected by the Earth's programming. At any rate we should now move on to the Ultimate Meta-Question: What is the significance of the Ultimate Question?
To: JenB
What if they count by .2 instead of 1? |exp(ia)| = 1 everywhere. Even on Zeta Reticulae.
89
posted on
05/14/2003 5:47:46 PM PDT
by
RightWhale
(Post no Bills)
To: Pablo64
Pinging you to post #16.
To: ewing
'Hold muh peyote' alert
91
posted on
05/14/2003 5:51:28 PM PDT
by
Mr. Mojo
To: ewing
There is no spoon.
92
posted on
05/14/2003 5:56:00 PM PDT
by
sbelew
To: dpwiener
The really terrifying question is: What if the operating system our software selves are executing on is as buggy as Microsoft's? Timothy Leary asked that same question. In fact, he outright submitted it as truth.
93
posted on
05/14/2003 5:57:38 PM PDT
by
Mr. Mojo
To: ewing
A Philosophy Professor who teaches at Oxford says there is roughly a 20 percent chance that most humans today are really software created beings living in a virtual reality. Just one more reason why tenure is a bad idea.
94
posted on
05/14/2003 5:59:02 PM PDT
by
Tribune7
To: ewing
Put down that joint and come back to reality.
95
posted on
05/14/2003 5:59:31 PM PDT
by
weegee
(NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS: CNN let human beings be tortured and killed to keep their Baghdad bureau open)
To: ewing
48% of all statistics are made up.
96
posted on
05/14/2003 6:00:30 PM PDT
by
weegee
(NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS: CNN let human beings be tortured and killed to keep their Baghdad bureau open)
To: Brett66
Yup, he is in need of a cranio-rectotomy
97
posted on
05/14/2003 6:00:38 PM PDT
by
Gamecock
(The PCA; We're the "intolerant" ones! (As seen on Taglinus FreeRepublicus, 11th Edition)
To: Prodigal Son
What's this? Say I was writing a computer program that read in a list of numbers and plotted them on a graph. The program also has options to compute various statistics about the numbers (mean, standard deviation, etc). But most of the time the users don't ask for that information, they just want the graph. Then it might be more efficient to not compute the statistics as the data was being read, but only to do that if the user actually requested it. Since they usually don't, the program avoids unneccesary work.
Now say I'm writing a somewhat more complicated program that simulates a universe. I could try to keep track of the position and velocity of every single particle, and update everything after each "tick" of the simulation. But that's really inefficient; for example, I don't need to be constantly updating the locations of all the atoms in Pluto. Instead, maybe I'd come up with an equation for each particle that describes where it will be in the future, given its starting position. This way once I've assigned an equation to a simulated particle I don't have to worry about it until I actually need to know where it is, perhaps because a simulated person is looking at it. Then I can just plug in the right numbers into the particle's equation to figure out where it should be.
Then at some point simulated scientists in my universe might figure out that they can cause particles to behave differently depending on whether or not they observe them...
To: walkingman; JenB
Hey that's just the question pulled out of the Scrabble bag. Didn't say I agreed with it, just figured you were going Adams on me and I thought I would answer with the question.
Sheesh, do I need to post chapter and verse? LOL!!
99
posted on
05/14/2003 6:34:24 PM PDT
by
billbears
(Deo Vindice)
To: ThinkDifferent
At any rate we should now move on to the Ultimate Meta-Question: What is the significance of the Ultimate Question? I have no idea, but I have several lesser questions, in the event that life is a computer simulation.
How do I check my score?
Are there save points?
How do I access the instruction manual?
Is this just a beta test? (If so, I've noticed several bugs I'd like to report)
Am I even logged in?
100
posted on
05/14/2003 6:48:20 PM PDT
by
Steel Wolf
(Stop reading my tag line.)
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