Mark Peaty wrote:
> SP: 'You don't actually have to emulate the entire universe, just enough
> to fool its inhabitants. For example, you don't need to emulate the
> appearance of a snowflake in the Andromeda galaxy except in the unlikely
> event that someone went to have a look at it.'
>
> MP: I think this turns on how smart the inhabitants are, which
> ultimately comes down to whether or not they have discovered scientific
> method or not. Scientific method makes the species much smarter -
> despite themselves! If the matrixian species discovers scientific
> method, the matrix maker [Nerd, the Holy One] will have to lift
> his/her/its game to be able to cover all scientific questions the
> matrixians ask. That will not be easy! I am not sure if what I am saying
> relates well to what Colin Hales was saying about 1st person awareness
> and the nature of scientific endeavour, I don't think I really
> understood Colin's argument. I am fairly confident here though that
> scientific method imposes a discipline upon sentient observers that
> provokes the asking of truly interesting questions which eventually must
> lead to the true 'edges' of the practically testable world. The Nerd god
> will be forced to expend exponentially greater resources each time the
> matrixians make a new discovery in basic science otherwise his children,
> the matrixians, will come to smell a Rat.
Maybe we already have. The linearity and unitary evolution of QM implies that we exist in superpositions of states - but we only experience one.
Brent Meeker
"Is that the truth?"
"No, but it's a lot simpler."
--- Walt Kelly, in Pogo
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Received on Wed Jan 03 2007 - 17:34:57 PST