Life on Alpha Centauri

[Chaos Theory]

If everyone felt that way, we wouldn't have planes (which don't always fall down), and life here and now would be no better than it is in many parts of the world and at times in the past. Maybe someday we'll have Morgan Gravitonics, and it won't even be true that a mass will cause a gravitational force. Reality has loopholes.

Maybe I can't change the bulk properties of humanity, but I can certainly escape them. I find myself inundated by mindless advertising and stupid ideas about how to be popular. I absolutely ignore them. I am insensitive to fashion, and I am dulled to others' disapproval. In fact, I like bothering people who have no right to change my actions but would like to.

I see stupid people every day, an inevitable product of masses of people. I deal with them as I would with an aggressive breed of dog - ignore it, but if it comes after you, stop it with no regard for its well-being, or run. Ignoring works reasonably well, in my experience.

[Natalinasmpf]

Your truth is exactly the same, and if you deny this you will die

Have you experienced death? Do people that jump down REALLY die? Perhaps their neural energy floats off somewhere. Do you know? How can you confirm this? For ALL you know, your current reality is a program, and you are some (sentient) character in The Sims: MY. 2479.

Maybe all the deaths you see are fake, merely propaganda by the government. You can deny pain, use doublethink, have different beliefs, make falsehood true, and truth false; the truth is truly, subjective.

Stupidity is subjective by the way. As well as insanity. We merely use these to naively comfort ourselves about society's treatment of them.

Can you confirm that the physical laws taught to you in all your years of education are actually true? How do you know all the examples and empiricality you have seen aren't actually deceptions? The only confirmation to this is your SENSES. But senses can be deceived! Your memory can be altered. I might be 14 years old, or I may be hours old, just released, but with a 14 year old memory, remembering every moment as thus

##Bioenhancement Center
#FAC30
We are all aware that the senses can be deceived, the eyes fooled.
But how can we be sure our senses are not being deceived at any
particular time, or even all the time? Might I just be a brain in
a tank somewhere, tricked all my life into believing in the events
of this world by some insane computer? And does my life gain or lose
meaning based on my reaction to such solipsism?
^
^ -- Project PYRRHO, Specimen 46, Vat 7
^ Activity Recorded M.Y. 2302.22467
^ TERMINATION OF SPECIMEN ADVISED

.

[Chaos Theory]

While your senses may deceive you, you have no other source of information about the world. Blindly believing your senses are being deceived constantly is just a recipe for solipsism. You might as well assume your senses are accurate, since the only alternative is to lack information about the world.

Incidentally, if I deceive you into being happy, are you not happy?

[Natalinasmpf]

Rather it is the uncertainty of this deception, that can be assumed....

Happiness is another thing, but for one seeking truth...

[Whoha]

Originally posted by Natalinasmpf


Have you experienced death? Do people that jump down REALLY die? Perhaps their neural energy floats off somewhere. Do you know? How can you confirm this? For ALL you know, your current reality is a program, and you are some (sentient) character in The Sims: MY. 2479.

Maybe all the deaths you see are fake, merely propaganda by the government. You can deny pain, use doublethink, have different beliefs, make falsehood true, and truth false; the truth is truly, subjective.

Stupidity is subjective by the way. As well as insanity. We merely use these to naively comfort ourselves about society's treatment of them.

Can you confirm that the physical laws taught to you in all your years of education are actually true? How do you know all the examples and empiricality you have seen aren't actually deceptions? The only confirmation to this is your SENSES. But senses can be deceived! Your memory can be altered. I might be 14 years old, or I may be hours old, just released, but with a 14 year old memory, remembering every moment as thus

##Bioenhancement Center
#FAC30
We are all aware that the senses can be deceived, the eyes fooled.
But how can we be sure our senses are not being deceived at any
particular time, or even all the time? Might I just be a brain in
a tank somewhere, tricked all my life into believing in the events
of this world by some insane computer? And does my life gain or lose
meaning based on my reaction to such solipsism?
^
^ -- Project PYRRHO, Specimen 46, Vat 7
^ Activity Recorded M.Y. 2302.22467
^ TERMINATION OF SPECIMEN ADVISED

.

The problem with having all of us being inside a computer is that the simulation is pretty much perfect. Where are all the errors that would happen in such a system? I doubt that it would be perfect, and as more and more people are brought into the simulation and more and more areas are created it becomes much more likely that some error will occur, when was the last time you saw anyone fall through the ground for instance? It happens occasionally in some of the games I play.

Lincoln was right when he said you can fool everyone some of the time, and some people all of the time, but not everyone all of the time.

[Natalinasmpf]

Theoretically, bugs would not occur when the system is perfected. Because polymorphic software, pre-sentient algorithms would solve this!

Seriously, if they can emulate sentience, probably most bugs would be removed. In fact, some may be bugs, but they are covered up. More subtle, not necessarily falling through the floor....quantum fluctuations, for instance.

I mean, the sheer fundamentals of quantum physics make it seem that surely some of it cannot be true? Or maybe it is? Maybe its a simulation?

You only expect bugs, because you keep on using Microsoft Windows.

Lincoln may be right, but for the simulation to run perfectly, they only have to FOOL you. It doesn't necessarily have to put more people into the same perception as you. All those people may not exist. Your family is an entire fabrication, for example. They may only be 1,000 people in the world.

[binTravkin]

a.k.a The Matrix

[Whoha]

No, its not just windows. The Unix people are better about actually fixing and resolving bugs, but they are everywhere in all software. Such a large scale project would not be without errors. And even with just 16 or 32 people someone will occasionally fall through the floor. As an Axiom I assume that no one would be able to design such a perfect system(perhaps god but then I doubt this is a computer simulation since he created it).

[Natalinasmpf]

a.k.a The Matrix

No, they can simply target you personally, perhaps not on a wide scale. Or as I said, a possible simulation in some future game. The Sims released in 2340: "Now with self-aware personalities!" with obvious memory and quantum disk space needs.

And even with just 16 or 32 people someone will occasionally fall through the floor.

Eventually you might get with a polymorphic software state, "computers writing computers", so many bugs would be ruled out. As I said, the bugs would be more subtle, perhaps, ie. in quantum mechanics, or logical contradictions, or the supernatural stuff recorded. Ie. Rasputin happened to be a major bug in the program.

Or witches; they have the "dark gift" of hacking into the world physics laws and using it for their own purposes. Why? Perhaps they used a cheat code, meant for the player to use, but the programs used it themselves.

With designing sentient people, they become independent of direct control from their creators or parent program; they can actually go against them, unless you install some sort of Orwellian antivirus program.

Anyway, its all an extreme case, but it doesn't rule out things may be very subjective.

[Chaos Theory]

Reference "Mage: The Ascension" by White Wolf for more on this idea of supernatural events being manifestations of cheating reality.

[Natalinasmpf]

Is this a book? Article? Page?

[Chaos Theory]

It's an RPG book. I think it's out of print now, but might still be available at gaming stores. It's certainly available over file-sharing networks. The replacement is Mage: The Awakening, but I haven't examined that. White Wolf's website is http://www.white-wolf.com/ for reference.

[Natalinasmpf]

Too extreme, too direct; gah!

I was expecting a delivery like Orwell or Huxley uses, heh.

[livid imp]

Originally posted by Whoha
Where are all the errors that would happen in such a system?

Maybe that's where all the crazy bag-ladies come from. Maybe they can see people and hear voices that are due to glitches in the system. The next time you overhear a insane hobo ranting at the top of hs lungs at the local park, listen up, he might be speaking to the other side of the matrix

[Whoha]

It would have to be a repeatable event that other people could clearly see.