
Did the Oscars Just Prove That We Are Living in a Computer Simulation? - daegloe
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/did-the-oscars-just-prove-that-we-are-living-in-a-computer-simulation
======
rusk
I think the hypothesis that we are living in a computer "system" as opposed to
a "simulation" is more plausible. In the Occam's razor sense. Similar to a
computer we're all wired together in some great interconnected economy - there
is nearly nowhere on earth now that you can't be instantly contactable if you
want to be. The Internet joins us all together, with our phones, laptops and
TVs as NICs for our consciousness. I don't think its far fetched to think that
some global consciousness is emerging - in fact a few different consciousness
- that are now vying for supremacy.

Some want to eat the whole cake, others just want to be left alone. Some for
integration, others for separation. The fact that all these _" weird"_ things
are all happening could well be linked at some systemic level that will maybe
be obvious to future historians. Like how we theorize that ocean going vessels
enabled the days of colonialism or the development of fossil fuels led to the
industrial revolution. The discovery of semiconductor material made the IT
revolution possible.

What we could very well be experiencing now is some kind of singular behaviour
due to the development of these new globally linked consciences - that are
elbowing for space, and resources - annoying each other and squabbling in the
process. Of course to us it looks like bizarre behaviour but perhaps no more
bizarre than the random bits and bytes flying through a link appear to
something like a network switch (had it the sense to ponder itself).

When I run too many programs on my computer weird things start to happen.
Ghosts appear on my screen, leaving a trailing residue. The screen blanks.
Sometimes the mouse pointer won't respond and a strange chugging starts to
come from the box under my monitor. It's not so far fetched to expect that a
tightly integrated system such as the modern global economy might exhibit
other equally frustrating and odd (though explainable) phenomena when put
under stress.

~~~
Stratoscope
Just as you were writing this, my WinBook Pro [1] locked up solid, for the
first time ever. And it happened while I was cropping a photo of myself and
blew it up on the second display. I think the self-referentiality of this was
too much for the poor thing to bear.

After a hard reset, Windows 10 gave its very first BSOD. I knew it must be bad
memory, a failing SSD, or corrupted software.

But one more boot and the machine is humming along as if nothing ever
happened. A disk check shows no errors.

Truly, something strange is in the air.

I quickly made a backup, of course. I just hope the backup drive is in a
different universe, because I'm not sure how much I trust this one any more.

[1] A WinBook Pro is a MacBook Pro running Windows 10 under Boot Camp, with
one of these stickers on the back of the display to make it official:

[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014I1ICX8/](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014I1ICX8/)

------
darekkay
If you're interested in simulation theories, I recommend reading "The
Simulation Argument" by Nick Bostrom [0] or watching his interview on Youtube
[1].

[0] [http://www.simulation-argument.com/](http://www.simulation-argument.com/)

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnl6nY8YKHs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnl6nY8YKHs)

------
mattmanser
An interesting take on this is in the Culture series from Iain M. Banks. The
AI minds, who for all intents run the Culture civilisation, constantly spawn
virtual universes to test hypothesises.

Some shut them down after running the sim, some feel morally obliged to keep
them running...

Also, if someone's suddenly jerking the strings in a game, it usually means
they're bored and it's only a matter of time before they press one of the
"godzilla invades", "aliens attack", "mass-tornados" buttons.

~~~
mdekkers
_it usually means they 're bored_

Just curious, you have experience with knowingly running in a virtual
universe?

~~~
mattmanser
I was talking about games?

------
spangry
Urgh... There goes 5 minutes of my life that I'm never getting back.
Seriously, don't bother reading this, as it's a whole lot of nonsense. To boil
it down:

\- Unexpected things are happening, like Trump being elected president and
some long-odds movie winning an Oscar.

\- If we are living in a simulation, this behaviour is easily explained as
some kind of glitch.

\- Therefore, we are living in a simulation.

Betteridge's law of headlines applies here: _" Any headline that ends in a
question mark can be answered by the word no."_

~~~
dingaling
Is Betteridge's Law of Headlines always correct?

~~~
cholantesh
Probably not, but most 'laws' are generalisms drawn from repeated observation
as opposed to iron-clad rules, anyway.

------
baytrailcat
It's an interesting narrative. But isn't it more likely that normalcy and
predictability that we are so used to for the past few decades is the actual
illusion? World is inherently chaotic and unpredictable. On top of that, human
history does go through tumultuous periods where established systems are
uppended.

------
ErikHuisman
This is just a modern form of religion. Personally I don't get why people get
so hyped about it.

------
csomar
Should the Amazon S3 downtime yesterday be considered a glitch in this
simulation? It is, too, one of these things that should never happen.

------
a_imho
tldr: what if we assume independent events are connected, then it must be
computers, because they are connected too and bugs can explain low
probabilistic events happening (seemingly more frequently). Betteridge's law
applies.

