X-Message-Number: 8165 Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 10:54:34 +0100 From: John de Rivaz <> Subject: Re: Are we in a simulation? In article: <> writes: > First, answer me how you can prove that you are in the real world, and > then we can go on to the question of the subjectivity experienced by a > computerized intelligence. > > I contend that last week, I anesthetized you, removed your brain from > your body, put it on life support, and attached you to a VR > system. Prove that I didn't. Demonstrate that I'm lying. > To do that would require technology that is not available at this time nor is likely to be available for several decades or even more. A similar scenario is covered in the film "Total Recall" - surely most people on this list have seen it. *In the film, the characters were aware all the time that the technology existed*. If Metzner had put Ettinger into a VR connected vat, the all the rest of us must also be part of the simulated world. It would be only a part simulation as the technology to do the job does not exist for us either. Nevertheless the problem of simulations is an important one. A possible way of reviving cryonics patients gently and keeping them sane would be to put them in a VR world in which the trauma of their death is erased and they gradually experience everything that goes between their death and their reanimation day. Of course this need not be in real time and therefore the process can be done quickly even though subjectively it could take decades or even centuries. This world would have a "god" which would be invisible and his actions would not be noticed by the subject. However the things that happen to the subject would be educational in alingning him to the future society. I have just got a copy of "The Fabric of Reality" by David Deutsch. The jacket suggests that this covers the subject of simulations in great detail. Maybe I and others can comment better when we have read it. -- ***************************************** Sincerely, * Longevity Report * * http://www.longevb.demon.co.uk/lr.htm * John de Rivaz * Fractal Report * * http://www.longevb.demon.co.uk/fr.htm * * Music I like - see homepage * ***************************************** In the information age, sharing can increase world wealth enormously, because giving information does not decrease your information. http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JohndeR Fast loading, very few slow pictures Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=8165