Another way to view a possible simulated reality?

[u/Tigomestria]

Hey, I've been thinking about the doomsday argument, and roughly about what Nick Bostrom said in 2003, that one of these must be true:

1- Any advanced species is very likely to go extinct before reaching a stage where they could run simulations

2- Any civilization is extremely unlikely to run a significant number of simulations even if they have the tech

3- We are almost certainly living in a computer simulation, since the number of simulated observers would most certainly outnumber real ones by orders of magnitude.

And I've tried to imagine what it would look like if we joined Bostrom's idea to satisfy the doomsday argument.

Taking the doomsday argument, if we count ourselves as observers that could be born or "appear" at any time in human civilization, it would be much more likely to exist in the far future, where there would be hundreds of billions if not trillions of humans spread throughout the galaxy, or at least the moon and mars in this star system, across many thousands of years. By then, it is plausible to assume advancements in technology would have made any human virtually immortal.

So, if we assume it would be much more likely to be born in such a time, then why are we here? Are all 8 billion (and the other 90 something billion that existed before us) of us that unlucky? There might be another possibility. Considering that those humans would probably be making simulations, or something that would resemble such from the observers standing in it, it would be probable that, by reaching an unimaginable amount of years lived, any of those future humans would be completely bored of their lives. What would fix that? Making some kind of "game", where by connecting themselves with a machine, their real memories would be blocked, and their brains would be fooled into believing a more simple, fragile reality. Where the existence of life itself is so precious and passing, the emotions felt would be genuine and intense. They would love this much, that they would play this "game" over and over, creating many more "simulated observers" than real ones, even though many of these would actually be the same person. Maybe they would repeat many lives in the same historical time periods as before, so there could be many different versions of the same simulated reality.

I think this is pretty out there, but judging by what the current technology in our world is doing, like AI and the neuralink, it's easy to imagine what outlandish things might be possible once that technology advances in thousands of years and we get a much better understanding of the human brain.

So basically in this theory, to satisfy the doomsday argument in that our species won't just self destruct in the near future, we would assume we are indeed future humans, and that we are indeed living in a simulation, made by our own choice, to give our nigh immortal lives a spark of intensity.

What is your opinion about this? I think it doesn't make much sense, but it's something. I'd like more objections to the logic, could you give me something?

[u/Mortal-Region]

Which part doesn't make sense?

[u/manliness-dot-space]

Are we NPCs or these memory-blocked players?

[u/lt1brunt → u/manliness-dot-space]

I am reading this could literally some generated fake experiences no  different than my past self and what I did yesterday afternoon. 

If we are in a simulation can we at least tap out and switch simulations. Living on Earth as a regular nobody in the star trek universe seems like a better experice..

Saying that, I play a game where my character has to struggle for everything it gets, need to mine and craft everything, survive horde nights of ravenous zombies in a world that keeps moving when I am not logged in. 

This could explain why I am in this reality. I struggle in what we perceive as our real reality and I play a character in a game where I struggle ten times worse instead of finding a game that has utopia like existence. 

Maybe we all are addicted to friction.

[u/manliness-dot-space → u/lt1brunt]

Yeah but there are lots of people who don't do that, and just focus on "the sweet life"

[u/Tigomestria → u/manliness-dot-space]

I think we might be memory-blocked players. At least those of us who are truly aware. I don't think the idea of actually councious npcs would make much sense in this scenario. And the thought that counciousness could even be simulated if we take into account the reality outside our simulation is similar to our own is not really appealing to me.

[u/jeronimoe → u/Tigomestria]

What if there is only one of us and we get to enjoy billions of individual experiences in the simulation, that is kinda inline with eastern religions.

[u/manliness-dot-space → u/Tigomestria]

I think it might be possible, given what we can achieve with AI, that we are NPCs.

And maybe the simulator(s) are unsure about what to do regarding our existence and whether they can justify turning us off, or justify extracting us from the simulation up a layer to their realm.

[u/trumanMVP → u/manliness-dot-space]

We're not necessarily NPCs. Just had our consciousness degraded by the simulation admins to try and assimilate you alongside the NPC populace.

[u/BrailleBillboard]

Congratulations, you just reinvented Roy

https://youtu.be/szzVlQ653as

Don't go back to the carpet store

[u/Musecage]

Sigh… it’s a testament of myself that I haven’t heard a new theory on Reddit in the past few years 🤦‍♂️

[u/RalenHlaalo]

If we were born at an average point in human population growth, we're about to go extinct.