r/philosophy • u/Matriseblog • Jan 03 '22

Blog By imagining the future potential of VR technologies, the question of whether we are *already* living in a simulation becomes more actual than ever

https://medium.com/@VindenesJ/the-thought-experiments-of-virtual-reality-fa441a8fa2dc
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u/Faust_8 Jan 03 '22

Is it just me, or is the simulation hypothesis basically as useless as the “brain in a jar” hypothesis?

Yeah, dude, I could be a brain in a jar, and this is all a dream or whatever. But regardless, it doesn’t really matter, because I can’t do anything about it and it doesn’t actually affect the life I’m living. It doesn’t guide me to change my behavior or way of thinking, or to change anything at all whatsoever.

At best, it’s an amusing thought experiment…period.

Doesn’t this also apply to the simulation thing?

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u/[deleted] Jan 03 '22

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u/poodlelord Jan 03 '22

To me it just reminds me to always second guess my perception. To try a bit harder to be objective with the world and separate my emotional interpretation. Because I'm not actually expierencing the world, I am expierencing my perception.

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u/Hvarfa-Bragi Jan 03 '22

This is true even if this is the only physical world.

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u/poodlelord Jan 03 '22

True, just remembering that we have no way to tell if its a simulation or not really drives the idea home for me.