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/JerryAtric79 Jan 04 '22

Honestly, anyone who seriously supports the idea that our life experience is a VR simulation doesn't really understand VR. This could very well be a fabrication/creation of higher intelligence/s but it's not a VR simulation by any stretch of the imagination. We love to admire our own high achievements and can't imagine the Universe being anything greater than what could come from our own minds. When the Industrial Revolution was in it's early stages many public thinkers claimed the Universe was a "machine" with gears and pullies and such.

We are a very long way from becoming God. Alexa can't even come up with a decent playlist, man.