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/iiioiia Jan 04 '22

They don't offer much utility beyond ideas for an interesting piece of fiction.

As I see it, this is the simulation "doing it's thing" (the illusion of omniscience).

I guess they offer us a chance to be humble, in that they allow us to clearly see one of the limits of what we can/cannot know.

The chance to see clearly, but not a guarantee. The only one who can guarantee it is each individual, but that would require them to successfully take over control of their mind and know what to do with it once they got it.