News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Does quantum theory imply the entire Universe is preordained?. Parent comment

Re:Does quantum theory imply the entire Universe is preordai... by digging on Tuesday December 19, 2023 @12:41PM (#38698739)
Actually, how are 1 and 2 different? If 2 simply refers to another layer of reality, don't we still have to figure out if it's deterministic or not? I suppose if it has its own completely different (or slightly different[1]) physics, we'd be starting over, but we'd still work our way back to the question of top-level determinism eventually).

[1] Referring to cosmological natural selection as a theory of the "fine-tuned" universe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmological_natural_selection (a fun favorite of mine but not looking likely)

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Does quantum theory imply the entire Universe is preordai... by DebtDeflation on Tuesday December 19, 2023 @01:47PM (#38699753)
Fair point. I'm assuming that additional layer of reality is deterministic.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Does quantum theory imply the entire Universe is preordai... by hermannj314 on Tuesday December 19, 2023 @12:47PM (#38698839)
It's simulations all the way down.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Does quantum theory imply the entire Universe is preordai... by hnthrowaway0328 on Tuesday December 19, 2023 @06:42PM (#38703554)
I have been thinking about this. Definitely not a Physicist or even a Scientist, but how do we figure out the world that the simulation occurs?

I think one lead we can have is that simulations are called simulations because they try to emulate the real world (the one simulations are running). By observing from inside the simulation what kind of input and reaction the "God" people has when we output something, we might be able to understand the "real" world better. It's like the "people" in the Sims game -- given they are of their own mind, they can figure out some rules of our world.

But then how can we jump out of simulation to really really figure it out?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Does quantum theory imply the entire Universe is preordai... by mewpmewp2 on Tuesday December 19, 2023 @07:28PM (#38703955)
We probably need to develop AGI and more to be able to get closer to this.
[ Parent | on HN ]