I get what a simulation is, at least in the very literal sense. What I’m experiencing feels like reality, it would have to, it’s all any of us have ever known. But what would it mean for us if we truly lived in a simulation? Can it just be turned off and we cease to exist? If we found out we did live in one, how could it change our reality? How do we even hypothesize such a thing? I have zero background in physics just so we’re at an understanding of my physics understanding.
In: 794
So the simulation hypothesis is not something thats taken seriously from a natural science perspective, it’s more of a philosophy thing.
Why? Because science doesn’t consider unfalsifiable claims. The simulation hypothesis is unfalsifiable, meaning that you can’t do an experiment to deny or verify it. A principle that science follows is Newton’s Flaming Laser Sword: If it can’t be tested experimentally, it’s not worth debating about.
There isn’t anything to argue about, nobody can be unambiguously correct or wrong. So science cannot be applied here.
The hypothesis simply suggests that this isn’t actual reality but a computer simulation. What is the simulation about, how it works, etc aren’t concerns. The thing is about asking what if we aren’t living in actual reality.
A more interesting question here would be: what is the probability that we are living in a simulation? And if you applied the principles that can be applied here you can show that it’s smaller than 50%.
Latest Answers