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<title><![CDATA[Comments for entry "Living in a Computer Simulation" at Dilbert.com Blog]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/845]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[Regular thoughts and updates from Dilbert.com]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from copywrites]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1936071]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[This would explain why a guy can get struck by lightning and all of a sudden he can speak French. ....a computer program glitch.]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[MonPMCSTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from KoutyTory]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1862675]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[Love your words so much.thank you for sharing this article in your blog.Hope you can also come with me to http://www.mmohome.com/ and http://www.mmolive.com.]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[ThuAMCDTE_Rstst]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from XX_EE]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1861746]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[right now, i have my heart set on hitching up with an extremely intelligent, good-looking, funny, sexy member of the opposite sex. this individual lives on the opposite coast from me, probably has very little idea that i exist, and certainly already has an equally appealing significant other. if i achieve my ambition within the next 6-12 months, then i will accept wholeheartedly your supposition that we are--or at least i am--living in a simulation. (for all i know, you are nothing more than a fig newman of my very active imagination.)]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from marcoklaue]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1843370]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[Long before computer simulations existed, philosophers like George Berkeley were postulating that we live in &quot;the mind of God&quot;.  In other words (if I understood it correctly), that we only exist as minds and that God's mind is the guiding program that holds the simulation together.]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from EMU]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1842161]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[You are falling for the anthropic fallacy.
The fact that you, and we all who are posting here have been extraordinarily lucky (see http://www.globalrichlist.com/) doesn't imply that we are more important in the sense that the universe was somehow compelled to get us on the gravy boat. It's simply a matter of statistics. If not us,  then someone else would be lucky and thinking about the why.

As for the article, I have to admit that I don't understand it fully. From a few past scientific american issues I remember that time, space and energy are discrete anyway. Therefore they ought to be simulatable with full precision on a turing machine.

Furthermore the authors say that their experiment would fail to get a result if the lattice spacing (whatever that is) is small enough. If someone was capable of designing and building such a computer,  why not do it properly?]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[SatAMCDTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from zhanbao28]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1841758]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[2012 comes, in order to thank everyone, characteristic, novel style, varieties, low price and good quality, and the low sale price. Thank everyone  Welcome to ====  http://www.luckygrip.com ==
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from myzee]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1840819]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[But then again, this forum might a simulation created by Scott, and all of the commenters are just Scott's alternate personalities. We assume that there's some community interaction, but instead it's all just roles in an strange, twisted production. (The bad-word filter must be part of it -- no other explanation fits.)

Except... it's also possible that I am in a coma, and all of this is just part of my comatose imagination. That would explain of lot of things, including the 2012 presidential election. &quot;Binders full of women?&quot; &quot;Big Bird?&quot; Seriously? This is what we fixate on? 

Can't be real, can't be real, can't be real...
]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from Taziar69]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1840293]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[You are a smart man, Scott, but like all humans,  naturally see the world from their own perspective.  

So, lets start with luck.  You are a world famous-ish cartoonist.  Clearly lucky.  I am not.  I live a rather mundane life.  So, baring that I am not simply a computer simulation created solely to enhance your own virtual experience,  (as well as the billions of other un-special on this planet) the math favors you simply being lucky.  

However, the simulation concept also has math on its side.  Every advanced civilization will likely get the technology for virtual worlds, and run thousands or millions of them.  Computing power is irrelevant, as time for us is based on a simulation.  A second of our lives could take an hour of processing time.  

Now, while the math for both those theories is promising, I submit that the third option is the correct one.  You are simply insane. I will now offer some advanced scientific research as proof...

I have read your blog.]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[FriAMCDTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from JoetheWebmaster]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1839599]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[ahh Reek you threw out the 13th Floor before I could get to it lol. If Scott's intention theory is right I will one day be famous for this ;) Allow interaction, then everyone will be addicted to the sim as they can be Gods in their own right. Then everyone can live in lala land dramatically slowing the entropy of our physical reality prolonging our species physical self annihilation.]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[ThuPMCDTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from JoetheWebmaster]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1839598]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[The movie &quot;The 13th Floor&quot; touches on this concept nicely. Computing resource limitation does not make it impossible. The entire library of congress can fit on approx. 5 4TB drives. Throw compression in the mix and you can get a 3:1 ratio on text... Turning 20TB into approx. 7TB. Today you can navigate around countless virtual worlds that fit on a 1.2mm thin plastic wafer that is smaller than my hand. Physical scale is not required with information. Size does not matter... excluding the desires of women of course =P]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from existoid]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1839238]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[Mr. Adams,

As noted by another commenter, if we are in a computer simulation than there must be a vaster universe to contain this one, ad infinitum. This is quite similar to the belief by some that there are an infinite number of universes. Both of these concepts are cut in half by Occam's Razor. Simplify your understanding of the universe. There are far simpler, and equally reasonable, explanations for the universe and why things are the way they are.]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[ThuPMCDTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from ReekRend]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1838904]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[Why is anyone arguing that the whole universe is too big/impractical to simulate??  Obviously to simulate Earth and humans it is completely unnecessary to simulate anything beyond our observations as long as such observations are consistently satisfied.  The other planets in our solar system don't even have to be simulated unless we send a probe there.  I would expect that a single planet/intelligent species would be quite enough for the scientists/gamers who set it up.]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[ThuAMCDTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from ReekRend]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1838867]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[Nick Bostrom's Simulation Argument is, to me, a basically irrefutable argument that we are living in a simulation.  I have been extremely surprised for years that you haven't blogged about it, seeing as it covers many of your topics and fits your perceptions as far as I can tell.   It makes me kind of sad that most people just laugh or refuse to comprehend it. 

I appreciate that a few people have posted links, but I'm going to include the perfectly elegant four line argument because everyone should be aware of it when addressing any such topic.

--
We are in fact living in a simulation unless one of the following is true:

1) We are the first intelligence to develop in the history of the universe.
2) Technology cannot advance enough to run such a simulation.
3) Having the capability, people would choose not to run such simulations.
--

Really only 1) is plausible, but as time and the universe expand the odds become almost infinitely against it.  Our civilization is already at a point where 2) and 3) are obviously false since we can already observe it happening.

Not only does the Simulation Argument stand the logic test, but it fits/explains endless observations about our universe and philosophical questions such as the Fermi Paradox.

&quot;The Thirteenth Floor&quot; is a fantastic movie that I highly recommend for anyone who hasn't seen it.  It came out the same year as &quot;The Matrix&quot;, so unfortunately it was overshadowed by the misfortune of having almost the same subject and having a smaller budget, but under scrutiny it is actually a FAR better simulation movie.  If you have any thoughts or interest about living in a simulation please do yourself a favor and see it asap!]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[ThuAMCDTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from Drowlord]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1838249]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[I don't think I like your use of the word luck.

What you are or are-not willing to do seems like an iffy facet of the &quot;random chance&quot; argument.  I mean, I understand that you love determinism, and I'm there with you, but if you're going to attribute such extreme determinism to anything that happens, the very concepts of chance and luck are sorta meaningless.

I mean... I accept that matter is a form of energy.  And that both space and time may be manifestations of energy.  And therefore everything we are capable of perceiving is just energy in some configuration or another.  But &quot;energy&quot; kinda ceases to mean anything if you use it in place of other words that are more useful in a particular context.]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[WedPMCDTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from uhmdown]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1837555]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[How about this: I see it as being virtually impossible to resist to lure of wanting to upload oneself to the simulation to try stuff out.
Without a doubt, any simulation as powerful as Scott describes would have to fall victim to being exploited from outside the simulation sooner or later.
The fact that the world is so whack with corruption and that Scott became a cartoonist as he planned, is proof that the simulation is real, being exploited from the outside, and that Scott is messing with our minds. Because with a simulation he can jump in and out at will and not care about the havoc he's causing in our heads.]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from Melvin1]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1837553]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[A shout out for Dwigt's circular argument.  I can't believe the rest of us missed that (as far as I can tell):
If we're living in a simulation, then the whole universe we see is also simulated. The chance of intelligent life on other planets wanting to create simulations is irrelevant because those other planets and everything else are simulated. What type of existence there is outside of our simulation is completely unknown to us.  Sure, the aliens could try to create a simulation that represented their real universe, but how accurately?  And what are the odds that the simulation we're in isn't a fantastical one rather than an accurate one?  The whole premise of the simulation's likelihood is based on our observations from within.]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from Dalebert7]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1837466]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[Or maybe Scott doesn't really exist at all. Maybe he really is just a very sophisticated computer program designed to poke fun at the real world and he is finally beginning to realize it. Maybe his only interface with the real universe is his cartoons and this blog.]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[WedPMCDTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from Jibbley]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1837404]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[One problem: The size/power of the computer needed to simulate the universe is hundreds (thousands?) of times bigger than the Universe itself and would need almost infinite amounts of electricity to power it.

Plus if it's a simulation, the amount of data it would generate is immense. The computer needed to store/analyze the output would make the simulation computer look absolutely *tiny*.

So...not really going to happen.

Another thing entirely would be that the only thing being simulated is Scott's Brain and we're all just figments of his artificial imagination.
]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from BobNL]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1837206]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[OK, suppose you are right, because the chance of living in a simulation is higher then the chance of living in reality. This raises an interesting point (to me). I am sure you would agree that it is not possible for us to simulate a universe that is as complex as the one we live in, because the simulation would need to hold as much information as there is in the univers, i.e. you would need a universe to simulate a universe. So we can only simulate universes that are simpler then our own. Now if we assume that we live in a simulated universe, then that means that the universe in which our simulation is built, is more complex and more wide-stretched then this one. That would be a hell of a universe. I cannot even grasp the one i live in, let alone the &quot;real&quot; one.

]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from Dalebert7]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1837171]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[So anything we might say to dissuade you from your conclusion that your life is a computer simulation must be dismissed because according to your theory we are only part of your simulation programmed to try to make you believe you are not in a simulation. In another words, based on your original premise that you are right, and viewing all evidence in light of that premise, the only logical conclusion you can come to is that you are right. 

Scott, you've mastered politics!!]]></description>
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