If we create a superintelligent system that knows all the information in the material universe, where does it store that knowledge?
Edited to add: Since the superintelligence can’t store a complete description of the universe within the universe, it must exist outside the universe. But such a superintelligence would be the simulator. The simulation hypothesis would then be true regardless of the randomness question. But this contradicts the premise that we created it, since we can’t reach outside the universe to construct its own simulator.
So I think the question’s premises are self-contradictory.
I should edit my question. What I am primarily intending to ask is this: Could a superintelligent machine with a near-complete understanding of the universe (perhaps using some approximations) determine if we are in a simulation? ← assuming no such thing as true randomness
If we could, could we escape? If we could escape, is that still possible if there is such a thing as true randomness?
A well-designed simulation is inescapable. Suppose that you are inside Conway’s game of life, and you know that fact for sure. How specifically are you going to use this knowledge to escape, if all you are is a set of squares on a simulated grid, and all that ever happens in your universe is that some squares are flipped from black to white and vice versa?
To answer your first question, some kinds of pseudo-randomness are virtually indistinguishable from actual randomness, if you do not have a perfect knowledge of the entire universe. For example, in cryptography, changing one bit in the input message can on average flip 50% of bits in the output message. Imagine that the next round of pseudo-random numbers is calculated the same way from the current state of the universe—the slightest change in the position of one particle on the opposite side of the universe could change everything.
If we create a superintelligent system that knows all the information in the material universe, where does it store that knowledge?
Edited to add: Since the superintelligence can’t store a complete description of the universe within the universe, it must exist outside the universe. But such a superintelligence would be the simulator. The simulation hypothesis would then be true regardless of the randomness question. But this contradicts the premise that we created it, since we can’t reach outside the universe to construct its own simulator.
So I think the question’s premises are self-contradictory.
I should edit my question. What I am primarily intending to ask is this: Could a superintelligent machine with a near-complete understanding of the universe (perhaps using some approximations) determine if we are in a simulation? ← assuming no such thing as true randomness
If we could, could we escape? If we could escape, is that still possible if there is such a thing as true randomness?
A well-designed simulation is inescapable. Suppose that you are inside Conway’s game of life, and you know that fact for sure. How specifically are you going to use this knowledge to escape, if all you are is a set of squares on a simulated grid, and all that ever happens in your universe is that some squares are flipped from black to white and vice versa?
To answer your first question, some kinds of pseudo-randomness are virtually indistinguishable from actual randomness, if you do not have a perfect knowledge of the entire universe. For example, in cryptography, changing one bit in the input message can on average flip 50% of bits in the output message. Imagine that the next round of pseudo-random numbers is calculated the same way from the current state of the universe—the slightest change in the position of one particle on the opposite side of the universe could change everything.