So if this is a simulation, it’s a realistic simulation. And the obvious reason why that some superintelligence would be rolling a realistic simulation, is that this is a simulation meant to gain information about a lower-level universe that is very similar to this one.
In which case there will be no miracles now or ever.
Hmm.
Have you ever been running a simulation — say when you’re playing a game like chess or risk or civ IV or whatever — and decided to, ahem, *adjust* the game state using your powers as an external entity unbeholden to the rules of the game? Perhaps it’s clear that you’re going to win in an uninteresting fashion, and you make the game more competitive by gifting your adversary some resources. Perhaps you just lost a game that seemed impossible to win, and you wonder if a small boost at a pivotal moment would have been enough to turn the tides… and you reload a save state midway through and nudge a few dice rolls (or perhaps you make do with just your seemingly *impossible* knowledge of your opponent’s base).
It’s quite natural to intervene in simulations for the very purpose of gaining more information! In fact, it’s very common for simulations to play out completely realistically with no miracles for the majority of the simulation and then suddenly have a few (often exactly one) miracles.
What kind of interventionist superbeing cares enough to intervene to make Trump win an election, and doesn’t care about a million other aspects of the world that they could be intervening on?
One who is trying to learn as much as they can from this world! One who cares about entertainment value! One who wants to see if singular events or great men can change the course of the cosmos on the cusp of the singularity!
We don’t see any sign of God’s presence. Therefore there is no God.
But… my whole pointis that we do see signs of [simulator/creator]’s presence!
I cannot help but wonder if you posted this in response to my August 4th post Why I think we live in a simulation. One thing I discuss there is the fact that our world is veryinteresting and entertaining and overall seems to be exactly the kind of world that all kinds of intelligent beings would be interested in simulating. I note that my post essentially never talks about God or religion at all. [1] Also of interest to me w/r/t that post is that despite me thinking it’s very good, it’s my lowest karma post ever on LW! 5 karma with 13 votes.
[1] The idea of God appears once. In my long list of possible kinds of ‘simulation’ that our world might be, I mention “Dream / fantasy of some higher being: - God entertaining themself. - God teaching themself.”
Hmm.
Have you ever been running a simulation — say when you’re playing a game like chess or risk or civ IV or whatever — and decided to, ahem, *adjust* the game state using your powers as an external entity unbeholden to the rules of the game? Perhaps it’s clear that you’re going to win in an uninteresting fashion, and you make the game more competitive by gifting your adversary some resources. Perhaps you just lost a game that seemed impossible to win, and you wonder if a small boost at a pivotal moment would have been enough to turn the tides… and you reload a save state midway through and nudge a few dice rolls (or perhaps you make do with just your seemingly *impossible* knowledge of your opponent’s base).
It’s quite natural to intervene in simulations for the very purpose of gaining more information! In fact, it’s very common for simulations to play out completely realistically with no miracles for the majority of the simulation and then suddenly have a few (often exactly one) miracles.
One who is trying to learn as much as they can from this world! One who cares about entertainment value! One who wants to see if singular events or great men can change the course of the cosmos on the cusp of the singularity!
But… my whole point is that we do see signs of [simulator/creator]’s presence!
I cannot help but wonder if you posted this in response to my August 4th post Why I think we live in a simulation. One thing I discuss there is the fact that our world is very interesting and entertaining and overall seems to be exactly the kind of world that all kinds of intelligent beings would be interested in simulating. I note that my post essentially never talks about God or religion at all. [1] Also of interest to me w/r/t that post is that despite me thinking it’s very good, it’s my lowest karma post ever on LW! 5 karma with 13 votes.
[1] The idea of God appears once. In my long list of possible kinds of ‘simulation’ that our world might be, I mention “Dream / fantasy of some higher being: - God entertaining themself. - God teaching themself.”