Why the Clouds may not be Real.
Hi!
Actually this topic is one of my hobby horses :)
A friend of mine, in his line of work, creates 3D graphics using software and tools, and he’s got this job down to a fine art! Just this morning, I visited him at his office. I had to wait until he finishes a drafting session. I watched over his shoulders as he retouched textures, lighting angles, landscape and stuff like that. Then, he showed me the result as an animation, with people in the swimming pool, birds flying and all… amazing!
Then we went out.
“What makes the clouds you created any different than those,” I asked, pointing to the tufts of “real” clouds moving across the sky.
He got what I was hinting at. He smiled and said: “Image resolution!”
Pixelated Reality:
You’ve all seen the Matrix trilogy. You have probably read speculative fiction about designed and virtual worlds. Maybe you played some simulation games, like The Sims, that recreates “real life” situations and events within a virtual community.
Now, here’s a question: Do people inside the above-mentioned 3D rendering know that clouds overcasting them are “virtual”?. No, let alone that they themselves are virtual.
Much have been said about the “reality” of “reality”. Philosophers, writers and scientists alike chimed in without a definitive answer. It’s a fascinating debate.
Recently, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, in a note addressed to its investors and clients, said the likelihood that humanity lives inside a Matrix-like world is in the 20 to 50%. They based their conclusion on the work of scientists such as astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and Nick Bostrom.
The Simulation Argument:
Nick Bostrom is a leader of post-humanism and philosopher. According to him, we should expect the human civilization to be a simulation.
He asserts that it is technically possible for human civilization to become post-human civilization at some point in the future. A "posthuman civilization" is any civilization with the capacity to create a virtual reality sufficiently convincing that it can’t be detected as such.
Moreover, according to Bostrom, post-human civilizations have a capacity of calculation so large that they would be able to create a large number of simulations. Among all these simulations, some would be simulations of human civilizations like ours.
Simulation in a simulation!!
Think about the evolution of video games in the last decades. From simple and minimalist concepts we now have games of a breathtaking realism. What would happen in 50 years, 100, 1000 years?
Supercomputers would be able to simulate reality in a very "realistic" way!
If it is possible to simulate the real world, future humans will possibly, maybe probably, decide to recreate the past and simulate their ancestors, i.e. “us”.
Post-humans can simulate virtual humans who can in turn create their own simulations... And it goes on and on. There would be millions of simulations inside simulations of human consciousness... mathematically speaking, we already live in a simulation.
Of course, there are many observations and arguments backing up this theory that the world is a hologram, and others against it. But think about it.
Just last thing, maybe the designer of the "simulation" we're in now, is running an affiliate program to promote it! :) :) :)
ZED.
Recent Comments
12
Many things are possible in the outside world, like simulations of all kinds which then can be perceived as reality - as our perceiving senses are fallible and often not very exact (especially our vision/eyes). The whole discussion leaves out the interiority of humans. Emotions, feelings, community etc. These you cannot simulate with technology - and therefore what you call post-human has only one leg to walk on, the other is needed as well if you want to see the whole picture and not confine yourself on partial points.....
Thanks Heidi, that's a good point. But you give too much credit to emotions which are just a byproduct of our interaction with "reality". FYI, Sims in The Sims 4 are starting to get feelings, for example they can notice when somebody's not around:
Reality is arising at the same time on 4 different fields: inside and outside, individual and collective, and NONE of these realms is more important (or a by-product) of any of the other. The dilemma of today is exactly because the "outside" realms like science, technology and all material aspects of reality have been considered the ONLY factors which are important, and the "inside" realms not to be considered. This has created the crazy world we are in - and we need to include the inside realm.
I understand your attitude Heidi :) I too am uncomfortable with the idea that I'm a "virtual" entity in some futuristic game. This controversial concept challenges our beliefs, consciousness, and our very existence. Reality is in the eye of the beholder.
Yes, absolutely. I think, yes, it challenges all that. And it will finally help us to understand that it is arrogant to think that technology IS the only thing which counts.
Interesting viewpoint, Ziane!
But there has to be an original somewhere, our own life processes reflect that probability.......and our predecessors and offspring.
Even in the forest, no tree is the same. Even waves that break on shores, no two are the same. And the snowflakes, I could go on and on.......
You might want to google a guy called Portrait Painter Pabst, he's doing 3D by hand............☺☺☺
mMaybe we're the "originals" who are starting the process, and maybe we are just a "result" of said process, that's the point of Bostrom.
As for 3D painting, Pabst's portraits are amazing, they're kinda alive!
See more comments
And I thought I had a wild imagination ... but this is great!
But I've been talking about Virtual Reality and holograms for years! Can you image having hologram doctors, lawyers, accountants or teachers? Imagine being able to choose your ideal teacher ... and then changing them whenever you wanted ... a bit like some of those games where you can create their look, hair, shape, clothes etc .... just to give you the perfect learning experience. Of course, they'd all need to be programmed to teach the same thing.
What about having some kind of sensor on roads and chips in cars to control traffic ... it would cut down speeding and reduce accidents ... of course with a hologram traffic officer.
I'd love to be around in a hundred years time (sigh)
Yes Gaylene, there are way many applications of VR/AR tech in all fields of research, from the "grounded" like the examples you gave to the wildest: the ability to create contained virtual mini-worlds.
And maybe we don't have to wait a hundred years :) we're approaching Singularity faster than we think.
I hope so. Thanks for the post.