I think generative AI will change peoples perception of simulation theory.
We use to think of simulation theory like a video game. A world constructed for us. Preexisting in some supercomputers memory. Meticulously created. Rules, boundaries and content predefined.
But now we are getting used to the idea of generative worlds. Soon our most realistic digital interactive experiences will not be with pre-crafted worlds but will instead spontaneously generated just in time as we explore them.
As people to continue to ponder simulation theory they will charge the lens they view it through from being some big open world simulation we are exploring and replace it with the view that it may be spontaneously being generated by our consciousness.
Makes you think about fate. The malleability of our reality. The possibility of consciousness creating or “prompting” the world around us.
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So there is basically a limitless number of potential human experiences and there is no point really trying to imagine what they could be because we probably can't comprehend them yet?
That could be one takeaway. That there really are no limits to the experience we could have.
I think it is just a new framework for thinking about the idea of a simulation theory.
Another takeaway could be the importance of our thoughts. To what level do we create the things we experience. Is our subconscious “prompting” our relate into existence? If it is a solo simulation and it is just us? Is it shared and then there is a collective “prompting” going on from all of humanity or a subset of conscious beings? How would you act differently if this was the case? Would you be stricter with what happened inside your mind or your “soul”?
Not that I would say I believe these things but these topics can be fun to think about and when considering living in a simulation I have always thought of it like an open world video game not a live stream spontaneously generated experience.
I get you. Are thoughts are definitely very powerful and we are interconnected to some extent to good and fun to think about these things even if it is a little daunting lol 🤝
But it’s not generated on demand. Just because you can’t see all of it at once doesn’t mean it’s not there. Same as a tree falling in a forest - it fell, whether you were there to observe it or not.
It’s more likely that you are an NPC inside a great simulation with other NPCs and you all interact.
The fact that our brains filter out most of the information and what you see and hear is actually a hallucination that your brain creates based on the information it receives really adds to this version of simulation theory.
Like, our brains create their own version of reality as it's happening rather than just showing us what our eyes see, etc.
Its something to ponder. Reality only exists because we perceive it.
when you take a low mushroom or LSD dose your brain stops filtering stuff out, that's why you can see how everything is vibrating and the vibrant colours that are normally dulled right down, it's why you can feel every single part of your digestive system and your kidneys and liver and everything else working away that you normally block out, once you take enough though it's too much information for your brain to handle and sensory inputs get jumbled up, leading our brains to hallucinate things that aren't there or feeling colours and stuff like that.
Stuff like this is why Id have a difficult time following any organised religion.
The truth about reality is beyond human comprehension.
For a human to understand the nature of the universe would be like the bacteria living on our skin to understand the nature of humanity.
There is generative ai that remembers what it generated.
And the tree wasn't alone, all the other trees and all the animals and the tree itself were all there to witness it's falling over.
Trees can take a long time to die after they fell over.
Yes our brain filters out so much of what we can perceive not to mention all of the things that we can not perceive that are out there all around us all the time. What would it even mean to sense everything? It is hard to imagine adding one extra sense. How could you comprehend vision if you had never seen? How could we comprehend all the things we do not even have a way to experience with our current physical limitations?
