[EVERYTHING] The Universe. A Dream? An Experiment? Or just a game of Sims?

[Rainbowtrout]

What is the Universe? Are we just some cosmic plaything? Or, is the Universe a dream of mine (Mine because I KNOW that I think, therefore I am.), or an experiment in a dish? We must overcome this hurdle as a spacefaring society to truly be intelligent. But, do we want to know? Will the truth make us feel so meaningless that "Life" is not just worth it if we find out?

Discuss!

EDIT: Oops, didn't know that this was posted a month ago. If the old one resurfaces I'll lock this one down if needed.

Cogito Ergo Sum.

Edited May 26, 2014 by Rainbowtrout

[Dispatcher]

One of your suppositions is that the Universe may be "just some cosmic plaything". Perhaps its much more than that. Of course if its a dream, its My dream instead of yours. Ignorance may be bliss, but learning the truth about the Universe may in fact enable us. Perhaps such knowledge will give meaning to "Life", rather than remove meaning.

[Rainbowtrout]

It could bring meaning to life. But, imagine that you find out that you are just a simulation. Surely, that would be upsetting, to know that you aren't technically real. But, it may bring joy. You know what and who you are, therefore maybe making you enlightened. It depends on the situation.

[Starwhip]

MY personal opinion is that everyone and everything but me was created to fool me into thinking that there was a "Real Life".

And no matter what you say, I'll assume that you were programmed to say that. So you can't convince me otherwise. Mua-ha-ha!

[The Jedi Master]

Do the civilian NPCs in a video game know that they're just simulations, walking around aimlessly for no reason?

[Rainbowtrout]

Do the civilian NPCs in a video game know that they're just simulations, walking around aimlessly for no reason?

If they could speak their true mind, instead of what is spoken by them, we could find out.

I've probably destroyed my point there, but I'll "regroup" later.

[Charzy]

Do the civilian NPCs in a video game know that they're just simulations, walking around aimlessly for no reason?

They're not programmed to, so no.

[vger]

This was discussed in great detail a month ago or so.

[WestAir]

There are subatomic particles that, from what I understand, "fade into" and "out" of existence like cosmic bubbles. They appear from nothing and disappear into nothingness. They serve no purpose, have no meaning and exist simply to exist for a finite period of time.

What if all of existence was just another one of those cosmic bubbles? No purpose, no reason to be - it just does - and will soon fade away for no other reason than because it will?

[Science-Recon]

Well, we just did

so it isn't to far fetched that a Ãœber-Advanced alien race could simulate us. Heck, Maybe we're in some giant game of spore...

[rtxoff]

In the whole known Universe there are more stars than sand grains on planet Earth. That should give everybody of us something to think about. Planet Earth is not even a grain of sand in the Universe.

And maybe there are more then one.

[Javster]

A pixel on some guy's screen.

[WinkAllKerb'']

bah advantage with everything is it not really worth so much censorship at all.

Topic idea ...

[linguistic] are the use of language could be considered as a science that follow a certain set of rules to produce certain effect, story telling ?, sect ?, art?,,, discuss *shrug*

Edited May 26, 2014 by WinkAllKerb''

[Dominatus]

You justify your existence as confirmed in your own mind, because you know you exist and so does the reality you perceive to be the universe. But does it really? You may not actually think, you simply are under the illusion that you think you think, when in reality your base thoughts are for the sole purpose of interacting with the reality I perceive. Confused? Because I know I am.

Oh, and as for if the universe exists as lines of code, and we are simply programmed into it... Scientists are attempting to digitally model the entire universe as a computer simulation. With a supercomputer they recently got pretty close, modeling everything in known existence but without purpose assigned, or life taken into account. That kind of world is better represented in the book The Gadget Factor. One of the reasons for this program is to find out if we are a simulation. Scientists will look for patterns in their program, little "glitches", and see if our universe has similar ones. If it does than this is the simulation. If not then we are the real deal. If course in the process we create an infinite looping paradox, with earthlings in each successively smaller universe digitally creating their own model of the universe to answer the same question... Fun stuff.

[DerpenWolf]

Pretty sure that if I ruled the universe I'd build a bunch of super computers running multiple realities that I could screw with and alter for fun and science.... So we may very well be some curious experiment developed by some creature... If so I hope I'm running things!

[Rainbowtrout]

Maybe, if the universe is our imagination, and we could do whatever we want, it would have the "Eragon Factor". Where you can only change large parts of existence if you have enough energy.

[Dominatus]

Perhaps. Or perhaps it is the butterfly effect on a cosmological scale. We know that by adding a minor change in direction to a large enough object, it's orbit can be altered by dozens of kilometers. Yet hardly any force was applied. So is it energy that limits our control? I think not. Limitations exist only as we see them to. Humans did not evolve with wings, yet we sought and achieved flight, something once declared an impossibility. Men on the moon? Science fiction, yet humanity also proved that false. We strive against the impossible, to push against the limitations of the universe, and make the impossible possible. FTL is impossible in accordance with the laws of physics. So what do we do? We find a way around it, in the form of the alcubierre warp drive formula. The only limitations are those we place upon ourselves.

In line with what you had said, the smallest decision can then have a butterfly effect that ripples throughout time and space, and can have repercussions long into the future. Maybe that quick reply you posted on a forum sparked into motion the events leading up to a massive discovery, an idea that grows into something which changes the entirety of our future and becomes as important as the wheel. One comment could lead to someone changing their mind and getting that girls phone number. Their great-great-grandchildren have an idea they mention to a friend. That friend is inspired, and pursues the idea, eventually making it a reality. This is then built upon by many other people, and turned into, say, the first warp drive in human history, and is te thing which allows our species to step out into the stars and call another world home. And all that because a friend encouraged another friend to ask that girl for her phone number...

Even the littlest decision is significant in the long run. The universe is shaped by nature, but can be fundamentally changed by the decisions of man.

Edited May 27, 2014 by Dominatus

[WinkAllKerb'']

a few other easy ones in the same spirit:

is our sight limited by an horizon, would we be able someday to remove this frontier, does some are already able to do so even if we not noticed it yet or fondamentaly disagree this knew knowledge break all we already believe in, is sight in itself a limitating process that tend to dictate some others.

*yawn* *shrug* *yawn* (disclaimer: na na it never never already happen, but's that's cool)

Edited May 27, 2014 by WinkAllKerb''

[Jacob01]

Recently I've been thinking that perhaps we are some kind of experiment. Maybe not the entire universe but just our planet. Maybe some other alien species put life here as an evolution experiment and are observing us and just watching where we end up. To see if we destroy ourselves, or live long enough to become as technologically advanced as themselves.

[Dominatus]

... Or we are a computer and a large shipment of dentists, hairdressers, and telephone sanitizers landed here a few million years ago, ruined the computing process, and now simply muck about being useless.

[Red Iron Crown]

Every child learns the song with the answer: "Life is but a dream."

[Rainbowtrout]

Recently I've been thinking that perhaps we are some kind of experiment. Maybe not the entire universe but just our planet. Maybe some other alien species put life here as an evolution experiment and are observing us and just watching where we end up. To see if we destroy ourselves, or live long enough to become as technologically advanced as themselves.

Kinda reminds me of Majestic Prince. Life on Earth being an experiment does seem a bit more plausible than the entire universe being one. But, if Earth is an experiment, what would the aliens be like? They would have created a world filled with life, something that we have been searching for. At first glance, they seem benevolent. But, what if we were created to be hunted (Again, more majestic prince.)?

[lajoswinkler]

MY personal opinion is that everyone and everything but me was created to fool me into thinking that there was a "Real Life".

And no matter what you say, I'll assume that you were programmed to say that. So you can't convince me otherwise. Mua-ha-ha!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solipsism

[Dominatus]

It's interesting, too... I accidently stumbled onto solipsism on my own a few months ago. I hadn't the slightest clue philosophy had already followed that line of thought... It was an original idea, that had already been done. If humanity is an experiment, then I would think there are some interesting results.... It's kind of like the "Carl Sagan or Snooki" video TheAmazingAtheist posted on YouTube. Would the results thus far be promising? Or are we a disappointment? If it's the species behavior itself that is being tested, in addition to various stresses and conflicting ideologies, opinions, and morals, then how have we done?

This is where said video comes in. How would the success of this experiment be judged? How can one result, one answer be determined from the running around of seven and a half billion people, when each one is absolutely unique and can never be compared to another exactly? People are really smart, on the Carl Sagan end of the spectrum. People are ludicrously stupid, on the Snooki end. The general population lies somewhere in the middle. Intelligence is easy when campared to morality, though. For the same reason morality cannot be used to justify ones position in any debate, it cannot be used to judge a species as a whole. Every person has unique moral values that can never be exactly replicated.

It certainly is interesting.

[WinkAllKerb'']

yup yup another exemple could be the "Leto" emphasis that give lesson at a much larger scale. This caracter amongst others in many book/else express this apsect pretty well.

EDIT: fun an short version could be; "PaT'o-Logic MaTh Process"

Edited May 30, 2014 by WinkAllKerb''