Where is mankind going? by Victor Bayda (machine translation. Original articlein Russian - http://bayda-site.ucoz.ru/forum/27-69-1) Part 4. Virtual worlds of the Nick Bostrom
The problem of computer simulation (simulation) and human society is
not only playing, but also applied, the scientific value as to solve
local problems of prediction, so for the purposes of modeling the future
of mankind.
For several years in the regime of secrecy to the Chief Military
Supercomputer Research Center USA in Los Alamos (better known by the
atomic bomb project) worked through computer simulation, "America -
Anti-terror."
The purpose of the simulation - to predict the consequences of
different scenarios of possible attacks, not engaging in "teaching" real
people and technology. Implemented in a computer simulation model includes the "Virtual America," with the people and the entire infrastructure.
The simulation is so detailed that it can be traced not only a reaction
to the bombing of infrastructure, but also the response of each
individual citizen to "external stimuli" (alarm, the dissemination of
news, an imminent danger), to monitor the possible movement of people
after the attack.
The next step - the creation of more large-scale simulations and the
universal (natural disasters, wars, elections, political and economic
crisis), which include not only a psychological component, but also a
complete computer model of man.
But then there is the philosophical question of Plan (totally
unexpected for many): if we are on the computer exactly simulate the
human, with all its feelings and emotions, the ability to think
independently, with the whole world around him, what this model will be
different from a real person?
This question was first formulated in about 10 years ago, a philosopher
at Oxford University, Director of the Institute for the Future of
Humanity Nick Bostrom (Nick Bostrom), and in some even more radical formulation. Bostrom has suggested: "What
if mankind is itself part of such an ambitious computer game called"
human civilization "is running on a supercomputer a higher level of
civilization, which he called" posthuman civilization "?"
There is no question of the similarity of the simulation, shown in the
movie "The Matrix", where a man lying in biokapsule directly into the
brain projected computer image.
The "simulation Bostrom," everything - even cooler: not only the
visible image by the brain, but the man himself is a product of the same
computer program. A computer is a game, a training simulator, or the result of scientific modeling, we do not know. As we can not, being inside the computer simulation, to determine unambiguously whether we live in a simulation or not? No computer unit, no matter how long he or digging, will never be able to get to the hard disk on which the ITS program.
Bostrom himself estimated the probability that we are part of a very complex computer program to 20%.
"If we live in a simulation, then we observed the world is just a small piece in the totality of physical existence.Physics of the Universe, where the TOT supercomputer may resemble, but may not resemble the observed physics of our world.At the time, as we observed the world is to some extent the "real", it is not located on a fundamental level of reality. " Simulated
civilization, and, in particular, the human, may eventually move to the
level of "posthuman" and, in turn, run the simulation (the same game,
we talked about above).When
mankind reaches the stage of "posthuman" after 50 years or 50 thousand
years - is not fundamentally, we have seen that the preconditions for
this exist already.
The edge of the software world.From the movie "13 Floor"
Computers
created by mankind in the simulated universe, will be "virtual
machines" - a very common concept in computer science today.For example, programs written in Java script, working on a conditional, a virtual machine (computer simulated).Virtual
machines can be nested into one another: it is possible to simulate a
virtual machine simulating another machine, and so on, with an
arbitrarily large number of steps.If
we can create our own simulation of human history, past (ancestors of
the simulation), it would be strong evidence in favor of what we
ourselves are living in a simulation. Moreover,
if we follow this logic, we must also assume that posthumans who run
our simulations, by themselves, too, are simulated beings.And even more, they creators can also be simulated beings (like nested virtual machines).
"The posthumans may be other sources of entertainment, such as direct stimulation of pleasure centers" - says Dr. Bostrom.- "Maybe they will have more precise methods of studying the past, so the simulation will not run for scientific purposes.Might
be the moral prohibitions against simulating people, although the fact
that it is immoral - is not guaranteed by the fact that it does not
happen. "
Yeah, that's the theory! At first glance this theory seems quite crazy, some nonsense. What kind of computer?! What kind of simulation, if everything is so real!? If my real thoughts and feelings! All of our previous experience will protest against such assumptions ...
I understand that and not my right to convince someone of the rightness of the theory of Bostrom. Just talk about the existence of other world views. Truth is, it - so ambiguous!
Simply, I propose to think and to remember that science has long won
the right to life theory, which at one time were called crazy. "And yet it turns" - this is a trivial example.
It would take 100 years after the burning of Giordano Bruno, so we
began to consider the ignorant people who believed that the Earth - the
center of the universe.
In the 50s of XX century physicist Niels Bohr, Heisenberg, evaluating
proposed a theory of elementary particles, said that "it is not enough
crazy to be correct."
In this hypothesis, Bostrom "madness" - is enough. Chalmers, David
(David J. Chalmers), a philosopher at the Australian National
University, says that the hypothesis of Dr. Bostrom of the simulation -
that is no reason to be skeptical, but - just another metaphysical
explanation of the world.
Why would you touch - a piece of paper, keyboard, cup of coffee - this
is still true, even if, in fact, the feeling created in a computer
circuit, and these items have never been created from wood, plastic or
clay .
By the way, do the philosophical ideas expressed in the simulation
hypothesis is not so new: Taoism, Buddhism for thousands of years, claim
that our world - the Maya, an illusion, a dream born of the Absolute
Mind.
The hypothesis of the simulation introduces new terms, which by and
large do not change anything, "posthumans" - the same Buddhist
'Sub-Logos', carrying out an act of creation and the cycle of passing
the acquired experience. The
hypothesis of a simulation based on new scientific fact clarifies the
mechanism of realization of the illusion, which in Buddhism is
represented abstractly.
Of course, the idea that our world is controlled by the programmers of
the future, not very pleasant, but it allows you to answer the many
questions that are within the traditional view still remain unanswered.
Physicists, for example, found that our space and time in the universe are not continuous.
They seemed to consist of separate parts, the points (or pixels),
because it is impossible to increase the "zoom" of the universe is
infinite, penetrating deeper and deeper into the essence of things.
After reaching a certain scale of values is obtained by a sort of
universe of digital images of very poor quality - fuzzy, blurred. Imagine a normal photo from a magazine.
It looks like a continuous image, but beyond a certain zoom level,
breaks down into individual points, which differ in color and tone. And as our world, too, is made up of microscopic points in one beautiful, and even three-dimensional image. And it looks like the same holographic principle, which we have already mentioned, referring to the modeling of human rights.
If a hologram of the image, such as a tree cut in half, and illuminated
by a laser, each half will contain the entire image of the same tree
exactly the same size. If we continue to cut a hologram into smaller pieces, each of them, we again find the image of the object as a whole.
Unlike normal photographs, every part of a hologram contains all the
information about the subject, but with a proportional decrease in
sharpness.
The theory of "Holographic Universe" is fully consistent with the concept of "our world - simulation."
Simulated models of the game world can not "dig" to the hard drive of
the computer on which they run, but may well understand that their
surrounding universe is just a "paint" the pixels on the screen of a
grand holographic computer.
Pinocchio
nose poked in the center and realized that the hearth and the fire in
the hearth and a kettle, boiling on the fire which had been painted on
canvas and for canvas - the door ...In another world ...
Holographic senses ... Holographic brain ... Holographic Universe ... But the hologram becomes manifest, visible only when the holographic plate, the original light beam of the laser. Where and who is running this great holographic projector? Regardless of the hypothesis Bostrom these questions hang unanswered ...
