Let me first specify, I mean devise a test to show that we are not in a simulation that could be run in a universe that acts according to the laws of physics we observe. In other words the simulation would have to be possible using computing power possible in this universe.
And I also mean a test that could be run in the present.
Also, the simulation does not have to be an entire universe simulation, it only needs to simulate enough to give a set of conscious actors the observations consistent with living in a physical universe.
Sabine Hossenfelder has said that the simulation argument is wrong because it would not be possible to simulate the fundamental laws of physics and that we would be able to detect if this was being approximated by a computer.
If this is correct then it should be possible for scientists to simply test the idea experimentally and set up a set of observations and tell us what we should see if the universe is real.
It has always seemed to me that the fatal flaw in this is that if we can calculate what we should be seeing then the simulating computer would also be able to do the same calculations and give us those results.
In other words the proposition that we would be able to detect a simulation assumes that we can have greater calculating power than the computer that is simulating us.
Ironically, if it were possible to detect by experiment whether or not we were living in a simulation then that would make it a scientific hypothesis.
And I also mean a test that could be run in the present.
Also, the simulation does not have to be an entire universe simulation, it only needs to simulate enough to give a set of conscious actors the observations consistent with living in a physical universe.
Sabine Hossenfelder has said that the simulation argument is wrong because it would not be possible to simulate the fundamental laws of physics and that we would be able to detect if this was being approximated by a computer.
If this is correct then it should be possible for scientists to simply test the idea experimentally and set up a set of observations and tell us what we should see if the universe is real.
It has always seemed to me that the fatal flaw in this is that if we can calculate what we should be seeing then the simulating computer would also be able to do the same calculations and give us those results.
In other words the proposition that we would be able to detect a simulation assumes that we can have greater calculating power than the computer that is simulating us.
Ironically, if it were possible to detect by experiment whether or not we were living in a simulation then that would make it a scientific hypothesis.
via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/3C3hMJT
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