![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pandora_parrotNote, this entry was originally published on my old blog back in 2004. I have ported it here for completion.
Apparently, we really are living in the matrix. This is a cool concept, and something I've been arguing for ages. Of course, my argument goes a little farther, using things I've learned from reading Greg Egan's Permutation City. I suggest that if the world CAN be simulated, then it MUST exist. Its a fairly simple argument, but it uses several conclusions from formal languages and other math/cs fields. Here's a quick version:
ASSUME: The world can be simulated on a computer of sufficient power.
0.5) All simulations are based on various algorithms/programs.
1) All algorithms can be run on an abstract computer called the Turing Machine.
2) Every Turing Machine can be represented by a Godel Number.
ASSUME: All abstract concepts, such as numbers, must necessarily be in existence.
Therefore: Every Godel Number must necessarily exist, meaning that every turing machine must exist, finally implying that this world must exist.
For me, the reason for this argument is to suggest that complex creation stories as seen in most of the world's religions are unnecessary. All you absolutely need to have this world exist is the creation of mathematics. This particular universe is just one logical result of that creation. Let me try saying that again in a different way: To create mathematics is, in the same action, to create this universe.
Apparently, we really are living in the matrix. This is a cool concept, and something I've been arguing for ages. Of course, my argument goes a little farther, using things I've learned from reading Greg Egan's Permutation City. I suggest that if the world CAN be simulated, then it MUST exist. Its a fairly simple argument, but it uses several conclusions from formal languages and other math/cs fields. Here's a quick version:
ASSUME: The world can be simulated on a computer of sufficient power.
0.5) All simulations are based on various algorithms/programs.
1) All algorithms can be run on an abstract computer called the Turing Machine.
2) Every Turing Machine can be represented by a Godel Number.
ASSUME: All abstract concepts, such as numbers, must necessarily be in existence.
Therefore: Every Godel Number must necessarily exist, meaning that every turing machine must exist, finally implying that this world must exist.
For me, the reason for this argument is to suggest that complex creation stories as seen in most of the world's religions are unnecessary. All you absolutely need to have this world exist is the creation of mathematics. This particular universe is just one logical result of that creation. Let me try saying that again in a different way: To create mathematics is, in the same action, to create this universe.
