Esoteric philosophical argument jumps into the outer mainstream

[hmg]

http://www.vox.com/2016/6/2/11837608/elon-musk-simulation-argument

Could be, could be. Cosmology seems to be hinting at a 'substrate', the circuit board it all runs on. Hitherto hidden consistencies at the largest and smallest scales.

But you can short circuit all of that by just proposing: no, we're the first of our kind, organic and free range, feeling our way in the universe. An unbroken chain of descent from Archaea to the born yesterday.

 

[Mr. Tea]

Then can he explain why this never happens?

 

[droid]

See also: The singularity. Some tangental, but relevant points here:

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com...mmograms-and-war-more/?wt.mc=SA_Twitter-Share

Though I still have money on the multiverse.

 

[Mr. Tea]

Though I still have money on the multiverse.

What odds did you get?

 

[droid]

Infinity/1

 

[Mr. Tea]

There is absolutely no way Musk literally 'believes' this hogwash. Anyone who actually thought this would surely be gripped by the kind of existential despair that would make Camus and Sartre look like happy-clappy Sunday school leaders by comparison. I strongly doubt he'd manage to muster any motivation to do anything at all, and it's not like he's exactly an underachiever.

 

[droid]

The simulation hypothesis is actually pretty convincing I think, but a fundamental principle is that any suitably advanced simulation would be indistinguishable from reality, therefore, whether or not we live in a simulation is essentially irrelevant.

 

[Mr. Tea]

I think most people would consider there to be philosophical and psychological implications that go beyond any concept of what is and isn't empirically testable. Although I guess if you have a very pragmatic and phenomenological view of the world already (as maybe befits a highly successful inventor and entrepreneur?) you perhaps care about this less than most people. Certainly the spiritual implications are rendered irrelevant if you're an atheist-materialist in the first place.

Really, I think, it's hard for these sorts of discussions not to end up sounding like a conversation between some philosophy freshmen who've just watched The Matrix while sharing a spliff. Not that I have anything against either spliffs or The Matrix, but - y'know.