The main reason to believe we are living in a simulation

People believe in all kinds of strange things yet will often scoff at the beliefs of another. Most in this world believe in some kind of mysticism, a creator, an after life, reincarnation, spaghetti monsters and the like and they find the concept of beliefs in a simulation ridiculous. But, beliefs have nothing to do with any kind of reality at all but, they do push behavior and action. Some people think that being positive will help them, some negative and there are the foolhardy who claim realist, another belief system.

But, if we are looking at maximising action and potential, simulation theory is among the best and is likely why so many tech entrepreneurs like Elon Musk jump on board. Basically, simulation theory is saying that we may be living in a computerized model of a world, indistinguishable from a reality which makes us essentially characters in a game. Crazy?

No more crazy than believing that some guy with a white beard created it all and wants us to guess at what acting good is in order to get into a place that is beautiful. And failure means to burn forever. Or in the idea that how we act now, will determine what animal we will come back as in the next life. Mystical.

I am not picking on people's beliefs, quite the contrary. If what you believe makes you a better person in this life, I am all for it. But if it does not, then I suggest finding a belief system that does. Of course, this is going to depend on what you believe is good.

Ok, the reason I see that simulation theory is a pretty good belief system is that it doesn't have any future to it, there is nowhere to get, no end, no purpose, no heaven, hell or, worm or dragon to shoot for. There is also no risk.

What this means is that one can take risks in 'life' without having to worry about those pesky repercussions like death. One can shoot for the stars without being concerned with failure. One can do what one loves without needing to worry about becoming homeless. After all, it is just a simulation and being hungry is meaningless. It all becomes a game.

But, it is a game that can be played in many ways and has seemingly endless paths. Having no purpose means that the purpose is created by the player and that purpose can shift and change over time as the game changes and other characters make their moves. I say characters because it is impossible to know if the other players are conscious at all or just figments of the game to interact with. Mark Zuckerberg at the senate hearing seems a pretty obvious case for a junior programmers first attempt at creating life.

Living in a simulation may not have a future but, it definitely has a present as each interaction now changes code for alternative future interactions. It puts all importance on the present moment and indicates that the events of the now are going to affect future experience. What that future is is unsure but, poor actions will likely lead to future suffering in the future now.

This is something that simulated philosophers have been directing through the entire simulated life. Live in the now as that is all there is. Fro a computer perspective, this works well as even though a computer can predict a future, it cannot ever know it is correct until that future comes to pass and, then it is only in that moment it can know it.

There are also added possibilities with a simulation over a creation narrative of an all powerful god and that is, it is hackable. No code is complete so loopholes may be available, holes exploitable and the players that do this can change future now experiences for their better playing experience.

This might seem that the chances for poor behavior go up but, just like any belief system, it is still up to the player how to play the game and whether they are going to interact and cooperate with characters within or, harm them for their own satisfaction. Cooperation will likely lead to fast advancement in levels like going to new worlds and harm will likely lead to getting stuck fighting the artificial intelligence on the lower levels.

Every gamer I know is looking to advance and improve, see where the game leads and what the programmers have in store, they don't want to play the same pattern over and over as the repetition gets tiresome very quickly.

In simulated life, that means that the most interesting way to play the game is find ways to advance through the levels and discover possibility. The easiest and fastest way to do this is by cooperating with other characters that are seemingly looking to do the same. Some may even be consciously doing this.

In a simulated reality, we can be the most creative, the most advancing, the most caring we can be and team up with others to investigate and create solutions to all of the issues that hold us back from advancing to the next level of wonderment.

Of course, we can also hold back advancement and choose to stay just where we are and instead decide that this now is better than any other now that could eventuate. Along the way, there will be lots of level bosses of minor and major size that instead of helping other characters get to the next levels, they decide to maximize their experience where they currently are assuming that is the best it can be.

At the end of the day, nothing about believing we are living in a simulation changes except that instead of hope of a future, there is action for the future in the present moment. For a creator, a scientist, a tech entrepreneur, nothing is going to have more impact on success than what they are currently doing in the eternal now and who they are doing it with.

And, they want to level up and see what is to come.

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]