Robert Hampton

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16th August 2007

# Let’s Get Metaphysical, Physical #

A philosopher at Oxford University reckons there’s a “20% chance” that our entire world — universe, even — is nothing more than a virtual reality being created by an incredibly advanced computer simulation — The Sims ∞, if you will. It’s a bit like The Matrix, only without the comforting thought that Keanu Reeves can save us all. Because we don’t exist. And neither does Keanu Reeves.

If the above is true, as the article points out, we’ve finally found the answer to the old question about why God allows war and death to happen: it’s the equivalent of getting bored while playing Sim City and going into the Disasters menu to start an earthquake.

The thought occurs to me that we shouldn’t look into this too thoroughly, because if we knew for sure we were living in a simulation, the person running it could decide that there’s no point continuing with it and shut it down. I bet he wouldn’t even bother to save the game before turning the computer off.

Anyway, on the off-chance that the article is correct, can I put in a request for the random number generator to be reseeded? It’s just that the simulation algorithm seems to be going quite badly for me at the moment. Come on, God, do a x%=RND(-TIME) just for me!

(link found via WWdN)

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