Do we live in a simulation?

Shining example of what happens when people don't even read the original thread post properly.

 

Semantics is what it's all about.

When we label things, we use nouns. We have a cognitive bias of perceiving labeled things as being concrete. It's how we navigate our world.

We create definitions, and if an entity satisfies a definition, then it has that property.

But if we then relabel the entity with a new noun specifically because of that property, then that is an abstraction. Yet we commonly fall victim of that cognitive bias in thinking of the new entity as being something concrete.

Example: If we assume a brick to be a concrete thing, we can define the term "wall" as a particular arrangement of bricks. "wall" describes the arrangement, and does not equate with the components that are arranged.

The wall is an achievement of the bricks. An abstract entity.

The bricks are like the electrons in a computer circuit, doing what they do to satisfy a definition. A computer simulation (like a wall) is a particular arrangement/motion of electrons. A property. An abstract entity.

The particles don't care how they are arranged. It's humans that create the definitions and attach special meaning to the things which satisfy them. It's all about semantics. It's all about where you draw the line with your cognitive bias of perceiving labeled things as being concrete.

 

Whoops, sorry. Author of the book. Either way, I still don't know what you're talking about because I don't have access to the book.

Jasmine, can you see, hear, touch, smell, or taste your identity? Yes, your identity is composed of electrons. Yes, a wall is composed of bricks. But while the wall (arrangement of bricks) can still be sensed, your identity can not.

 

I have also wondered this.

Another thing that I have pondered, is if energy itself evolved into particles, then atoms, then molecules, then life... could it have been possible for this universe to have become something very different then what it is today or do the laws ensure the universe's developmental path will always be the same or similar?

 

In the same context of defining reality, we should look at consciousnesses that interpret reality different. Is there interpretation any less relevant? What about those who clam to see or feel ghost and spirits? Why is it a collective group of people may interpret a reality outside the grasp of another individual? Is this simply a false interpretation enforced by training, or are there people who have either a particularly developed mind or brain?

Perhaps these people simply have developed their conscious in a particular direction and in turn, have developed an "extra" perception of reality. Perhaps this "training" helped create a body capable of "extra" perception beyond what we tactility and visually interpret as reality?

Life is nothing but questions. We'll never know all the answers in this lifetime, or a thousand.

Who knows, perhaps this life is merely a "trial" so we have a proper set of skills for a new life? Then to live life again, would that be true happiness or true hell?