Simulation Argument
The Simulation Argument, as treated on this site, suggests that advanced civilizations may create many detailed emulations of worlds like ours. Lincoln extends this reasoning through a generalized simulation and creation argument, including Bayesian formalization, that is not limited to any single engineering mechanism. His articles explore family history simulations, computed worlds, matrix analogies, and probabilistic reasons to trust that this world is probably created. The topic lists articles relevant to worlds without end and trust in posthuman creators.
This is a list of articles that Lincoln Cannon has written about the Simulation Argument. A full archive of all articles that Lincoln has published since 2005 is also available. You may also search for articles and other content that's available on any of Lincoln's websites.
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Bayesian Generalized Simulation Argument and Calculator
I’ve composed a Bayesian formulation of the generalized Simulation Argument. To help guide you through it, I construct the formulation step by step, beginning with Nick Bostrom’s popular formulation of the standard Simulation Argument, and proceeding through Brian Eggleston’s and my own refinements to the argument. Finally, I generalize a ... -
Technological Uniformity Saves the Simulation
Nick Bostrom’s formulation of the Simulation Argument is a rigorous reworking of what is, at its heart, an ancient question. Are we living in a created world? He distills the answer into three stark possibilities, a trilemma: Doom: Almost all civilizations destroy themselves or otherwise fail before developing the capacity ... -
Still Insane for Believing the Simulation Hypothesis
A decade ago, Blake Ostler called me insane for believing in the Simulation Hypothesis. Today, a friend brought to my attention that Blake recently doubled-down on that characterization, in an episode of an Exploring Mormon Thought podcast, asserting that people like me “have serious problems in assessing reality.” My response? ... -
You Should Hope You're Living in a Computed World
Celebrity technologist Elon Musk recently suggested that we may be living in a computer simulation. Of course this made technology news headlines around the world. And of course many articles have rushed to reassure their readers that Elon’s suggestion is “outlandish”. Outlandish or not, however, Elon suggested something far more ... -
Review of Your Digital Afterlives by Eric Steinhart
It took me two years to read the 216 pages in Eric Steinhart’s book, Your Digital Afterlives: Computational Theories of Life after Death. Friends know that’s because I’m the world’s slowest reader of philosophical texts that interest me – and just about any text that interests me seems to become ... -
Are We Living in a Family History Simulation?
Last time I posted, we imagined that one of the things we might do with vast computing resources in the future is run highly detailed family history simulations, to the point of enabling the characters with artificial intelligence and fully immersive consciousness. If something like $150 could purchase more computing ... -
Future Technology for Family History Simulations
Technology, and particularly computing, is essential to family history. Without it, we could still tell family stories to our children. But we certainly couldn’t substantiate those stories from billions of historical records into millions of family trees, as web applications like FamilySearch and Ancestry.com do today. In the 1960s, Intel ... -
Sam Harris Asks, Should We Be Mormons in the Matrix?
In a recent post to his blog, Sam Harris asks, “Should we be Mormons in the Matrix?” Sam is (in)famous for his atheism and anti-religiosity. He has authored bestselling books The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation. And he has commented in the past that “Mormonism is ... -
The Big Bang from Posthuman Computers in Black Holes?
A friend asked for my opinion on what came before the big bang. I’m not a physicist or cosmologist, but I read enough to have (dangerous) opinions that might provoke imagination in productive directions. With that disclaimer, here are my thoughts. First, maybe there wasn’t a big bang. Clearly, scientific ... -
Generalized Simulation Argument
I’ve written time and again about the Simulation Argument, particularly as formulated by Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom. Here’s one way to express the gist of the argument: Simulation Argument – Either (A) we’re almost certainly living in an ancestor simulation, or (B) we’ll almost certainly never create many ancestor simulations. ... -
Simulation Argument and Synthetic Worlds without End
The Simulation Argument has been getting a lot of attention since being referenced by the New York Times. Writing for the Daily Galaxy, Rebecca Sato asks, could our lives be a cosmic computer simulation? She concludes with these words: “… our designer might be another virtual being living inside the ... -
Are you living in worlds without end?
As recently reported by the Register and Slashdot, the United States military is using powerful computers to run increasingly detailed simulations of our world. While this is interesting for many reasons, it may be yet more thought-provoking when one considers this in context of the Simulation Argument. In his paper, ...