"Tapas" (tapas)
08/05/2015 at 16:13 • Filed to: None
3
16|
"Tapas" (tapas)
08/05/2015 at 16:13 • Filed to: None | 3
| 16 |
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/wor…
...Maybe the universe isn’t real....Maybe you’re not real! Just a reflection of me though a wierd invisible mirror! Maybe we’re in the Matrix and Neo hasn’t decided which pill to take, so our fate is in limbo.
Wtf lol
MSN doesn’t directly quote any scientists. Or even the one scientist they mention in the article. Also, science does not establish new theories on the basis of one scientist’s musings.
StingrayJake
> Tapas
08/05/2015 at 16:26 |
|
I read the original story on Space.com yesterday. People are actually giving credence to the notion that nothing is as it seems.
And if I remember right, the Space.com story actually quoted some scientists saying that it’s all totally plausible (although more in a way in that we don’t really have proof that we’re not in some giant simulation).
TheHondaBro
> StingrayJake
08/05/2015 at 16:27 |
|
And urging the readers to look at their hand.
FKA-RacecaR
> Tapas
08/05/2015 at 16:33 |
|
This story, or some version of it, has been floating around for a couple months now, and on reputable sites (not the onion, or any gawker related site).
I am still not sure what all of the scientists are talking about, because my brain is not as smart as them is.
|
Tapas
> FKA-RacecaR
08/05/2015 at 16:38 |
|
Maybe they became so smart that they became retarded...you know.
I always look into sources when I read crap like this. Things like “scientists/experts say that...” is a complete cop out. I’m not convinced this is something that’s actually being researched, let alone a consensus in the scientific community.
|
Tapas
> StingrayJake
08/05/2015 at 16:41 |
|
I don’t know man...when you allege/propose something, the burden of proof lies on you.
The article’s implication is akin to saying that there’s no disproving that a giant spaghetti monster doesn’t exist. Hence, there’s a possibility that it does. And that’s BS.
|
StingrayJake
> Tapas
08/05/2015 at 16:44 |
|
It’s a very agnostic way of looking at things.
Snuze: Needs another Swede
> Tapas
08/05/2015 at 17:25 |
|
I recall watching one of those Discovery shows, or History, or whatever it was, about the universe, and space and nature and stuff one time. It wasn’t Cosmos, but something similar. And I remember one guy on there was developing algorithms to calculate the probability that we are just simulated. I think at the time his answer was about 1 in 20,000. There’s a 1 in 20,000 chance that nothing is real, we all live inside a computer program. Like the Sims.
When you start getting to the fringe of science things get very, very trippy. And I don’t think most people can wrap their brains around it. So because of that they shut science out and it seems as if there’s an ever growing number of science deniers who reject everything because one scientist or group said something crazy once that turned out to be wrong. But being wrong is an important part of science, because when you recognize it, it can lead you to what is right.
I’m a fan of the “paradigm” hypothesis to explain how science works, and why these crazy things happen. (Read Thomas Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions for more in depth look). The TL;DR is that science works under a certain paradigm until no more fruitful information can be gained, and then it has to branch off or change direction. Sometimes it goes the right way, sometimes the wrong way, and occasionally nowhere for a while.
I think that’s all this is, a new paradigm. It may attract followers, and who knows, it may take off and one day prove to be right. It may also be a dead end and yield nothing new or interesting. But it’s getting people thinking, and that’s what science is all about - looking for the truth about the world around us.
|
Snuze: Needs another Swede
> Tapas
08/05/2015 at 17:26 |
|
I’ll look for links later, but it is something that is being researched. That there may be growing scientific interest in the theory is news to me, though. I thought it was relegated as a fringe theory.
VonBelmont
> Tapas
08/05/2015 at 17:29 |
|
More empoweringly: We are becoming self-aware :P
|
Tapas
> Snuze: Needs another Swede
08/05/2015 at 17:29 |
|
Oh...thats something I might look into then... :)
|
Tapas
> Snuze: Needs another Swede
08/05/2015 at 17:34 |
|
I’ve done some research work when I did my Masters in an engineering field.
So I’m not discounting science or scientists because someone was wrong sometime. I get that this is complicated and I may not be able follow 100% of what is being discussed, if I pick up a research paper.
But this is the first time I’m hearing of this. And finding this out from an article about a scientific topic that has no depth or references, like most internet fluff - that made me discount the whole idea....
AddictedToM3s - Drives a GC
> Tapas
08/05/2015 at 18:49 |
|
That was a lot shorter than I was expecting. Although I remember reading somewhere about a theory where we are in a sandbox that a higher being has created in an effort to create synthetic life like we are trying to do. I cannot for the life of me recall the name of the theory. All I remember is it was on wikipedia while I was reading about chaos theory and clicking through the wormhole of links embedded into the articles.
|
Tapas
> AddictedToM3s - Drives a GC
08/05/2015 at 20:17 |
|
Yeah. It’s got no depth or cited sources. Made me think is Internet fluff. ..
|
Snuze: Needs another Swede
> Tapas
08/05/2015 at 21:04 |
|
Ahh, didn’t know you had an engineering degree. What field? I’m a Mechanical engineer.
As a core requirement during undergrad I took a course on the Philosophy of Science, which is where I read Kuhn, and learned about the process of science. Really fascinating stuff.
I can understand your trepedation at not believing an article with no depth or citation. Frankly if I didn’t already know about the subject, I’d probably agree with you.
BTW, I did a quick internet search, and our good old friend Wikipedia has a page on it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulatio…
|
Tapas
> Snuze: Needs another Swede
08/05/2015 at 21:20 |
|
Thats cool, I’m a Materials Science Engineer :)
Luckily, I’ve never had to take any history or english or crap like that in University.
Thank you for sharing that :)
pip bip - choose Corrour
> Tapas
08/06/2015 at 04:38 |
|
makes sense