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| Topic: Is the our universe a simulation? | |
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Edited by
Jeanniebean
on
Fri 02/01/13 09:32 AM
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I simply disagree with your point of view about thought and what it is.
Stimulus/response mechanisms do not require thought nor sensing. The use of "sense" is misleading. Sensing requires sensory organs. Plants have no such thing. Using the term "sense" when describing how plants DETECT and react to stimulus is to describe things with words that do not align with fact/reality. I also disagree with this hypothesis. |
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Edited by
Jeanniebean
on
Fri 02/01/13 09:49 AM
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Here again there is a significant problem with this account. Saying that "they [snip] produce a variety of blossoms to attract insects to their pollen" is very misleading. It presupposes a plant's intent to produce blossoms for that specific reason, which requires a creature capable of forming thought/belief about fact/reality and then deliberately taking certain goal-oriented action. Plants simply don't have what it takes to be able to do that. Again, I disagree. I submit that plants may not think in the same manner that humans or animals do but that they do have a degree of consciousness and engage in universal thought. I realize that your narrow definition of 'thought' supports your statements and beliefs and I do understand your point of view within those boundaries. I just don't agree with them. Expand your concept of what thought actually is, and you might understand my point of view. Stick to your narrow boundaries and you will not. You will continue to insist you are right. But it seems to me that because you believe that what ever it is that plants are doing is not thought, it follows that you would also presuppose that a plant does not create blossoms for a specific reason to attract insects. You can't know that for certain, and neither can I. I don't think plants have to give it much 'thought' and what they do is natural and according to programming, and is not a toiling thinking processes that we humans imagine or think of as 'thought.' Humans do many things strictly according to their programming and also don't give them much 'thought.' It comes natural to us to scratch when we itch, etc. Consciousness and thought go hand in hand. |
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Edited by
Jeanniebean
on
Fri 02/01/13 09:58 AM
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The cells are the body. The cells are the brain. The brain is a part of the body. The body is a part of the brain. Electrical signals traveling throughout our bodies do not qualify as individual cells communicating with each other and with the body. To communicate is to successfully convey thought/belief about fact/reality.  Expand your mind a little. Cells do communicate with each other and the body about reality and belief via electrical signals. This is one of the reasons why what you think and believe can effect your entire system and your health. The worst thing you can do to your health is stress, and fear. Stress and fear can effect your entire system. Stress and fear are created by your perceptions of reality.... YOUR THOUGHTS. |
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Is that all you can say? It has been proven by scientists that stress and fear is one of the major contributors to illness, heart disease, cancer etc.
Stress and fear is created basically by thoughts. Thoughts are things. |
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Edited by
Jeanniebean
on
Sat 02/02/13 06:53 PM
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Okay, here is something good about our Universe being a simulation.
I was talking to my sister today and telling her the latest conspiracy theorist's rumor that there might be a major 'terrorist' or "black flag" operation attack on the Superbowl tomorrow that could include some bridges being blown up. If this happens, lots of people will die, and the whole world will witness it live. So lets say this reality is a simulation in some giant computer (giant compared to us) and we are simply avatars of the players of this complicated game. The object of the game for the big players are, of course, world domination. (To take over the world and win all the wealth like a monopoly game.) The challenge for the small players is simple. Their challenge is to simply see how long it takes them to realize they are in a game. I told her that the rules of the game are that the big players have to leave clues or even inform the smaller players what is going on. They do this with movies, signs, symbols, etc. Conspiracy theorists are the smaller players who have found clues. Most small players still have no idea what is going on or that this is a game. So if this world is a simulation and a game, keep that in mind when disaster strikes. Don't worry, be happy. Life is just a game. Which means... none of this is real. |
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I won't be stepping out in front of a moving bus anytime soon.
Why you may ask? Because doing so has real effects/affects - simulation or not! |
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I won't be stepping out in front of a moving bus anytime soon. Why you may ask? Because doing so has real effects/affects - simulation or not! Yep you might loose the game, or at least that round. Rules are rules. The simulated universe has rules. We call them the rules of physics. They only apply inside of the simulation though. |
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There was even a movie about this entire idea. There were several levels of universes and they had created simulated worlds inside of computers. In the movie, there seemed to be only about three layers.
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Assuming we are living a simulated life, do we have a simulated soul? When we die do we go to a simulated haven or hell?
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Assuming we are living a simulated life, do we have a simulated soul? When we die do we go to a simulated haven or hell? There could be simulated heavens and hells. I think our "souls" are the users. Our bodies are the avatars inside of the game. |
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There could be simulated heavens and hells. I think our "souls" are the users. Our bodies are the avatars inside of the game. LOL I think it's more likely that most of us are NPCs (non player characters). |
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There could be simulated heavens and hells. I think our "souls" are the users. Our bodies are the avatars inside of the game. LOL I think it's more likely that most of us are NPCs (non player characters). Or just extras. Our challenge is to try to figure out what the hell is going on. |
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Perhaps I'm old and tired, but I think that the chances of finding out what's actually going on are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say, "Hang the sense of it," and keep yourself busy. I'd much rather be happy than right any day. Slartibartfast |
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I have always had a curiosity about what is going on in the world. How does the world work? What are UFO's? Conspiracy theories, aliens, secret societies, mysteries of all kinds.
So I digest as much information as I can and put some of the puzzle pieces together. I hear by bull chit meter going off a lot when people tell lies. |
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I'm also interested in how the world works, evolution etc. But, I'm very curious about how people work. Why would someone follow a cult leader to the point of killing their children? There are people that are truely upset by the idea that life has no meaning or that there's no free will or that nothing is real or matters. I wonder, why?
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Edited by
Jeanniebean
on
Mon 02/04/13 08:26 AM
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I'm also interested in how the world works, evolution etc. But, I'm very curious about how people work. Why would someone follow a cult leader to the point of killing their children? There are people that are truely upset by the idea that life has no meaning or that there's no free will or that nothing is real or matters. I wonder, why? So do you believe there is no "free will?" Do you believe that life has no meaning? |
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Edited by
TexasScoundrel
on
Mon 02/11/13 03:38 AM
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I'm also interested in how the world works, evolution etc. But, I'm very curious about how people work. Why would someone follow a cult leader to the point of killing their children? There are people that are truely upset by the idea that life has no meaning or that there's no free will or that nothing is real or matters. I wonder, why? So do you believe there is no "free will?" Do you believe that life has no meaning? This is what I think about free will. “Do people have free will? If we have free will, where in the evolutionary tree did it develop? Do blue-green algae or bacteria have free will, or is their behavior automatic and within the realm of scientific law? Is it only multicelled organisms that have free will, or only mammals? We might think that a chimpanzee is exercising free will when it chooses to chomp on a banana, or a cat when it rips up your sofa, but what about the roundworm called Caenorhabditis elegans—a simple creature made of only 959 cells? It probably never thinks, “That was damn tasty bacteria I got to dine on back there,” yet it too has a definite preference in food and will either settle for an unattractive meal or go foraging for something better, depending on recent experience. Is that the exercise of free will? Though we feel that we can choose what we do, our understanding of the molecular basis of biology shows that biological processes are governed by the laws of physics and chemistry and therefore are as determined as the orbits of the planets. Recent experiments in neuroscience support the view that it is our physical brain, following the known laws of science, that determines our actions, and not some agency that exists outside those laws. For example, a study of patients undergoing awake brain surgery found that by electrically stimulating the appropriate regions of the brain, one could create in the patient the desire to move the hand, arm, or foot, or to move the lips and talk. It is hard to imagine how free will can operate if our behavior is determined by physical law, so it seems that we are no more than biological machines and that free will is just an illusion.” — Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow, The Grand Design, Bantam Books, New York, 2010, p. 32. It's my belief that life has no meaning in and of itself. However, some people are able to do things that have great meaning to others. |
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“Do people have free will? If we have free will, where in the evolutionary tree did it develop? Do blue-green algae or bacteria have free will, or is their behavior automatic and within the realm of scientific law? Is it only multicelled organisms that have free will, or only mammals? We might think that a chimpanzee is exercising free will when it chooses to chomp on a banana, or a cat when it rips up your sofa, but what about the roundworm called Caenorhabditis elegans—a simple creature made of only 959 cells? It probably never thinks, “That was damn tasty bacteria I got to dine on back there,” yet it too has a definite preference in food and will either settle for an unattractive meal or go foraging for something better, depending on recent experience. Is that the exercise of free will? Though we feel that we can choose what we do, our understanding of the molecular basis of biology shows that biological processes are governed by the laws of physics and chemistry and therefore are as determined as the orbits of the planets. Recent experiments in neuroscience support the view that it is our physical brain, following the known laws of science, that determines our actions, and not some agency that exists outside those laws. For example, a study of patients undergoing awake brain surgery found that by electrically stimulating the appropriate regions of the brain, one could create in the patient the desire to move the hand, arm, or foot, or to move the lips and talk. It is hard to imagine how free will can operate if our behavior is determined by physical law, so it seems that we are no more than biological machines and that free will is just an illusion.” — Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow, The Grand Design, Bantam Books, New York, 2010, p. 32. TexasScoundrel, you posted the above and stated that this is what you fell about 'free will.' But the experiment sighted above in the second paragraph failed to mention that although the brain surgeon could touch a part of a person's brain and cause that person to move the hand, arm or foot etc, when the person was conscious he was able to tell the difference between who was initiating the action, him or the doctor. He knew when it was the doctor, and he knew when he himself gave the body the command to move. So, who is the "he" that made the decision to move his arm when the doctor was not doing it? In the first paragraph all Hawking does is ask questions. I have the answers to all of those questions in my hypothesis. It is very simple. Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow are not as brilliant as you think they are if they have not figured it out. The WILL is not "free" until a certain amount of consciousness is attained, and until then, most decisions are programmed instincts, and reactions. These programmed instincts have evolved over centuries and are pretty much automatic. No WILL is required for life to continue. These actions and reactions are automatic just as the beating of your own heart is automatic. You don't have to 'think' about it or consciously cause it to beat. "Free will" is conscious thought. It can go against programming or instinct, that is why it is called "free." It is like you would imagine a robot like the terminator going against its own programming. To use your will, to have a will of your own, depends on how conscious you are. When you are following programming, you don't have to be as conscious. |
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To realize the purpose of life, you have to realize that consciousness is not an emergent property of some biological evolution of slim that grew legs and crawled out of the ocean.
With that premise, you realize that the reason (and meaning) for biological life forms (or any other kind of life form) is for the expression of a consciousness that already exists, the ultimate goal being self awareness. That would be an awareness of existence. If life is an accident or the result of some biological emergent property after an accident, then there is no meaning to life, and it is only temporary. If this accident were only temporary, if it were just this one time, we would be gone already in the face of eternity. We would have been only a blip on the screen of the void. But life goes on and on and on because consciousnesses exists. |
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