The Future of Scientific Simulations: from Artificial Life to Artificial Cosmogenesis

We argue that a simulation of an entire universe will result from future scientific activity. This requires us to tackle the challenge of simulating open-ended evolution at all levels in a single simulation. The simulation should encompass not only biological evolution, but also physical evolution (a level below) and cultural evolution (a level above). The simulation would allow us to probe what would happen if we would “replay the tape of the universe” with the same or different laws and initial conditions. We also distinguish between real-world and artificial-world modelling. Assuming that intelligent life could indeed simulate an entire universe, this leads to two tentative hypotheses. Some authors have argued that we may already be in a simulation run by an intelligent entity. Or, if such a simulation could be made real, this would lead to the production of a new universe.

 The Future of Scientific Simulations

"Quantum Mechanics Implies that the Universe is a Computer Simulation"

A Cybernetic Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

This paper surveys evidence and arguments for the proposition that the universe as we know it is not a physical, material world but a computer-generated simulation -- a kind of virtual reality. The evidence is drawn from the observations of natural phenomena in the realm of quantum mechanics. The arguments are drawn from philosophy and from the results of experiment. While the experiments discussed are not conclusive in this regard, they are found to be consistent with a computer model of the universe. Six categories of quantum puzzles are examined: quantum waves, the measurement effect (including the uncertainty principle), the equivalence of quantum units, discontinuity, non-locality, and the overall relationship of natural phenomena to the mathematical formalism. Many of the phenomena observed in the laboratory are puzzling because they are difficult to conceptualize as physical phenomena, yet they can be modeled exactly by mathematical manipulations. When we analogize to the operations of a digital computer, these same phenomena can be understood as logical and, in some cases, necessary features of computer programming designed to produce a virtual reality simulation for the benefit of the user.

Ray Kurzweil: Reinventing Humanity

The Author of The Singularity is Near provides an article published in the March-April 2006 edition of Futurist Magazine that summarizes the predictions from his book regarding the near term future of human and technological evolution.

Will the dead twitter by the end of the century?

Cliff Pickover discusses mind uploading and simulated afterlife as he makes a sales pitch for his book on these topics: The Heaven Virus.

The future of gaming is all in the mind

The near future of virtual reality.

Computable Universes Links

From universes.org site.

computable universes page

Matrioshka Brains "work in progress" by Robert Bradbury

Some good info on the theory and some interesting links.

Matrioshka Brains

General relativity as proof of virtual reality?

Paper by Brian Whitworth who has a theory that certain aspects of relativity theory could point to our living in a virtual environment.

I found this paper interesting in that I had recently thought about the relative nature and (for instance) slowing of time for objects moving at a high rate of speed and whether these aspects of reality could be related to finite processing capability at specific points in space.

Universe as a virtual reality

conversation with an alien

http://www.station1.net/douglasjones/aconvers.htm

This link was posted in reply to my argument immediately below on the Everything List, and the first part of it provides some interesting speculations as to why simulated reality may be more prevelant than a "primitive physical" or underlying reality.

Matrioshka Brains

From Wikipedia:

The possible uses of such an immense computational resource tax the imagination. One idea suggested by Charles Stross, in his novel Accelerando, would be to use it to run perfect simulations or "uploads" of human minds into virtual reality spaces supported by the Matrioshka brain. Stross even went so far as to suggest that a sufficiently godlike species utilizing enough raw processing power could launch attacks upon, and manipulate, the structure of the universe itself.
The theme of computers simulating human life is not new to the world of science fiction, forming central parts of the plots of such works as the Matrix film trilogy and the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "A Taste of Armageddon".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrioshka_brain

I came up with the name for this blog before discovering this excerpt, but it perfectly explains the meaning behind the blog name and the intended subject content for this site:

Without a doubt some of my favorite video games of all time have been those that involve simulations, including SimCity and The Sims.
When I play these simulations I fancy myself a demigod, managing and manipulating a wide array of variables that impact on the game, including the environment and the simulated inhabitants themselves. With each passing year these games become evermore realistic and their degree of sophistication is becoming nothing short of profound.
Recently, for example, a plug-in was developed for The Sims allowing the virtual inhabitants to entertain themselves by playing none other than SimCity itself. When I first heard about this I was struck with the vision of Russian Matrioshka nesting dolls, but instead of dolls I saw simulations within simulations within simulations.
And then I remembered good old Copernicus and his principle of mediocrity: We should never assume that our own particular place in space and time is somehow special or unique. Thinking of the simulation Matrioshka, I had to acknowledge the possibility that we might be Sims ourselves. Considering the radical potential for computing power in the decades to come, we may be residing somewhere in the Matrioshka.

- George Dvorsky
http://archives.betterhumans.com/Columns/Column/tabid/79/Column/269/Default.aspx