Greetings

[Wallflood]

Greetings All
Noob here. I just read "After Tranquility" and have "Against a Diamond Sky" on the way. Perhaps Im doing things backwards.

In any case, I find the subject matter and forward thinking fascinating. When taking discrete math I was introduced to the simulation argument especially as argued by Nick Bostrom. Since then I have been thinking and reading as much as I can especially along the lines of Drexler, Minsky, Neumann, Vinge, Kurzeil etc etc.

While I realize there are as many arguments against as for (possibly more) I find the very idea probable in my own mind. It seems that whatever man seems to be able to dream up (regarding science) can come to fruition often in some horrible way. And if we are able to survive any Sagan and Shklovskii type scenario it seems logical we will develop incredible technologies and intelligence's.

I think it logical we will eventually develop a self-aware intelligence. And it will be one that can recognize in us patterns and behaviors that even we cannot. And we understand a lot when it comes to controlling populations. Trust me on that one. Hopefully it will not be a tyrannical one, or one that can be used for tyranny by any government of faction.

Thanks for all the work youve all done-

[Drashner1]

Hi there, Welcome to OA

After Tranquility and Against a Diamond Sky are each self-contained works, although Against... is the older work. So, no problems in reading them the order you are.

Discussions about the subjects you mention are a common thing here, often in connection with developing some new aspect of the OA setting, but also just on general principles.

If you have any questions or concerns about any aspect of the setting, please feel free to post em here. And you are welcome to take part in any discussions that catch your interest or to start conversations on whatever topic you care to.

Hope this helps, and once again Welcome to OA!

Todd

[stevebowers]

Bostrom's argument is good, and Anders Sandberg has written extensively on the idea too.
Here's OA's article on Simulationism
http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/4a48a48238f01
If advanced civilisations exist and can make detailed simulations, then there seems to be no reason why they could not make detailed reconstructions of the past. We may all exist in a simulation run by OA's archailects or their real-world equivalent.

It is possible to take the argument further, of course; these advanced civilisations might be capable of creating new universes for the purposes of calculation, much like OA archailects can; this would increase their processing power considerably, allowing them to model our world in even greater detail. They may mot even be limited to physics that we are familiar with- add a few extra dimensions and computation becomes considerably easier.

An interesting extension of the simulation argument is Tegmark's mathematical universe; all possible mathematical structures exist implicitly, and we inhabit just one tiny fragment of that mathematical space. The OA article on that concept is here
http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/55b39757b0748