Aww, no alien empires yet

[Rynn]

What purpose would simulating a planet serve?

There are many possibilities. Perhaps we're an advanced video game, every now and then the players enter and LARP for a while. Or perhaps it's an attempt to resimulate historical people to resurrect them, or perhaps to resimulate everyone because in the future there's a branch of SuperChristianity that wants to make sure everyone is saved, even those unfortunate enough to be born before the third coming of Jesus. Or perhaps the Romanic Star Empire wants to investigate how history would have turned out if from the 5th century they declined and fell rather than having the scientific enlightenment and industrial revolution that they really did have.

[giulio]

[quote='Dalex' pid='13606' dateline='1429741021']
Well there is one more disturbing possibility, we are really alone, but not because of Dawn hunters. Because this is a simulation, a virtual world.

If our reality is a simulation run by other sentient beings elsewhere, then by definition we are not alone ;-)

[stevebowers]

The entities simulating us might be future versions of ourselves, or our descendants; they could be very, very different from us, but they would not be xenosophonts.

The 'simulation scenario' is one of many, many possible solutions to the Fermi Paradox; if we exist in a simulation, then the VR designers might simply have decided not to include aliens in this particular version.

[Dalex]

Or worse. It is some sort of sandbox game, if you ever played GTA or Fallout you know why that possibility is terrifying. Or even worse its some sort of transapient Sims :O

[Rynn]

Arguably the Sephirotics are an archai version of the sims

[radtech497]

Perhaps we are similar to one of the simulations depicted in The Thirteenth Floor, a sadly under-rated film.

Radtech497

[Dalex]

I wonder what is achai version of old pool and ladder trick.

[PortalHunter]

I wonder what is achai version of old pool and ladder trick.

I'm thinking wormhole gates shutting down.

[viperzerofsx]

I'm not surprised that no type 3 civilizations exist, it seems if you were advanced enough to colonize the galaxy you could control your birth rate and energy needs. But I wonder if any type 2 or 2.1 civilizations exist, I could better understand that since it would give you enough power to deal with any threat that could wipe you out.

[stevebowers]

That brings us back to Stross' suggestion. The worst kind of Dawn Hunter scenario is probably that of a species that sends off a wave of self-replicating Nicoll-Dyson lasers to wipe out any competition. Worst because it doesn't require any exotic physics, so could be achieved by a species not much more advanced than our own.