The Religion Thread

[Mr.B]

"Muhammad....."

Now if you had some way to display those in a vertical fashion....

BTW.....Don't go to France.....

[bannination]

Yeah. This right here.....us....is the only family there is. No one else exists except in theory. All others have been smitten and relegated to neo obscurity and irrelevance. Any slights or insults against them just go off into space.

It's true. If you're reading this, you're a simulated brain in a virtual environment. Everything after you opened the browser window is simulated. Everything from before is just memories being randomly generated as needed.

It's not random memories being generated, it's trick memories that Satan is inserting!!!

[neoplacebo]

So far, my random memory generator works fine; none of the debbil's trick memories have tricked me yet. Sometimes, though, I suspect he's trying to make inroads because now and then I'll get up to do or get something and forget what it was I was gonna do or get. I attribute this to the debbil; generally I'll remember what it was in less than thirty seconds, but I fear he's gaining on me lately. Elvis would be 80 years old tomorrow or the next day; beat that, debbil.

[rstrong]

That's using the false assumption that Elvis really existed, and the memory of all things Elvis wasn't generated a moment ago.

[neoplacebo]

That's using the false assumption that Elvis really existed, and the memory of all things Elvis wasn't generated a moment ago.

If that's the case, then the debbil is very good; I remember seeing and hearing Elvis records that my parents had and also going to see movies Elvis was in. And I have a vivid memory of Elvis standing next to Nixon when the president named Elvis an honorary DEA agent; this memory is quite sour since Elvis himself was a drug user and died on the shitter while on drugs. All this makes me think it's real since the debbil has more class than that.

[rstrong]

Again, the simulated you may have started minutes ago. The memories of all things Elvis - songs, movies, etc. - would have been generated a moment later as needed.

That's why you see continuity errors. Elvis an honorary DEA agent, while being a drug user. Elvis being dead, but random memories of people sighting him still alive. Memories that his movies were enormously popular. But if you remember one (the simulation making it up on the spot) or watch one (the simulation making up the entire experience on the spot) it's too lame to have been popular.

There are plenty of other continuity errors if you watch for them. Water is completely transparent when dealing with less than tens of thousands of gallons.. And yet when your towel gets wet, it gets darker. When bread is left out it gets hard, but when crackers are left out they get soft. You see baby ducks, baby geese, baby robins... but despite pigeons being everywhere, you never see baby pigeons.

This is clearly a version 1.0 simulation.

[Mr.B]

"So far, my random memory generator works fine; none of the debbil's trick memories have tricked me yet. Sometimes, though, I suspect he's trying to make inroads because now and then I'll get up to do or get something and forget what it was I was gonna do or get. I attribute this to the debbil; generally I'll remember what it was in less than thirty seconds, but I fear he's gaining on me lately."

You've got it wrong, 'ol friend; it ain't 'ol Scratch.......

Your problem is that you are experiencing the hereafter...when you get up and go into the next room, you have to stop and say to yourself. "now what am I here after?"

(Been there, done that.. :-0?> ..more'n once!)

[neoplacebo]

I once had a dream that ducks would sink; not float. Now I understand. This is all an illusion foisted upon us all and we've been gullible fools wasting our time. I've never seen a pigeon egg or baby pigeon; it's a complete scam. This is why pigeons are not afraid of us and walk among us. They are actually who is in control. Hell, you see pigeons in ancient rock carvings and they're generally larger than the humans depicted in the same scene. It's all coming into focus now. A mighty pigeon is our Lord.

[rstrong]

Some say that the pigeons are observation drones. You only see them around human populations; never out in the remote woods.

But as the saying goes (this was just invented and added to your memory), "Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence." The lack of baby pigeons is just another continuity error.

[rstrong]

My first flight simulator used crude black & white wire-frame drawing. Now we're already on the verge of creating simulated worlds that you wouldn't be able to tell apart from the real thing. And on dirt-cheap consumer toys yet. And we're on the verge of being able to simulate the human brain - one which could be put into one of these simulations. In 50 years we might be doing it easily.

In the thousands of years beyond THAT, we'll probably run a near-infinite number of such simulations, for everything from research to games.

Thus it's infinitely more likely that you are a simulation than real.

They need not simulate the whole world - it could encompass only the room you're in. The simulation could have started when you entered the room, with all your memories - and the scenery out the window - created at random or from a pre-generated file.

And this message is just the programmer being an *ssh*le.

[neoplacebo]

I think Hawking is right; artificial intelligence will be the end of the human race, and I don't think it will take more than a couple hundred more years. Pigeons win.

[neoplacebo]

Some say that the pigeons are observation drones. You only see them around human populations; never out in the remote woods.

But as the saying goes (this was just invented and added to your memory), "Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence." The lack of baby pigeons is just another continuity error.

It's probably true the pigeons are observation drones but what really pisses me off about them is that stupid noise they make; I believe they're just laughing at us. I once tried to play a trick on them by pretending to be dead on the sidewalk; it didn't faze them at all....they all just stood around laughing at me. When I got back up one of the pigeons threw up, which I took as an insult.

[Mr.B]

"yada yada yada...."

Again:


You must be really bored ...... and miffed because you can't stir a response from me.
Give it up; "everyone here" is getting a good laugh at your silly, childish whining...and it's beginning to hurt!

(I wish I could fill in those blanks on your award certificate...... )

[Mr.B]

"Hardly, you're fantasizing incorrectly about me again. While I would prefer topical discussion over your lame and childish running away from your screw ups it's always a pleasure pointing out your hypocrisy, dishonesty and cowardice."

See what I mean...? you just can't let go. When you think you've posted something that you think is oh, so cute, and you've impressed the others, you hang on to it like glue. Give it up; "everyone here" is getting a good laugh at your silly, childish whining....

I've grown up and moved on.......why can't you?

[Mr.B]

Vrede: "...you just whine at me some more." <sniff> <sniff>

Awwwwwwwwwww...!

[rstrong]

My first flight simulator used crude black & white wire-frame drawing. Now we're already on the verge of creating simulated worlds that you wouldn't be able to tell apart from the real thing. And on dirt-cheap consumer toys yet. And we're on the verge of being able to simulate the human brain - one which could be put into one of these simulations. In 50 years we might be doing it easily.

Just to expand on this:

We're already on the verge of creating simulated worlds - just for cheap entertainment yet - that you wouldn't be able to tell apart from the real thing. In 50 years we'll be doing it easily with people in the simulation unable to detect the difference.

In a few decades we'll be able to simulate a human brain. A full person with its own thoughts and emotions.

Stick that computer generated person in a totally realistic computer-generated world, along with some other simulated people, and it wouldn't know that it was in a simulation.

You could limit the simulation to just one room full of people, but give them each full computer generated memories of lives outside that room. You could watch their reaction to some event you create, then reset the simulation and run it again. They'd never know that their friends, memories, homes, etc. outside that room didn't exist.

Skip forward a few decades, and we'll be running large numbers of these simulations - the way large numbers of people run The Sims now. Maybe for scientific studies, maybe for marketing studies.

Or maybe for entertainment: A real person enters the simulation and gets to play President or General or CEO or movie star. Bush II or certain bankers or the CEO of Blockbuster might be players who did poorly. Any talentless celebrity "famous for being famous" may be playing in easy mode. Everyone else in the simulation is computer generated, right down to emotions and memories. You wouldn't have to simulate the whole world or anything beyond the horizon - just give your Sims memories that it exists.

There would be simulations for history lessons: 31st century students could walk through a fully accurate simulation of your 21st century town - complete with simulated people with a lifetime of 20th/21st century memories to give authentic 21st century reactions. We Sims would see them as another gaggle of tourists.

Perhaps an administrator could manipulate people in "god mode" through voices in their heads, or through less subtle means.

Now skip forward a few thousand years. There's one real world, but untold millions of 21st century simulations have been run. Thus it's astronomically more likely that you're in a simulation than in the real world.

Which brings into question which is the religion: Believing that you're in a simulation, or believing that you're not.

[Mr.B]

You've screwed yourself with dishonest incomplete quoting, yet again.

All you've done is "moved on" from your indisputable hypocrisy, serial dishonesty and cowardice, which is the antithesis of maturity. Then, rather than really moving on at all, you just whine at me some more. Each time you do all this it is my pleasure to point it out and there's zero reason for me to "let go". You represent redneck Christian cons so well!

Thanks again for choosing to keep this "dead horse" post alive! Please continue.

Good boy.

Awwwwwwwwwww...!

There's nothing in my post asking for pity, you poor illiterate thing. Rather, I'm laughing at how pitiful you always are when caught lying. Is that how you live your life, whining that people should just move on from the screw ups that you're too wussy to accept responsibility for?

Awwwwwwwwwww...! ....poor baby!

[Mr.B]

Still illiterate, still pitiful, still whining, still wussy. Awwwwwwwwwww...! ....poor baby!

That's what I've been saying about you all along. Thanks for agreeing with me.

[JTA]

I think Hawking is right; artificial intelligence will be the end of the human race, and I don't think it will take more than a couple hundred more years. Pigeons win.

Seagulls are some tricky bastards too. When we were teenagers me and my friend would buy some french fries from McDonalds and park our car in an abandoned parking lot. Next we would throw a french fry or two outside the window. Seagulls would swarm in by the millions. We'd roll down the window and take turns shooting spit balls at them. Whoever had the most hits won.

[neoplacebo]

My first flight simulator used crude black & white wire-frame drawing. Now we're already on the verge of creating simulated worlds that you wouldn't be able to tell apart from the real thing. And on dirt-cheap consumer toys yet. And we're on the verge of being able to simulate the human brain - one which could be put into one of these simulations. In 50 years we might be doing it easily.

Just to expand on this:

We're already on the verge of creating simulated worlds - just for cheap entertainment yet - that you wouldn't be able to tell apart from the real thing. In 50 years we'll be doing it easily with people in the simulation unable to detect the difference.

In a few decades we'll be able to simulate a human brain. A full person with its own thoughts and emotions.

Stick that computer generated person in a totally realistic computer-generated world, along with some other simulated people, and it wouldn't know that it was in a simulation.

You could limit the simulation to just one room full of people, but give them each full computer generated memories of lives outside that room. You could watch their reaction to some event you create, then reset the simulation and run it again. They'd never know that their friends, memories, homes, etc. outside that room didn't exist.

Skip forward a few decades, and we'll be running large numbers of these simulations - the way large numbers of people run The Sims now. Maybe for scientific studies, maybe for marketing studies.

Or maybe for entertainment: A real person enters the simulation and gets to play President or General or CEO or movie star. Bush II or certain bankers or the CEO of Blockbuster might be players who did poorly. Any talentless celebrity "famous for being famous" may be playing in easy mode. Everyone else in the simulation is computer generated, right down to emotions and memories. You wouldn't have to simulate the whole world or anything beyond the horizon - just give your Sims memories that it exists.

There would be simulations for history lessons: 31st century students could walk through a fully accurate simulation of your 21st century town - complete with simulated people with a lifetime of 20th/21st century memories to give authentic 21st century reactions. We Sims would see them as another gaggle of tourists.

Perhaps an administrator could manipulate people in "god mode" through voices in their heads, or through less subtle means.

Now skip forward a few thousand years. There's one real world, but untold millions of 21st century simulations have been run. Thus it's astronomically more likely that you're in a simulation than in the real world.

Which brings into question which is the religion: Believing that you're in a simulation, or believing that you're not.

Albert Hoffman was the father of these artificial worlds when he synthesized LSD back in the 40's. I don't see any difference in generating these realities via digital means or chemical means......it's the manipulation of the human brain and its sensory inputs that is the key to this. The "reality" you're in at any particular moment is the only one you know or can conceive of.