September 13, 2004

The cars in the other lane really are going faster. But why does this mean that you probably live in the Matrix? (So live well!)

rodgerd's Monkey Hamlet Feasibility Study got me thinking again about the Anthropic Principle. How can we make judgements about the likelyhood of life, the universe, or anything, when we've only seen one universe? And this brings up the general problem of Observation Selection Effects. Questions of probabilty, and the state of our universe of course lead to Matrix-y speculations. They take time to digest, but these are good brain-bending papers. How would a million monkeys on keyboards around the world respond? (Are you in the slow lane?)

  • I have such a strong urge to go back in time to prehistoric days and stomp on a butterfly. posted by High, Exalted Clevelandbashi at 12:03PM ClevelandbashiTime on Wendell 13th
  • Is this some... hint? /looks around nervously /considers what consequences strangling a live puppy with bare hands would entail...
  • We are in fact running in a simulation. At least, I am. I have been certain of this for at least 20 years.