Binary Oasis

The simulation argument recently got a fair amount of press.  Basically, it suggests that there is a reasonable likelihood that we are living in a simulation.  The basic argument goes something like this: there are likely many advanced civilizations that have enough computing power to create virtual models of worlds and universes such as our own, and the number of advanced simulation worlds is comparable (or even much greater than?) the number of real universes (one?), so it stands to reason that we are part of a simulation (so goes the argument).

It’s certainly interesting to think about, and we certainly can use some logic to consider if that could be true.  This makes me think of a common atheistic argument (that Dawkins came up with, or at least popularized): God almost definitely doesn’t exist since He would have to come from somewhere, and the chance that he arose out of chance is not really worth considering.  We are told that it is unacceptable to consider that the rules that apply to us don’t apply to God: that is, that He is not bound by time, or that he could have existed from eternity past.  Does Dawkins also have to abandon any discussion about the simulation argument?  I’d be curious to hear his ideas about it.

Buzz Out Loud Episode 553 (right click to “Save As”) is a fun audio introduction to these ideas.

I’ve remotely accessed my laptop and desktop computer using a VNC viewer on my Treo 700w, but it’s an imperfect solution, and for some reason my latest setup was very slow.  While searching for a better solution, I came across www.logmein.com.  It’s free, fast, more secure, and just outstanding as a remote access solution.

I try very, very hard to make sure that I don’t mislead people and that I have a good understand of the truth of things.  Imagine my surprise when I read this article that suggests that there is no caffeine in chocolate.  At least at the moment, Wikipedia disagrees, though I’m not sure what to think.  Having done more research about caffeine than the average person, I’ve shared my knowledge with many people, but now I am unsure what to say about this particular factoid.

I guess this isn’t a really big deal, but it makes me ponder again just how we know things.  We have to rely on indirect evidence a great deal of the time, and sometimes that indirect evidence can be wrong.