From: Tony Williams 

John Beckett wrote:
> Steve Ewing  wrote in message
> news::
>
>>Perhaps what we see as "reality" is in fact a very complex model of
>>reality, created by Someone tin order to determine if His round of golf
>>next Saturday would be rained out.
>>
>>(That sorta sounds like a movie plot I read about...)

There was a science fiction novel where the world was actually an
advertiser's simulation to test out a new marketing concept. Harlan
Ellison, maybe?

[snip]
> In brief:
> - Computers get smarter.
> - Simulations of virtual reality will happen.
> - In such a space, we couldn't detect what was happening.
> - It is likely to be stable, and so exist for a lot longer than the
> current environment.

That seems to be a variation on the anthropic principle, which has always
sounded suspiciously like wishful thinking to me.

If it's possible, the chances that we're in at the very start before the
simulation exists are infinitesimal compared to all the other times it will
have been re-run. Or so the argument goes, but I'm not convinced - largely
because I don't seem to have any of the super-powers I'd be sure to give
myself in such a case. Then again, maybe I only signed up for one of the
cheap seats.

--
Tony

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