this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2025
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I don't buy the simulation hypothesis, but I also don't understand why the simulation would need to be 'complete' as long as it's sufficiently consistent - after all, wouldn't the same argument apply to simulations we do have, such as emulators and VMs? But they work anyway
Depends on what is being observed or tested. For example, if end-stage heat death is the experiment, a complete indexing of all possible heat sources would require more or less a complete simulation.
Sure, but that's not what 'complete' means in the context of gödel's incompleteness theorems. It means 'being able to prove all true statements'.
And I really don't see why that matters - for example an NES emulator doesn't know what a Mario is, or what a jump is, but it's still true that when certain games are running, most of the time pressing one of the buttons on the controller makes Mario jump.