I quite like thought experiments and they are quite useful for topics such as pondering the limits of knowledge – what do we really know, what can we know? I recorded my thoughts on this topic as a podcast a few weeks ago and my daughter was in the process of adding really nice intro and exit music to the track. Unfortunately, she has suddenly fallen ill with a rare and temporarily debilitating disease called Guillain-Barré syndrome (I’m sure there’ll be more on this in later posts) so I’ve decided to post the podcast now without the music.
You should be able to play the podcast by simply clicking the play button here;
Pondering the Limits of Knowledge
In this podcast I talk about;
- the trouble scientists have had trying to obtain knowldge
- the weird results of the double-slit experiment in physics
- how reality seems to depend on consciousness
- the thought experiment of a computer programmer creating a SIMS style world
- a world where all the people and things are programmed in
- a world where all the rules are defined by the programmer
- a world where all the past happenings are programmed in
- then the programmer starts off the artificial world at a given time
- if we were characters in that world, we might think that all of “history” existed, but it was just written by the programmer
- there is no way we could know the truth – we would be limited to only what we could know from the SIMS world
- this really means nothing is impossible – it’s not for us to define what’s possible and not – we can only observe what is available in the world we’re in, and what’s been exposed to us so far
- we’re in a world where plenty of fun experiences exist
- we also have a innate sense of right and wrong, and goodness
- we have an urge to do good
- no matter what our situation is, it seems as though we should search out fun experiences while endeavouring to do only good in this world
- seeking fun experiences while universally trying to do good is a noble goal irrespective of our actual situation
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