Daniel, this was a fascinating story, and artfully done. I admit to being intrigued by the Stoic idea of the cosmos as Logos. I've wondered whether the whole thing isn't a giant "brain" permeated by a collective consciousness, haha. Like Vishnu on the cosmic ocean, dreaming the universe into existence.... I can't pretend to know much about simulation theories or holographic universes, but I've thought a lot about the drive to replace our natural reality with a virtual, AI-simulated one. I find the idea horrifying. Among other things, the sense of unreality and depersonalization would be unbearable (for me, anyway).
Jacquie - I’m so sorry for this late response. I’ve been bouncing around between hotels and didn’t have a chance to thank you for this detailed comment, which meant a lot to me. The germ of this story was inspired by Michael Talbot’s “The Holographic Universe” which I read and fell in love with when it came out. It’s so sad, because the author died rather young. And I too share your horror of the idea of a virtual AI-simulated reality, and that was one of the things I tried to incorporate in the story. I feel that the virtual worlds that have been created by social media are not too far of the mark of those zombie-scenarios. That’s why I included the notion of AI prompting humans on what to say and think, rather than humans prompting AI.
No worries! I'd be the last one to get upset about late responses :-) And I did see from your notes that you're doing some traveling—nice! The book sounds pretty fascinating. I grabbed a copy and will try to give it a read when I have some free time, thanks!
I'm fascinated Daniel...it is not necessarily an illogical construct that what we 'observe' may be nothing more than a speculative simulation initiated by another lifeform?
Thank you for leaving this comment, Frank! I wanted to tie together a few of the threads related to “simulation” theories of the universe and the “holographic universe” theory. It makes me happy that an engineer was able to appreciate it. 🙏
Daniel, this was a fascinating story, and artfully done. I admit to being intrigued by the Stoic idea of the cosmos as Logos. I've wondered whether the whole thing isn't a giant "brain" permeated by a collective consciousness, haha. Like Vishnu on the cosmic ocean, dreaming the universe into existence.... I can't pretend to know much about simulation theories or holographic universes, but I've thought a lot about the drive to replace our natural reality with a virtual, AI-simulated one. I find the idea horrifying. Among other things, the sense of unreality and depersonalization would be unbearable (for me, anyway).
Jacquie - I’m so sorry for this late response. I’ve been bouncing around between hotels and didn’t have a chance to thank you for this detailed comment, which meant a lot to me. The germ of this story was inspired by Michael Talbot’s “The Holographic Universe” which I read and fell in love with when it came out. It’s so sad, because the author died rather young. And I too share your horror of the idea of a virtual AI-simulated reality, and that was one of the things I tried to incorporate in the story. I feel that the virtual worlds that have been created by social media are not too far of the mark of those zombie-scenarios. That’s why I included the notion of AI prompting humans on what to say and think, rather than humans prompting AI.
No worries! I'd be the last one to get upset about late responses :-) And I did see from your notes that you're doing some traveling—nice! The book sounds pretty fascinating. I grabbed a copy and will try to give it a read when I have some free time, thanks!
I'm fascinated Daniel...it is not necessarily an illogical construct that what we 'observe' may be nothing more than a speculative simulation initiated by another lifeform?
Thank you for leaving this comment, Frank! I wanted to tie together a few of the threads related to “simulation” theories of the universe and the “holographic universe” theory. It makes me happy that an engineer was able to appreciate it. 🙏