I'm getting tired of seeing this "Are we living in a simulation?" bull roar!!
It's just another spin on religion, only now God has a computer! YAWN!!!
Well...are we?
Only if God has a computer.
@Normanbites Well...DOES he...?
@Storm1752 When you have any evidence one way or the other, please let me know.
@Normanbites I think atheists take things so absurdly literally it gets more 'demented than Biden!'
The Matrix was a great, classic science fiction movie...or do you not watch and/or enjoy science fiction because it can't be "proven?"
The Point was and is, we live in a society/world in which reality MIGHT AS WELL be manufactured AS IF we're/are in a computer simulation.
It is not nor was it meant to be a direct riff on god, figuratively or literally.
Rather, it is an indictment of 'sheeple' who allow their very 'souls' (human autonomy) to be hooked up to machines which suck away their life force in exchange for the ILLUSION of security. They are willing, it is saying, to surrender control of themselves, and their right to think independently, in exchange for the false comfort of blind and thoughtless conformity.
By consciously and deliberately taking the blue pill, Neo makes the decision to see life for what it really is, and refuses to accept the societally-induced hallucination that life is easy and free regardless of the choices one makes.
Something like that.
It's ALLEGORY. Not everything has to be taken literally!
AND, just because something hasn't been conclusively and definitively stamped with the Seal of Approval of the Scientific Method does not mean it's certifiably false. There is room for speculation and conjecture, in other words. Not everything is either/or, black/white, true/false.
Worst of all, atheists are BOOORING! They pride themselves on being unblinkingly, scrupulously and painstakingly honest, of heroically refusing to delude themselves with fairy castles in the clouds, but most of them throw away all the fun things in life in the bargain. Unfortunately for them, they also throw out a lot of common sense, educated guesses, and intriguing possibilities.
No, for example, agnostic can 'prove' god exists, but it MIGHT in some sense unrelated to a religious context. An atheist usually condemns the very thought.
When an agnostic speculates about the real possibility of extraterrestrials, an atheist might tut derisively, 'You just can't let go of your god delusions!'
Panpsychism? The paranormal? Crop Circles?
God, god, god!!!
There's a god behind every bush! Lurking around every corner! Beneath every rock!
Sorry, I can't live in state of constant denial of everything I can't measure with a tape measure, weigh on a scale and poke with a stick. I'll leave that to you.
@Storm1752 If religion were presented as fiction as you seem to suggest, I would have nothing to gripe about. But it isn't presented that way, is it??
And you are quite wrong, wallowing in speculative fantasy as though it were real can be quite dangerous. That is the reason people are drinking cleaning products and avoiding vaccines .... because speculative unproven "science" and the aliens say it is good.
As for everything you ".... can't measure with a tape measure, weigh on a scale and poke with a stick" .... it's all yours!!
Evidence, evidence and evidence, that is where the truth is at.
@Normanbites Evidence doesn't have to be conclusive; it can just point out something in a certain direction leading to further investigation.
As usual you point out an obviously extreme straw dog to make a phony point. Drinking cleaning products isn't even "wallowing in speculative fantasy" because it's an action based on irrational and provably false misinformation, not 'speculation' at all. Besides, I'm not talking about 'wild speculation' at all and you know it. SPECULATING about extraterrestials is a completely different thought process. This shows you to be not interested in a serious conversation, but merely scoring empty points.
Anyway have a good life.
@Storm1752 You are just tugging at the other end of the Religion thread. We must be living in a simulation, Oh Gee, well that means someone has a computer! Who could have such a powerful computer .... Oh well Obviously, it must be someone powerful enough to build such a thing and so far advanced they are indistinguishable from .... GAWD!!!!
Get a grip. You have no verifiable evidence of a simulation, a computer or a GAWD. Stick to the evidence, Bucky!!
@Normanbites Tiresome, and boring.
But really, have a good life.
@Storm1752 Yes, it is. Enjoy your new religion.