Bertrand Russel would have loved to play with such a box, this is literally a set that contains itself or at least a proof that the universe is such a set, not only in space but also in time. Fascinating concept, really.
The simulation aspect of the show ended up being much more interesting than the future prediction aspect of it, even though the show heavily emphasized the latter.
I don't think people really fully understand just how terrifying this would actually be. Just imagine yourself seeing 1 second into the future and then doing what you just saw without even realizing it.
That's not even the scariest thing. The scariest thing this indicates is that they're inside a box too. And the box they're in is also inside a box. The simulation extends infinitely both up and down. "Ad infinitum, ad nauseum."
Lol it sounds like he says "One second protection". I know it's meant to be "Projection", but it's hilarious in a dark way because all they get is one second of normalcy left in their lives before they can no longer accept their own realities. I love how even in the background, ponytail guy that was so proud an instant before is so struck by what he sees that he can't stop repeatedly looking at the screen in shock and then looking away in horrified denial. Each of them now questions what they are, if a computer can so easily predict their future behavior.
It would be more boring than watching paint dry. There is no singular start to life process, it is a gradient of emergent complexity. The beginning of life simply depends on your vantage Certain salt/ion reaction processes and assymetrries happening around volcanic vents in the oceans devoid of life could be considered proto life. A cell just didn't pop into existence, it was a very gradual process of molecular accumulation. Cornish-Bowden has a nice review on this titled Life before LUCA
@@emirakmeric Very interesting answer, thank you : I wish I could read something of that level more often in the RU-vid comments section (or even on the Internet in general).
I think this shouldn''t work because the simulation has an effect on what is simulated, thus making it possible to change the outcome. If you measure a system you change it, making it impossible to measure all parameters to 100% precision as long as you are part of that system itself.
Yeah, most stories about well-controlled* futuresight (whether scifi or fantasy) come with a default clause "well obviously it might be averted if someone observes the prediction and chooses to change it". For whatever reason, this one didn't. Except of course for the ending, where it turns out that sure, at least SOME people can do the seemingly obvious thing of deliberately contradicting the prediction they witnessed. Which...somehow...is super amazingly special and makes the whole system break down? And not a single one of the very smart people in this earlier scene had any desire to try doing that? Okay, sure thing writers..... I enjoyed the show a lot but the ending was a bit of a letdown for that reason. *By well-controlled, I'm contrasting it to the storylines where someone has a glimpse of the future, and may try to avoid it yet ironically cause it to come about. Which is a fun story type, but probably an outcome dictated more by narrative aesthetics than logic.
Woowee that's a bit of an ask tbh. Okay so devs presents the idea of a deterministic universe, that's a universe it which if you had enough data, you could figure out everything that had happened and everything that would in the future. They explain this idea at one point as like knowing the friction, starting angle, and starting velocity of a rolling pen. If you had enough data, you'd know exactly where the pen would stop, and if you looked at where it stopped and had enough data, you could tell where it came from. So "the box" is their supercomputer that is able to calculate this for the whole universe. In one scene before they've perfected it to this degree, they actually watch a hazy image of Jesus on the cross. SO. The box, then, contains everything. That machine knows their past, present, and future. So when he says "we've pretty much traded" it's because the box will know their future before they will. The box essentially is proof in front of them that they don't really have free will. Hence, "uh oh". Additionally he throws in the idea that IN the world that the box is simulating, the same box must exist, which is also simulating everything, including another box which is simulating another box "ad infinitum, ad nauseam", which is a level of meta and paradox that the unconscious mind does not like.
@@carocrazy132 But how they put all the date into the computer, to actually watch Jesus on the cross and Joan of Arc etc. I mean where they got all the data from? Cause that seems impossible for me, to do that. But maybe I just don't get it lol.
Basically, if they created a simulation, it means that it’s likely they’re also in a simulation in a sort of infinite way. A simulation for a simulation for a simulation.
well completely congruent with branching chaotic fractal universe theories, and that all probabilities exist in their own collapsed waveform. 'simulation' is unnecessary in this terminology i think multiverse is much easier. There will be infinite universes where simulation is the case, but also infinite universes where it is not.@@Boundlessness
Tried watching. There's 10 seconds of silence for every 1 second of dialogue, which makes using the "advance 10 seconds" button a very frustrating game of roulette. I would actually pay money for an edited version that had all the spoken lines but was 20% as long without any overlapping or speeding up, because I would be shocked to find that doing so isn't possible. (which is to say thank you for making sure we all get to see this scene without having to slog through this whole damn thing)
Am I the only one who thinks it's a bit silly? All of these people there know exactly what they are working on, they know the universe is deterministic, that they have no free will, that they are not special in any way. This guy would never say "it doesn't contain us", knowing all of this. Their shock seems unrealistic to me and in my opinion they should all have the same reaction as Stewart.
what do you mean "they know". There's knowing in your logical brain and then there's *knowing*. The emotional realization that everything you experience as free choice is an illusion. No matter how much you've rationalized it a priori it's gotta fuck with your head to actually see this happen in real time. To feel almost helpless to resist the urge to do what it shows you're about to do.
I think you're probably right, but the scene wouldn't have been nearly as impactful if we hadn't gotten to see the characters' visceral horror of what they created. The characters probably would have understood, but the audience needed to be shown. That said, there are plenty of examples of inventors failing to grasp the emotional impact of what they created until seeing it for themselves. The Manhattan Project is a perfect example; every one of those physicists knew what it was they were creating, and understood the devastating potential it represented. But there's a difference between knowing a thing and feeling a thing, and there's a difference between doing the math and watching the bomb you built turn a section of New Mexico to glass.
I think it's one thing to know what you're working on and to know as a scientist, that your future is determined. And another thing when you actually face it, visually, like in this clip. When it becomes real, right in front of you.
