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by a_bonobo 4345 days ago
>Roko's Basilisk isn't really a deity, it's a powerful AI with the capability of simulating you and everybody else (or possibly just you).

At the risk of sounding flippant: What's the difference? If the AI is so powerful that it can simulate my thoughts (which would imply that thoughts and all of life is 100% deterministic), it has to be so powerful that it's practically omnipotent, and therefore, a God.
3 comments
crdoconnor 4344 days ago
From what I understood, it doesn't require 100% determinism OR a perfect simulation for the thought experiment to hold.

It just needs enough to sort most of the humans into "will help basilisk come into existence" and "won't help basilisk". It probably doesn't even need to be 100% accurate at that.

I don't think being able to imperfectly simulate thoughts requires Godlike ability, either. I could see it happening in my life time.

Assuming I'm not being simulated right now, that is :/

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thegeomaster 4345 days ago
The difference is at most the terminology. I'm sure that a lot of weed-smoking metaphysicists can say this better than I can, but the whole point of calling something God is that it's beyond your perception, and as such your perception can't help you understand it. Similarly, if your neurons are simulated by an AI, you can do nothing to prove its existence or non-existence. It's the same thing, IMHO.
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Rapzid 4344 days ago
A universe simulator wouldn't need to be "smart", it would just need to function.
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