2013-05-21T15:15:17-07:00 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/ Lussumo Vanilla & Feed Publisher http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8322&Focus=241432#Comment_241432 2010-05-29T12:28:45-07:00 2013-05-21T15:15:17-07:00 groundxero http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=7299

I don't know a lot about string theory, but this is interesting. At NYC sci fest, asking 'What if we're holograms?' By SAMANTHA GROSS, Associated Press Writer NEW YORK – Brian Greene ...

At NYC sci fest, asking 'What if we're holograms?'

By SAMANTHA GROSS, Associated Press Writer


NEW YORK – Brian Greene works in a world where scientific reasoning rules all and imagination leads to the most unlikely truths.

Greene and other "string theorists" are exploring a possible scenario in which people and the world around us are actually a 3-D holographic projection of two-dimensional data that exists outside the accessible universe.

It's a concept so mindbending for those who don't understand the complex math behind it that many might decide it's best left to the academics. But Greene wants to build public excitement about science, even as the U.S. loses ground in some areas — and intends to bring even the most complex ideas to the masses at this week's World Science Festival, which starts June 2.

READ FULL ARTICLE]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8322&Focus=241433#Comment_241433 2010-05-29T12:41:07-07:00 2013-05-21T15:15:17-07:00 ZJVavrek http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=4243

... Yes, that news article does seem to have been posted recently, even though I read about this idea months ago. Very strange.

http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8322&Focus=241439#Comment_241439 2010-05-29T13:35:37-07:00 2013-05-21T15:15:17-07:00 Brandon Seifert http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=333

This theory has been around long enough that Warren included it in Planetary.

Planetary.]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8322&Focus=241458#Comment_241458 2010-05-29T15:54:53-07:00 2010-05-29T15:55:10-07:00 Admiral Neck http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=919

There's also Ian Watson's The Jonah Kit, where the realisation that we are holographic sends humanity into a nihilistic death spiral that is averted by a mass suicide by all the whales in the ocean ...

a mass suicide by all the whales in the ocean who sacrifice themselves to save us from an oblivion caused by us not believing we exist. It's a lot less mad than it sounds: brilliant, even.]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8322&Focus=241467#Comment_241467 2010-05-29T16:30:17-07:00 2013-05-21T15:15:17-07:00 ebullientsoul http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=7705

This sounds suspiciously like the brain in a vat question. Is there something I'm missing here?

question.

Is there something I'm missing here?]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8322&Focus=241483#Comment_241483 2010-05-29T18:06:38-07:00 2013-05-21T15:15:17-07:00 Finagle http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=5254

Really, if somebody told you straight out that your entire existence, and everyone else for that matter, was as a hologram - should that even matter? Consciousness is consciousness. If I kill a ...

Aside from reasons having to do with physics research and so on, I've never understood why this particular line of argument has any moral implications. Existence is existence as given by experience - does the metaphysics of it really matter, so long as I and the people I (seem to) interact with exhibit Turing-test level evidence of free will?

I don't give a damn whether or not I exist as part of a transdimensional game of /The Sims/, so long as for all purposes involved, I have my intentionality and so don't the people around me. An independent mind still challenges my freedom in the same way, whether it is made of photons or matter or Kraft singles.]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8322&Focus=241648#Comment_241648 2010-05-30T18:03:07-07:00 2013-05-21T15:15:17-07:00 256 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=4827

"What if we're holograms?" aka "So what if we're holograms?"

aka
"So what if we're holograms?"]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8322&Focus=241655#Comment_241655 2010-05-30T20:07:36-07:00 2013-05-21T15:15:17-07:00 StefanJ http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=961

Great. Now I'm going to walk around wondering which of the people around me are characters involved in Illegal gold farming.

http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8322&Focus=241657#Comment_241657 2010-05-30T20:23:29-07:00 2013-05-21T15:15:17-07:00 William George http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=7366

You'd think we'd be in a better written mod...

http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8322&Focus=241658#Comment_241658 2010-05-30T20:58:39-07:00 2010-05-30T20:59:01-07:00 agentarsenic http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=2955

So we're all God's Excel spreadsheet and nothing more? That has to be boring, sitting at a big pearly desk, typing how many hairs Jacob grew today, day in and day out. The way the hologramoverse of ...

http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8322&Focus=241663#Comment_241663 2010-05-30T21:23:56-07:00 2013-05-21T15:15:17-07:00 StefanJ http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=961

Then there's Olaf Stapledon's version, in which God runs simulation after simulation until he gets a self-aware cosmos worthy of his companionship.

http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8322&Focus=241675#Comment_241675 2010-05-30T23:22:46-07:00 2013-05-21T15:15:17-07:00 sseloske http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=6141

My ego rejects this.

http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8322&Focus=241680#Comment_241680 2010-05-31T00:26:17-07:00 2013-05-21T15:15:17-07:00 Oddcult http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=214

There's a word for people who can correctly percieve the true nature of existence. Barking fucking mentalists. Okay. Three words.

Barking fucking mentalists.

Okay. Three words.]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8322&Focus=241684#Comment_241684 2010-05-31T00:51:53-07:00 2013-05-21T15:15:17-07:00 Rootfireember http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=1551

My philosophy teacher used a variation on this as a way to be 'edgy'. It came across like complaining that computers suck, because you get your GUI and you don't see 1's and 0's and therefore the ...

It came across like complaining that computers suck, because you get your GUI and you don't see 1's and 0's and therefore the world is a total useless lie.

Personally, I prefer the metaphorical GUI. Much easier to deal with sometimes.

As to the idea itself? I find it somewhat curious and interesting; but I don't see many real-world applications for this knowledge if it's true. Even if we're holograms, we still have to eat, sleep, poo, whatever. We still 'exist' verymuch in this holographic meatspace and have to deal with it.]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8322&Focus=241687#Comment_241687 2010-05-31T01:15:05-07:00 2013-05-21T15:15:17-07:00 James Cunningham http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=2925

Step 1- define the underlying nature of reality Step 2- play with it! Step 3- crash the system. Uh-oh...

Step 2- play with it!

Step 3- crash the system. Uh-oh...]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8322&Focus=241692#Comment_241692 2010-05-31T01:58:41-07:00 2010-05-31T01:58:52-07:00 texture http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=1472

I'm rocking my hologram.

]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8322&Focus=241718#Comment_241718 2010-05-31T08:02:28-07:00 2013-05-21T15:15:17-07:00 gzapata http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=4899

Reminds of of something I read awhile ago. In the theory there are only 2 possibilities- Either it is impossible to create virtual reality at a "matrix" level or that we are in one. It ...

In the theory there are only 2 possibilities- Either it is impossible to create virtual reality at a "matrix" level or that we are in one. It posits that if it is possible that virtual reality can be that realistic, the probability that we are NOT in one right now is extremely slim to nothing since those virtual reality worlds will eventually have the technology to create virtual reality worlds and those will eventually have the ability to create more virtual reality worlds and so on and so on.

It was something interesting to think of]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8322&Focus=241919#Comment_241919 2010-06-01T10:27:42-07:00 2010-06-01T10:35:25-07:00 Verissimus http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=3379

It's a silly, matrix-y idea I think. Ideal for comic books though! A hologram exists the other way round from reality as we perceive it. Holograms are an elaborate trick to create a 3d effect; we ...

A hologram exists the other way round from reality as we perceive it. Holograms are an elaborate trick to create a 3d effect; we use artificial means to create a semblance of reality. Science sometimes seems to do the opposite; scientists take reality, and then try to make it more artificial by expressing it in thought constructs: mathemical formulas, or concepts, like the strings from string theory, or by comparing it to holograms. Or an endless stack of turtles...

It still doesn't mean it's a virtual reality. If we relegate the one reality that is definitely there to the virtual sphere, we're left with no reality .

edit: for what it's worth, I think reality is more like a neverending babushka doll...

]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8322&Focus=241939#Comment_241939 2010-06-01T12:33:40-07:00 2010-06-01T12:36:39-07:00 Paul Duffield http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=6

Sounds like "hologram" is a culturally misleading, but interesting sounding term applied after-the-fact as a handy analogy for complex mathematics that would be utterly inaccessible ...

If normal quantum mechanics defies conventional analogy, I'm dubious that string theory should fare any better.]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8322&Focus=241941#Comment_241941 2010-06-01T12:35:25-07:00 2013-05-21T15:15:17-07:00 joe.distort http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=1173

that would be outrageous. truly, truly, truly outrageous.

truly, truly, truly outrageous.]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8322&Focus=241961#Comment_241961 2010-06-01T14:48:49-07:00 2013-05-21T15:15:17-07:00 Artenshiur http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=8804

From what I understand of the stuff, the word "hologram" is the original word, but it is in fact culturally misleading. Holograms are a much more complicated concept than "a flat ...

http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8322&Focus=241963#Comment_241963 2010-06-01T14:54:30-07:00 2013-05-21T15:15:17-07:00 Rootfireember http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=1551

@Joe.distort -HAH! I was waiting for someone to do that.

-HAH! I was waiting for someone to do that.]]>