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Actually, there are some proponents who claim that the probability of this being a simulation is quite high.

http://www.simulation-argument.com/matrix.html

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There are also some proponents who claim that if you put enough time and thought into formulating almost any thesis that has it's foundations in metaphysics, you can make it sound believable

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Quote: from Event Horizon at 9:33 pm on Nov. 25, 2008

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Actually, there are some proponents who claim that the probability of this being a simulation is quite high.  

 http://www.simulation-argument.com/matrix.html

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There are also some proponents who claim that if you put enough time and thought into formulating almost any thesis that has it's foundations in metaphysics, you can make it sound believable

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Ha ha, agreed.

That does not discredit them, however.
the Simulation concept is logically possible and shouldn't be disregarded simply because of it's apparent absurdity.

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Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful.It's the transition
that's troublesome.   --Isaac Asimov

And even if it is logically possible, there's no reason why it deserves any consideration.  It has no potential for application to life.  

This topic is best flushed away with occam's razor.

Look at Russell's Teapot.

-wiki it if u dnt know it-

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So why did I do it? I could offer a million answers, all false.
The truth is that I'm a bad person, but that's going to change.
I'm going to change.

Plus, I don't really like Occam's Razor.
What's simpler:
God made everything
or
A point of incredible mass and infinite density suddenly expanded and created space due to a quantum fluctuation and the fabric of this "space" is really just vibrating strings of energy interacting with each other. Other forms of energy form quarks and other invisible particles that come together to form the things that we see.

I mean, I know it's not that simple, I just think OR is too subjective for most cases.

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Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful.It's the transition
that's troublesome.   --Isaac Asimov

The world is an illusion. But then so am i n so r u

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So why did I do it? I could offer a million answers, all false.
The truth is that I'm a bad person, but that's going to change.
I'm going to change.

I mean we could sit here for hours and discuss whether or not it's possible that there's some other world where bullets move in slow motion (I dont fully remember the movie besides that lol)...but it really does serve no purpose.

So what if there is?  Are we supposed to sit around and wait for that fateful day when we get sucked into that world?  At least religion seems to have some sort of purpose in regards to morality and people's sense of overall purpose in life.

All I'm saying is that just because it's metaphysical masturbation doesn't necessarily mean it is useless.

theyareAs
What? what are you talking about?
Also, I find TONS of things that make life worth living every day, and I am not religious what-so-ever. And knowing the future does not negate, nor make less important, the path taken to get there.

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Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful.It's the transition
that's troublesome.   --Isaac Asimov

Post edited at 9:21 pm on Nov. 25, 2008 by theyareAs

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So why did I do it? I could offer a million answers, all false.
The truth is that I'm a bad person, but that's going to change.
I'm going to change.

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I mean we could sit here for hours and discuss whether or not it's possible that there's some other world where bullets move in slow motion (I dont fully remember the movie besides that lol)...but it really does serve no purpose.

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Should you think in a more broad sense, its purpose suddenly becomes apparent.

What is the meaning of life, for example, if we were to imagine that life is a dream? or if it is a simulation, has that not implications for our values?

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The truth is what money can be made from a lie.

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Plato wrote Allegory of the Cave which in a way could directly be related to the movie The Matrix. If anybody has read Plato's work and seen the movie, do you think this is reality or an illusion? Could we be living in a "matrix", like Neo was? If this was all an illusion, and you were in Neo's position, which pill would you take? Would you rather stay in this matrix or live in the real world?  

There has also been a question posed that asks how do we tell dreams apart from reality. There is no certain way of knowing that we are awake or asleep. We think we can by our experiences of being awake and asleep, but is this really an efficient way to tell it apart?

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Well, I suppose technically speaking that everything we experience is our perception of reality.  After all, we only have our five senses in which we experience the world and our minds in order to sort everything out.  In that sense, what we see, feel, smell, taste, and hear can be illusions of reality, and in the very best-case scenario, we are getting little bits of reality.  

I did like your use of Plato, but perhaps my favorite philosopher on this subject is Kant.  I love him because he essentially put a massive hole in the purely rationalistic thinking of the Enlightenment.  

All that to say that Kant realized that we, as humans, cannot witness true reality in its entirety as we are incapacitated by the limits of our senses.

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I am ready to face any challenges that might be foolish enough to face me.
~Dwight Shrute