Up to 50% chance we live in "the Matrix"...says bank

Kermit.de.frog

Who'd have thunk it?

Analysts at Bank of America have reportedly suggested there is a 20 to 50 per cent chance our world is a Matrix-style virtual reality and everything we experience is just a simulation.

The report, which was issued to clients, also implies even if our world was an illusion, we would never know about it.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch backed up the claims by citing comments from leading philosophers, scientists and other thinkers...


...“It is conceivable that with advancements in artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and computing power, members of future civilizations could have decided to run a simulation of their ancestors," the report stated...

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/bank-of-america-the-matrix-50-per-cent-virtual-reality-elon-musk-nick-bostrom-a7287471.html

Backed up by Elon "exploding rocket" Musk no less.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhlXqYiTz2Q

Still it is an interesting theory all the same. So...does anyone want to start a resistance or something?

Poulgorm

I wonder how they came up with the percentages (20 to 50%).

Banking analysts

buried

"50% chance we're in the Matrix so come on in our branch and get a 100% mortgage"

Jan Laco

It was scientists and philosophers that came up with this.

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160901-we-might-live-in-a-computer-program-but-it-may-not-matter?

The_Valeyard

Well, considering how things are going, they might want to think of rebooting the whole thing and starting again.

brevity

I watched The Matrix recently, it's aged terribly.

Junkyard Tom

It's the smell.

The_Valeyard

brevity wrote: »

I watched The Matrix recently, it's aged terribly.

I still like the first one.

The second was barely watchable,

the third one....ergo vis a vis, sh*te

The Backwards Man

Have any of you ever actually been to Shell Beach?

Wanderer78

woooohooo, no bank debts then, sure tis all imaginary! we can start printing our own money then and start sorting all these problems we be having.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Nice to know that banks are spending their money wisely. Did they say what happened when we die?

For ever odd

Kite flying for a new religion? Those pesky Bankers know where the moneys at.

The Earth is flat I tells ya!

B.A._Baracus

If we were all living in a simulation then how come there has not been any glitches

Steppenwolfe

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

If we were all living in a simulation then how come there has not been and glitches

Funnilly enough the scientists working on this theory are looking for those glitches to give the theory some substance.

riclad

Theres no need to pay your bills ,they are just imaginary ,
an illusion .
IT must be great to be a scientist to be paid to make up theorys ,
its like string physics theory ,its a theory it could be true or untrue.
Theres no way to prove that string theory is wrong.
And scientists make a living writing or researching it.
I Think its best to act as if life is real otherwise theres no basis for morality and everything we do is just part of a program or a
vr illusion .

Kermit.de.frog

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

If we were all living in a simulation then how come there has not been any glitches

No glitches?

Donald Trump? Would that qualify as a glitch?

mzungu

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

If we were all living in a simulation then how come there has not been any glitches

Déjà Vu. There's yer glitches!

wakka12

How could those chances possible be quantified into percentages

johnty56

Seems a little bit like the eternal search for a higher power.. god , if you like.. except in this version of Creation , god is a computer programmer..

Higher power, anyone?

nullzero

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

Nice to know that banks are spending their money wisely. Did they say what happened when we die?

Seemingly we should leave all our money to them.

Your Face

So scienze.

The Specialist

riclad wrote: »

Theres no need to pay your bills ,they are just imaginary ,
an illusion .
IT must be great to be a scientist to be paid to make up theorys ,
its like string physics theory ,its a theory it could be true or untrue.
Theres no way to prove that string theory is wrong.
And scientists make a living writing or researching it.
I Think its best to act as if life is real otherwise theres no basis for morality and everything we do is just part of a program or a
vr illusion .

Bills are an illusion, just numbers on a screen. The real issue comes down to cause and affect (as the matrix explained) - If you don't pay those imaginary bills, your imaginary gas/electricity gets disconnected. All imaginary until you realise you are trapped living with the consequences of that, because the imaginary bills and imaginary disconnection are real parameters of the imaginary world you live in.

I think I should put this joint down..

B.A._Baracus

johnty56 wrote: »

Seems a little bit like the eternal search for a higher power.. god , if you like.. except in this version of Creation , god is a computer programmer..

Higher power, anyone?

Excellent point, man.

Maximus Alexander

Ah, Bostrom's trilemma. One of these must be true:

1. "The fraction of human-level civilizations that reach a posthuman stage (that is, one capable of running high-fidelity ancestor simulations) is very close to zero", or
2. "The fraction of posthuman civilizations that are interested in running ancestor-simulations is very close to zero", or
3. "The fraction of all people with our kind of experiences that are living in a simulation is very close to one"

The Backwards Man

Tennent's is real. No computer could come up with such a beverage.

Tigger

Steppenwolfe wrote: »

Funnilly enough the scientists working on this theory are looking for those glitches to give the theory some substance.

Donald trumps hair is a glitch

Olishi4

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Who'd have thunk it?

My very first post on boards,

Olishi4 wrote: »

I am neo. I am 'the one'.

Some of us have always known OP

SEPT 23 1989

if we ever get close to proving it,the creator will pull the plug like they did on Mars all those years ago

conorhal

You'll have to forgive me if I have little faith in banks ability to predict anything, let alone anything based on the hard evidential proof offered by philosophy. Now excuse me, I just need to grab my cat.


"£!"!£$"!£T%I just need to grab my cat

Pherekydes

But, but, I'm a sentiment mammal!

Widdershins

Steppenwolfe wrote: »

Funnilly enough the scientists working on this theory are looking for those glitches to give the theory some substance.

When you see weird things like 3 cars that are identical in make, colour and year to your own car, outside your own house, isn't that what you'd call a glitch in the matrix?

Like this:

http://metro.co.uk/2015/05/14/17-times-glitches-in-the-matrix-got-real-and-blew-our-freaking-minds-5197911/

riclad

This makes sense in that most teens seem to have no religion,
their smartphone is a icon,they are on facebook,or instragram,
tech is the new religion .Its becoming harder to interact with government services or get a job without using the web.
If you don,t use a smartphone or a pc/laptop you will be a second class citizen.If life is a matrix vr program its not run on windows os,
otherwise it would crash every few weeks and need to be rebooted .

Cee-Jay-Cee

I wish those controlling the matrix would let us have smellivision.

osarusan

That bank staff surely have better things to be thinking about.

TheDoc

Got offered contract work there recently, absolutely gutted I said no if this is how they spend their time haha

lertsnim

If we were all living in a simulation then how come there has not been any glitches

kjl

I think it's more likely that we ARE a simulation not in one.

aaronjumper

lertsnim wrote: »

If we were all living in a simulation then how come there has not been any glitches

It was supposed to be a an environmental test, we are the glitches.
:eek:

Where's my tinfoil.

jimgoose

Yes, the Simulation Hypothesis. It's as old as the "Maya" concept in the Far East. BoA must have pulled some stunt this time to say they're trotting this out to keep folk occupied. :pac:

jimgoose

lertsnim wrote: »

If we were all living in a simulation then how come there has not been any glitches

Luckily, the Universe runs on an UltraSPARC platform - an elegant machine that works. The SysAdmin has duck-patched so many syscalls at this stage that the whole thing is one continuous glitch, but you don't notice because you can override the kernel syscall tables on-the-fly with loadable modules so it hasn't rebooted since shortly after the Sun formed.

The documentation will be straightened up around the time Hell freezes over.

TerrorFirmer

Ő̞̼̯̺̱̪̀ͮ̊ͬp͙̤̟̺̪̙̞ͯ̽̒͗̏͜͝ͅe̛̛̝̫̓̒͛ͩͧͨ͋̒̈n͔͕̪͉̘̱̟͇͈̈ͯ̓̕ ̧̧̛̟̰̜̖́ͫͣͅyͫ͛̏̾͑҉̲͈͍͎̪͕ô̼̝͚̙̩̙̬͐͊͛̒̓ͩ̚u̡̙̫̹̖͍͎ͦ̿r̡̄̅̑̅͆͆̉̈́͟҉̯͙̜̹̰ͅ ͍̙̞͙̣̭̟ͦ̏͌̔e̶̪̖͍̭̠̽̑ͩͩ̓͋̇ͯẏ͇ͮ͗̊̂͌ͬe̡̡̠̫͓̽̂ͭͯ͛̋s̴̨̯ͭ̊̕ ̽͗̆̑̀̃̄҉҉̠̩͓̦͓̼s͗ͧ̎͌ͮ̔̽̚͏̯̩̬̟͙̲͔ḥ̱̳̗̼͓̟̂̄͋ͭ̍ͅe̦̮̖͓ͦ̋̒ͦ̑̀̉͘ḛ̵͓̺̤͉̣͌͜p̺ͯͣͤ̏ͧ͆̚͝͝͡ḻ̫͍̝̟̎͌ͯͭ̏͂͂͢ͅe̵̫̘̟̥̼̻̥̒ͫͦ̏͟!̩̜̣̠͌ͧ̀͟!

ScumLord

Odds of us all living in something like the matrix pre 1999 = 0%

Odds of us all living in something like the matrix post 1999 = 50%.

Does that mean there's a 50-50 chance that a fella called Luke Skywalker, in a galaxy far, far, away is going to blow up the death star using the force?