If a magic fairy gave you 10 excellent researchers from a range of relevant backgrounds who were to work on a team together to answer important questions about the simulation hypothesis, what are the top n research questions you’d be most excited to discover they are pursuing?
I’m afraid I don’t have crisp enough models of the simulation hypothesis and related sub-questions to have a top n list. My biggest question is something more like “This seems like a pretty fishy argument, and I find myself not fully getting or buying it despite not being able to write down a simple flaw. What’s up with that? Can somebody explain away my intuition that it’s fishy in a more satisfying way and convince me to buy it more wholeheartedly, or else can someone pinpoint the fishiness more precisely?” My second biggest question is something like “Does this actually have any actionable implications for altruists/philanthropists? What are they, and can you justify them in a way that feels more robust and concrete and satisfying than earlier attempts, like Robin Hanson’s How to Live in a Simulation?”
If a magic fairy gave you 10 excellent researchers from a range of relevant backgrounds who were to work on a team together to answer important questions about the simulation hypothesis, what are the top n research questions you’d be most excited to discover they are pursuing?
I’m afraid I don’t have crisp enough models of the simulation hypothesis and related sub-questions to have a top n list. My biggest question is something more like “This seems like a pretty fishy argument, and I find myself not fully getting or buying it despite not being able to write down a simple flaw. What’s up with that? Can somebody explain away my intuition that it’s fishy in a more satisfying way and convince me to buy it more wholeheartedly, or else can someone pinpoint the fishiness more precisely?” My second biggest question is something like “Does this actually have any actionable implications for altruists/philanthropists? What are they, and can you justify them in a way that feels more robust and concrete and satisfying than earlier attempts, like Robin Hanson’s How to Live in a Simulation?”