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Not_Legal_Advice_Pod t1_ixh56w1 wrote

Reply to comment by BigBreadfruit8 in How to test if we’re living in a computer simulation by izumi3682

It matters because then there is a point to existence.

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DeepSpaceNebulae t1_ixhcs32 wrote

How so?

There is as much a point to existence if this is the real or if it’s a simulation. In either case, you’re just one being on a single planet in an infinite cosmos. How does it being a simulation suddenly give it a “meaning”?

Or is it that you’re assuming that if it’s a simulation, it’s a simulation for us. Which is a wild assumption to make on top of the wild assumption of this being simulation in the first place.

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Not_Legal_Advice_Pod t1_ixk7qq3 wrote

If it's a simulation then it is a simulation of something, for a purpose. Every atom is needed for the simulation and you, and your choices, have an important enough impact on it that you're worth simulating.

It doesn't matter that you have no idea what the purpose is. It doesn't matter that your individual contribution could be almost insignificant. There's meaning there.

The alternative, that the universe is completely absent meaning and eventually everything fades into heat death and nothingness represents a kind of existential nightmare. You can get comfortable with the nightmare and find meaning for yourself. But an external meaning would be a very important philosophical thing.

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