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–Tears in Reality

Background

Tears in reality often start small but can quickly grow out of control, leading to mass destruction and distortion of reality. The cause of these tears is unknown since they appear so infrequently and randomly. One common theory is this universe is in a simulation, and these tears occur when that simulation is recognized or altered. While large tears are extremely rare, small tears have been recorded throughout history.

Scientific Theories are best regarded as explanations.

Philosophers keep getting tangled up trying to prove scientific theories using pure logic alone, without any basis of facts. Viewing them as explanations instead brings many advantages, such as the ability to choose the simplest theory that fits the evidence. As an example, he demolishes Solipsism. Solipsism is generally supposed to be irrefutable, on the grounds that if everything is a dream, then so are the results of any test one could do.

Deutsch refutes that by taking the theory seriously (as he says) and thinking out the ramifications. How is it that everything (specifically all fields of science) forms a consistent whole, even things one does not yet know? How do other, imaginary people know things that you do not? How can they have skills that you cannot equal?

The end result is that you have a theory which includes all the complexity of the apparent world, plus an additional notion that it is the dream of a single entity. Thus it is actually a more complicated theory, not a simpler one.

Abstractions such as Mathematics are real, though immaterial.

Deutsch argues that Mathematics has an independent existence "outside" our heads. It is resistant, contains surprises, develops in unexpected ways. It does not conform to our imagination or wishes.

Interference Effects of single quanta imply the "Many Worlds" Multiverse.

The two slit experiment shows interference effects even using single electrons or photons. Since a material particle can only pass thru one of the slits, how can it "know" about the other in order to land in some places and avoid others? Deutsch argues thus: an electron in our universe passes thru one slit; an identical electron in a nearby universe passes thru the other slit. These two electrons interfere with each other and thereby produce the interference of light/dark bands. [Naughty aside : this is not the only explanation possible. See Richard Feynman - Science Videos at http://vega.org.uk/video/subseries/8 . In the second video he emphasises that there is no wave-particle duality ::- that "waviness" is a property of many quantum interactions. He could have followed the mathematics further and said that "particleness" is also a property of many quantum interactions. A single particle can only travel thru one slit, but a quantum can and does pass thru both. Indeed the mathematics implies that a quantum travels every possible path simultaneously. In his book "QED The Strange Theory of Light and Matter" he explicitly states that photons travel at various speeds, they are not fixed to the speed of light. The waves and particles we are familiar with are emergent properties of large numbers of interacting quanta. Being unfamiliar to our macroscopic senses, quanta behave in ways that seem crazy but are described by mathematics to great accuracy.

Quantum Computing.

Assuming the multiverse of interfering quanta, quantum computations actually run inside many or all the universes and thereby produce results that would be impossible within a single universe.

Time does not exist.

The multiverse consists of a large number (understatement) of instantaneous snapshots of each universe. But there is no way to order them to make a time sequence.

Virtual Reality.

Deutsch argues that the fact - that virtual reality is possible - is itself a significant part of reality. Thus reality consists of : matter, mathematics and virtual reality.

The Four Strands

[Everett's] many-worlds interpretation of quantum physics, "The first and most important of the four strands".
Karl Popper's [[1]], especially its anti-inductivism and its requiring a realist (non-instrumental) interpretation of scientific theories, and its emphasis on taking seriously those bold conjectures that resist being falsified.
Alan Turing's theory of computation, especially as developed in Deutsch's "Turing principle", where Turing's Universal Turing machine is replaced by Deutsch's universal quantum computer. ("The theory of computation is now the quantum theory of computation.")
Richard Dawkins's refinement of Darwinian evolutionary theory and the modern evolutionary synthesis, especially the ideas of replicator and meme as they integrate with Popperian problem-solving (the epistemological strand).

Simulated Reality

Simulated reality is the hypothesis that reality could be simulated—for example by quantum computer simulation—to a degree indistinguishable from "true" reality. It could contain conscious minds which may or may not be fully aware that they are living inside a simulation. This is quite different from the current, technologically achievable concept of virtual reality. Virtual reality is easily distinguished from the experience of actuality; participants are never in doubt about the nature of what they experience. Simulated reality, by contrast, would be hard or impossible to separate from "true" reality. There has been much debate over this topic, ranging from philosophical discourse to practical applications in computing.

Human civilization or a comparable civilization is unlikely to reach a level of technological maturity capable of producing simulated realities or such simulations are physically impossible to construct.[4]
A comparable civilization reaching aforementioned technological status will likely not produce a significant number of simulated realities (one that might push the probable existence of digital entities beyond the probable number of "real" entities in a Universe) for any of a number of reasons, such as diversion of computational processing power for other tasks, ethical considerations of holding entities captive in simulated realities, etc.[4]
Any entities with our general set of experiences are almost certainly living in a simulation.[4]
We are living in a reality in which posthumans have not developed yet and we are actually living in reality.[4]

Dreaming

Further information: Dream argument

A dream could be considered a type of simulation capable of fooling someone who is asleep. As a result, the "dream hypothesis" cannot be ruled out, although it has been argued that common sense and considerations of simplicity rule against it.[8] One of the first philosophers to question the distinction between reality and dreams was Zhuangzi, a Chinese philosopher from the 4th century BC. He phrased the problem as the well-known "Butterfly Dream," which went as follows:

Once Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn't know he was Zhuangzi. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakable Zhuangzi. But he didn't know if he was Zhuangzi who had dreamt he was a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuangzi. Between Zhuangzi and a butterfly there must be some distinction! This is called the Transformation of Things. (2, tr. Burton Watson 1968:49)

The philosophical underpinnings of this argument are also brought up by Descartes, who was one of the first Western philosophers to do so. In Meditations on First Philosophy, he states "... there are no certain indications by which we may clearly distinguish wakefulness from sleep",[9] and goes on to conclude that "It is possible that I am dreaming right now and that all of my perceptions are false".[9]

Chalmers (2003) discusses the dream hypothesis and notes that this comes in two distinct forms:

that he is currently dreaming, in which case many of his beliefs about the world are incorrect;
that he has always been dreaming, in which case the objects he perceives actually exist, albeit in his imagination.[10]

Both the dream argument and the simulation hypothesis can be regarded as skeptical hypotheses; however in raising these doubts, just as Descartes noted that his own thinking led him to be convinced of his own existence, the existence of the argument itself is testament to the possibility of its own truth. Another state of mind in which some argue an individual's perceptions have no physical basis in the real world is called psychosis though psychosis may have a physical basis in the real world and explanations vary. The dream hypothesis is also used to develop other philosophical concepts, such as Valberg's personal horizon: what this world would be internal to if this were all a dream.

Recorded Tear

There has been one recorded major tear in reality in the last decade, leading to a quarantine of the area. The video was only partially recoverable and stills of the event have been included below. It is highly unlike that an event like this will happen soon, let alone in the same region. Analysis of the footage shows the tear begins small, growing uncontrolably from a center point. It is unknown what caused the event to end, but the footage ends in static just as the event ended.

It appears the tears can cause both physical and visual destruction. They will consume any solid material the come into contact with, but gaseous materials, such as smoke) appear to be unaffected. After the event ended, there didnt appear to be any fire, but parts of buildings had been torn away, presumably where the tear had occured. The visual destruction creates an appearance of a distortion in reality, warping objects into the center point of the tear, but it unknown if the visual affects are visible to the human eye, since no human has witnessed such events. The device the below footage was recorded on experiecned distortion and errors capturing footage, and the recording ended in static.

Recorded Tear

location before event
first sign of tear
tear beginning to open
furthest previous point of tear recorded
first sign of error in footage
reality begins to cave in addition to warping
first noticable building has disappeared, portal continues to
half the footage has been corrupted and the tear appears to be affecting even the corruption