My friend and I were dying laughing over this the other day. Though maybe not as funny out of context, I thought it offered a funny and interesting discussion point though.

So my friend and I were playing Starcraft II the other day (for those of you unfamiliar it's RTS army/resource command type game). There is a unit in the game called a Ghost which can paint target's for tactical nukes. For some reason when my friend I play together, calling down the tactical nuke causes my computer to crash. We laughed about how the nuke must be so strong I feel it in real life.

But that got me to thinking about that one little ghost that caused all the mayhem. What if each unit within the game possessed the limited awareness the game allowed them; wherein that was their reality? So perhaps with this limit, we could figure that the computer would be God (that mysterious unknown that makes everything work). So by the act of calling down a tactical nuke and freezing my computer...does that mean that this single ghost killed God? Think about it.

It gave me a cosmic laugh, thinking that perhaps we are all part of some elaborate computer program. Enjoy.

interesting little philosophy!

I've had the same thoughts myself many times. Many different variations of the computer program idea as well. Maybe we're just tiny cells inside a house plant sitting on some table. Maybe we're little flecks of snow floating around inside a snow globe. On and on like that.

When you consider how vast the universe is, you do tend to realize how small and insignificant we truly are in the grand scheme of things. Much like little pieces of data inside a computer program.

You might want to read this: The Simulation Argument.

It’s interesting to think about how we define “simulation”, because a simulation is only a simulation to the simulator, and not to those being simulated.

"They say The User lives outside the Net and inputs games for pleasure. No one knows for sure, but I intend to find out. ReBoot!"

YEESSS!! I can't believe you brought up Reboot! Oh man, that is old school I love it!

Yea that show is EXACTLY what I'm talking about. What if those little sprites, bits or hexadecimal characters all existed with the awareness given to them. I think it's just fun think about. And Reboot does a great job of portraying that...and also some fond memories of Saturday morning cartoons

And gibran2, that Simulation Argument is intense. I haven't read over the whole thing but I read a few of the abstracts to get a taste. Definitely book marking that one for later.

Agreed. Thanks for the link gibran.

It's the sort of thought that any philosophically-inclined strategy gamer has at least once, if not a thousand times! Personally, I'm a Men of War player, a game in which the units under your control tend to do amazing things that you couldn't command them to... and it brings up the question. Awareness?

And yet, like whatever God/Demiurge there may be, you still can't help getting the sprites to nuke things