Nick Bostrom

knowing what if they ever ran into alien civilizations what those would be like and maybe one way to study that is to simulate many different originations of higher technological civilizations like starting from something like current human civilization before and sort of running the tape forward and

knowing what if they ever ran into alien civilizations what those would be like and maybe one way to study that is to simulate many different originations of higher technological civilizations like starting from something like current human civilization before and sort of running the tape forward and

seeing what the distribution is of different kinds of superintelligences you would get from that.

seeing what the distribution is of different kinds of superintelligences you would get from that.

And you could also imagine historical tourism, if they can't literally travel back in time.

And you could also imagine historical tourism, if they can't literally travel back in time.

But what the second best might be is to create sort of replicas of historical environments that future people could sort of experience almost as if they were going back in time.

But what the second best might be is to create sort of replicas of historical environments that future people could sort of experience almost as if they were going back in time.

living in a sort of temporarily exploring a simulated reality.

living in a sort of temporarily exploring a simulated reality.

You could imagine other sort of moral or religious reasons as well of different kinds.

You could imagine other sort of moral or religious reasons as well of different kinds.

That's difficult.

That's difficult.

I think to a first initial approximation, I would say

I think to a first initial approximation, I would say

If you are in a simulation, do the same things you would if you knew you were not in a simulation.

If you are in a simulation, do the same things you would if you knew you were not in a simulation.

Because the best guide to what would happen next in the simulation and how your actions would impact things might still be the normal methods we use.

Because the best guide to what would happen next in the simulation and how your actions would impact things might still be the normal methods we use.