A type of simulation which some experimental evidence suggests we don't live in
aa r X i v : . [ phy s i c s . pop - ph ] J u l A TYPE OF SIMULATION WHICH SOME EXPERIMENTALEVIDENCE SUGGESTS WE DON’T LIVE IN
SAMUEL ALEXANDER
Abstract.
Do we live in a computer simulation? I will present an argumentthat the results of a certain experiment constitute empirical evidence that wedo not live in, at least, one type of simulation. The type of simulation ruledout is very specific. Perhaps that is the price one must pay to make any kindof Popperian progress.
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The Reasoner soft error is a type of error caused by a particle hitting acomputer’s memory banks. Early computer chips were manufactured with materialsthat emitted alpha particles due to radioactive decay. These alpha particles couldhit memory cells and change memory values. The same phenomenon can happenif a cosmic ray hits the computer.Suppose we live in a computer simulation with the following x - ˆ x property : foreach memory-bit x in any computer in our world, there is a memory-bit ˆ x in thesimulating computer such that ˆ x is used to store which value is stored in x . Thenany such x is subject to two different types of soft errors: • (Internal) Soft errors caused by simulated particles hitting x in our simu-lated universe. • (External) Soft errors caused by real particles hitting ˆ x in the universewhere the simulation takes place.Further, assume the following uni-directional property : putting a simulated memory-bit inside a simulated vault does not protect it from external soft errors. We mean“vault” literally: a non-metaphorical barrier of hard matter in the simulated uni-verse.Putting a simulated memory-bit in a simulated vault might protect it from inter-nal soft errors, because a thick vault might physically block incoming particles. Theuni-directional property says this defense cannot prevent external soft errors. If welive in an external-soft-error-prone simulation with the x -ˆ x property and the uni-directional property, no vault we build can perfectly protect a memory-bank fromall soft errors, because each memory-bit x in that memory-bank remains susceptibleto external soft errors caused by real particles hitting ˆ x .A paper by O’Gorman et al [1]] describes (p. 46) the following experiment andits results. A total of 864 modules were first run on the second floor of a two-storybuilding for 4,671 hours, during which time, 24 soft errors were detected. Then,the same 864 modules were run for 5,863 hours in a nearby vault shielded by about20m of rock, during which time, zero soft errors were detected.The above results suggest that a vault of 20m of rock blocked all soft errors.By the above remarks, this is experimental evidence that we do not live in an Date : July 1st, 2018 (Published in
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