DUST Musing

[Zinjanthropos]

Maybe I need to do more in my spare time but I watched the DUST short movie FTL. Briefly, in a first for mankind a astronaut flies to Mars in a FTL craft. However on his return he goes a lot farther than anticipated, his craft starts to fall apart, he’s about to die but is rescued by unseen beings or perhaps some fantastic machines. They take him back to Earth and beam him, a la Star Trek style, into his back yard to rejoin his family.

I pondered whether there was some hidden meaning behind all this. Ended up asking myself whether this had anything to do with Simulation theory. In particular, did this astronaut escape the simulation by breaking the light speed barrier?

IOW could characters from a simulation actually escape from it? So I asked AI:

Whether a simulated character can leave the simulation depends on the simulation's design, with potential methods including finding a pre-programmed exit point, exploiting a software flaw, or being "uploaded" by the simulation's creators. However, if the simulation is designed to be inescapable, like a perfectly contained system, then leaving might be impossible. The concept also explores the idea that the closest one can get to "leaving" is gaining awareness of the simulation itself.

Also a second thought…. In the movie, perhaps the rescuers are meant to be the simulators or some kind of device of theirs that returns escapees to the simulation?

Don’t think I’ve ever had this much fun watching a short movie.

[C C]

Maybe I need to do more in my spare time but I watched the DUST short movie FTL. Briefly, in a first for mankind a astronaut flies to Mars in a FTL craft. However on his return he goes a lot farther than anticipated, his craft starts to fall apart, he’s about to die but is rescued by unseen beings or perhaps some fantastic machines. They take him back to Earth and beam him, a la Star Trek style, into his back yard to rejoin his family.

I pondered whether there was some hidden meaning behind all this. Ended up asking myself whether this had anything to do with Simulation theory. In particular, did this astronaut escape the simulation by breaking the light speed barrier?

IOW could characters from a simulation actually escape from it? So I asked AI:

Whether a simulated character can leave the simulation depends on the simulation's design, with potential methods including finding a pre-programmed exit point, exploiting a software flaw, or being "uploaded" by the simulation's creators. However, if the simulation is designed to be inescapable, like a perfectly contained system, then leaving might be impossible. The concept also explores the idea that the closest one can get to "leaving" is gaining awareness of the simulation itself.

Also a second thought…. In the movie, perhaps the rescuers are meant to be the simulators or some kind of device of theirs that returns escapees to the simulation?

Don’t think I’ve ever had this much fun watching a short movie.

Legit miracles usually require a simulation (I mean, there's surely a limit to what "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" can overcome). Though not necessarily the technological in origin type of simulation that could repeat itself like stacked turtles. The prior-in-link level might be radically different from how this one works. But of course, the point to Bostrom's argument is that once an internally convincing simulation is validated as possible, they might eventually become so numerous that they outnumber non-artificial realties. Ergo increasing the odds of either us or other beings residing in such. But ultimately there has to be a very weird stratum that requires no hierarchical ("vertical") cause for itself, ending the Russian doll syndrome.

FTL
https://youtu.be/t8LD0iUYv80

[Syne]

What would distinguish a simulated reality from an illusory reality for those within it?
I doubt we could tell the difference. If so, an illusory reality at least benefits from not having to postulate an entire, unevidenced prior/source reality, with it's implication of a "turtles all the way down" infinite regress. We could be the source of our own illusion, and we've just made ourself forget.

[Zinjanthropos]

GREAT RESPONSES! Thanks

Easy to think about a character escaping a simulated reality but surviving it may be another thing. In the movie the spaceship gradually begins to fall apart. No doubt in my mind that the material the ship was made of was in the same predicament as the astronaut, subject to deletion outside the simulated reality more or less. If that’s the case then obviously the mysterious rescuers were focusing not on the life form but life itself. FYI…the astronaut is reassembled in his backyard wearing the spacesuit/clothes he was wearing at time of rescue.

More AI…..

Whether a part of a simulation can survive outside depends entirely on the simulation's design, as there's no universal answer. If the simulation involves actual bodies, disconnection from the hardware could allow for "exit". If it's more like a "brains in a vat" scenario or digital consciousness, an entity might be transferred to a self-contained android or similar hardware. However, if all "parts" of the simulation are purely digital code and cannot be detached from the system, it may be impossible to survive independently.

Not trying to fuel MR’s imagination or confirm his beliefs with this stuff, just trying to make sense of or get inside the mind of the producer, author, theorists, etc.