Think of all our knowledge-generating processes, our whole culture and civilization, and all the thought processes in the minds of every individual, and indeed the entire evolving biosphere as well, as being a gigantic computation. The whole thing is executing a self-motivated, self-generating computer program. More specifically it is, as I have mentioned, a virtual-reality program in the process of rendering, with ever-increasing accuracy, the whole of existence.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The universe and human culture are like a self-generating computation rendering existence with increasing accuracy.
- In plain terms
- Existence is a self-generated computation or virtual reality.
- What can you take from it?
- View reality as a self-updating computation.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Is reality computable?
- What defines a computation?
Another view
This view equates physical processes with computation which may be an oversimplification.
More from David Deutsch
Reality contains not only evidence, but also the means (such as our minds, and our artefacts) of understanding it. There are mathematical symbols in physical r…
Permalink to quote #6 It is possible to build a virtual-reality generator whose repertoire includes every possible environment. (Ch. 6)
Permalink to quote #8 The quantum theory of parallel universes is not the problem, it is the solution. It is not some troublesome, optional interpretation emerging from arcane theor…
Permalink to quote #5
Related quotes
Knowing reality means constructing systems of transformations that correspond, more or less adequately, to reality. They are more or less isomorphic to transfo…
Jean PiagetJean Piaget quote #2 The only certainty is that nothing is certain.
Pliny the ElderPliny the Elder quote #3 It's as I feared: a bunch of people who don't know very much complaining about the fact the world is the way it is.
Alan KotokAlan Kotok quote #5