• Iconoclast@feddit.uk
    45·
    6 months ago

    Intelligence isn’t the important factor there - consciousness is. Does it feel like something to be those entities in the simulation? If yes, then I’d argue that ending the simulation is like killing a person painlessly in their sleep.

    I personally don’t think ending the simulation is even the most troubling part. We could unintentionally create a simulation that’s effectively a hell and then populate it with entities that have subjective experiences we don’t realize exist. The only thing worse than ending a life is creating one just for it to suffer through its entire existence.

    • zikzak025@lemmy.world
      11·
      6 months ago

      We could unintentionally create a simulation that’s effectively a hell and then populate it with entities that have subjective experiences we don’t realize exist. The only thing worse than ending a life is creating one just for it to suffer through its entire existence.

      And this is basically the plot of the TV series Severance. Has me wondering how they intend to address it.

    • brrt@sh.itjust.works
      2·
      6 months ago

      The only thing worse than ending a life is creating one just for it to suffer through its entire existence.

      Antinatalism entered the chat

  • you_are_dust@lemmy.world
    11·
    6 months ago

    If this is a way for our simulation creator to decide to pull the plug without guilt, I guess just go ahead and do it. I was holding out hope that this was all real, but it has been getting more clear that it’s not.

  • Seefra 1@lemmy.zip
    8·
    6 months ago

    The old question right? Does a simulated (or rather emulated) brain actually think and feel? Or does the computer just output what it would be if it was alive?

    I think before I am, but I can’t prove that I’m self aware and not just “pretending” to do so. But because you are a human being like me, I understand that you do too. But that assumption is broken when you are not a physical organism but software running on a computer.

  • webp@mander.xyz
    92·
    6 months ago

    If you set the simulation to end before it has begun, do you dodge the question of ethics?

  • SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today
    7·
    6 months ago

    This is a tough question, I think to answer it you have to know if those simulated beings have actual consciousness / sapience or if that is just simulated.

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
      2·
      6 months ago

      Oh is that what it’s about. I thought it was the horror game or something. The advertising for it was so ambiguous I never really looked into it

      • YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.todayEnglish
        1·
        6 months ago

        I’m only half way through, and don’t you dare hit that spoiler!

        This game is beyond quips. It’s beautiful, with great music, and an absolutely bat shit story that you have to experience for yourself. The introductory 15 minutes drug some moisture from my eye holes.

        And nothing against jrpgs, I have big final fantasy nostalgia, but the French insanity felt like a breath of fresh air.

  • RecursiveParadox@piefed.socialEnglish
    7·
    6 months ago

    One of the Minds in Ian M Banks’ last novel, The Hydrogen Sonata, faces and addresses exactly this problem. Much is at stake, so it’s a meaningful discussion.

    • Dadifer@lemmy.world
      1·
      6 months ago

      You may be referring to the hells, but he had a discussion about having a Mind simulating a particular situation to the point where the participants were basically sentient. In that instance, I do not think it is ethical to end the simulation, but I think it would be ethical to freeze the simulation. If the whole simulation was paused and stored with the potential to be restarted, then no perceivable harm would come to the participants.

      • RecursiveParadox@piefed.socialEnglish
        2·
        6 months ago

        No this was the simulation of the entire group that was about to subsume as to how they would react to finding out their very important religious document was actually an alien experiment. I think the mind was the Mistake Not… .

  • Cethin@lemmy.zipEnglish
    5·
    6 months ago

    The fun thing about ethics is that not everyone shares the same rules. Personally, I would probably say it is. (Though is more worse than what we do to cows? Or what we do to other humans in war?) However, others may say they aren’t real, and only an illusion manufactured by the simulation, so it’s fine. There are other arguments I’m sure someone could make too. It’s up for you to decide what your ethics are, not others. There is no universal code of ethics just as there is no universal morality.

  • Tudsamfa@lemmy.world
    5·
    6 months ago

    You can “simulate” life inside your brain, too.


    [Alt text: this is Bob. Bob is a figment of you imagination. When you leave, Bob will leave too. “Don’t leave” says Bob]

    The Bob in your head is intelligent, it can communicate in English. Is it unethical to stop thinking about Bob? Was it unethical of me to show you this picture, creating a “Bob” in your head? Is any story unethical to tell?