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Can I read Universe Creation on a Computer on EtoBox?
Universe Creation on a Computer by Gordon McCabe is a Physics and Astronomy article available to read on EtoBox.
What is Universe Creation on a Computer about?
The purpose of this paper is to provide an account of the epistemology and metaphysics of universe creation on a computer. The paper begins with F.J. Tipler's argument that our experience is indistinguishable from the experience of someone embedded in a perfect computer simulation of our own universe, hence we cannot know whether or not we are part of such a computer program ourselves. Tipler's argument is treated as a special case of epistemological scepticism, in a similar vein to 'brain-in-a-vat' arguments. It is argued that Tipler's hypothesis that our universe is a program running on a digital computer in another universe, generates empirical predictions, and is therefore a falsifiable hypothesis. The computer program hypothesis is also treated as a hypothesis about what exists beyond the physical world, and is compared with Kant's metaphysics of noumena. It is argued that if our universe is a program running on a digital computer, then our universe must have compact spatial topology, and the possibilities of observationally testing this prediction are considered. The possibility of testing the computer program hypothesis with the value of the density parameter O 0 is also ana
Who reads Universe Creation on a Computer?
It is typically read by researchers, students, and practitioners in Physics and Astronomy.
- Author
- Gordon McCabe
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science; Elsevier ; Elsevier BV (ISSN 1355-2198)
- Published
- 2005
- Language
- EN
- Field
- Physics and Astronomy (Physical Sciences)