Prière de ne pas éteindre la simulation

by qntm, Sam Hughes, Gregory Dziedzic (Translator)

Tim avait déjà pris son sac, enfilé sa veste et s'apprêtait à franchir le seuil de la porte lorsque Diane l'interrompit.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Science Fiction, Philosophy

ebook

First published January 6, 2007

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, thought provoking little story examining simulation theory, though the premise of a quantum hypercomputer with literally infinite processing power and storage seems a bit of a stretch.

[zara · Rating 5 out of 5]

am i counting an eight page internet short story as a book i read (or re-read)? yes. i've moved on from year 12 kicking me in the teeth to uni kicking me in the teeth, i have to adapt and survive. but also, even though i first read this a year ago, i'm never not thinking about it and trying to badly explain it at any given opportunity.

[Martin Balaz]

Link to the story: http://qntm.org/responsibility
More reading (Wikipedia): Simulation hypothesis

[Malola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short story.
It dwells on the sad realisation that we are simulations (or the characters).
The comment section was enlightening.

As everything in Sci-Fi, it came off as lacking psychological depth.

[Faye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh yeah, this is pretty good. Short story and easier to understand than I imagined.

[Seth · Rating 1 out of 5]

At first glance, it seems like a straightforward explanation of the simulation hypothesis with no surprises at all, told through the narrative device of a character who really shouldn't be holding an idiot ball holding one anyway. I wasn't sure what the point of writing it was, and on that basis, I was just going to give it two stars and leave it at that, no review needed. But the more I think about it, the less sense it makes.

I'll grant the impossibly convenient physics and assumption of perfect determinism as necessary for the story. But there's another assumption downstream of those: that the nested simulations converge on being given exactly the same starting conditions - that it is inevitable that they will do so - and no explanation for this certainty is given. Considering the sheer quantity of data involved and the lack of a well-defined procedure for reliably deriving it, that beggars belief.

Taking that as given, though, the story is supposed to be exploring the implications, and it doesn't go very far in doing so. What about the potential use of the simulation as the ultimate in surveillance? What about the possibility of using the simulation to extract information from the future? (Running the simulation into the future would also neatly solve the problem of being unable to turn it off, since it's already established that it can be paused and continued without issue.)

[Ali Fakhraee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome short story. Very dense. If you read "ARE YOU LIVING IN A COMPUTER SIMULATION?
BY NICK BOSTROM" first then you would appreciate this story much more.

[Houssem Mallem · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short fictional story that tackles the possibility that we are in a quantum universe ( a simulation ) where we have the ability to check another universe through a computer and we can literally affect their lives (same people as us or different), however, any impact caused to any other universe would directly affect us, because actually the controller is being controlled by someone at the top from another quantum universe. That makes you think that reality, it may not seem as it is, and even if this all sound fiction and outrageous it makes you think in a world full of possibilities, the very notion of what is true and wrong can be changed especially that we are in a technological era of VR, MX, AR, and AI, here I quote Elon Musk: “The absence of any noticeable life may be an argument in favour of us being in a simulation. Like when you’re playing an adventure game, and you can see the stars in the background, but you can’t ever get there. If it’s not a simulation, then maybe we’re in a lab and there’s some advanced alien civilisation that’s just watching how we develop, out of curiosity, like mould in a petri dish.”

[Anton Hammarstedt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Setting presentation, design and originality (how cool is the setting?): 3
Setting verisimillitude and detail (how much sense does the setting make?): 5
Plot design, presentation and originality (How well-crafted was the plot, in the dramaturgic sense?): 5
Plot and character verisimillitude (How much sense did the plot and motivations make? Did events follow from motivations?): 5
Characterization and character development: 3
Character sympatheticness: 3
Prose: 4
Page turner factor: 3
Mind blown factor: 2

Final (weighted) score: 3.5

Available at: https://qntm.org/responsibility

[Meishuu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Futurama explained the Simulation hypothesis better and even managed to add a heartwarming narrative at the center of it. This is only word for word a textbook explanation using characters with the depth of a puddle. Not a good story, although good if you want to get into the basics of what this hypothesis is proposing (can it even be considered one? You’ll have to ask a philosopher of science)

Also, I must quote Sabine on this one: http://backreaction.blogspot.com/2021...

[Simona · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a feeling that my life is nicely divided into parts determined by what brings me the most existential angst. New era fo me maybe?
I have read plenty of "computer simulation" stories before, but this is something special. Amazing 🙂

[Ninja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Minimalist tale of a couple discussing their latest developments in simulation building and its implications, including the delightful Diane repeatedly lamenting that she'd written about this in her article and people weren't bothering to read it.

[Malum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very simple introduction to simulation theory. There are better things to turn to than this (as another reviewer mentioned, there is a recent Futurama episode that beats this short story as a good explanation) but this is a very short and easy read.

[Cristhian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hay pocas historias cortas de sci fi tan buenas como esta: una mezcla justa de física cuántica y humor. No tiene desperdicio.

4.5/5

[J_BlueFlower · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compact and fine little story about simulation and responsibility.

[Mar · Rating 5 out of 5]

“This has been an extremely bad day for my ego, Diane.”

[emmy fiumara · Rating 3 out of 5]

"this has been an extremely bad day for my ego, diane."

diane is a stem queen #girlboss confirmed

[Agustin Tarapow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very short, almost a cheat to include it here, but wow!

[Kris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfectly encapsulated the concept of "wow we're living in a simulation."

[Mark Huisjes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun short story about the simulation hypothesis

[Luis Morales · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brutal

[Virin Vesper · Rating 4 out of 5]

The precursor to Devs! Short and sweet! I enjoy quantum mechanics in fiction a lot more now that I actually (kinda sorta) understand wtf quantum means.

[Kelly Nicoletto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyable story about simulation theory. I think it is very well written considering some of the lofty math concepts.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Link: https://qntm.org/responsibilit

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun short story. also nice that it's short, sometimes authors have a great concept but fresh out of over a book where a short story would've been fine, and here is kept brief.

[Henri Lemoine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so cool. Insanely cool. And short. You have no reason not to read this.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

mindblowing. wish it was longer however

[Vlad Sitalo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating short story that is exploring the consequences of Simulation Argument (http://www.simulation-argument.com/) for a deterministic universe.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short, very short, but amazing. I really want to read a longer version of this concept now - Although it might be hard to do well.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-read this after finding out there's a slightly updated version. No big change but still really enjoyable. Definitely recommend this short story about quantum computing.