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Sonntag, 30. März 2014

Whoa, Dude, Are We Inside a Computer Right Now?

NASA scientist Rich Terrile is a supporter of the theory that the human experience is  an incredibly advanced, metaphysical version of the Sims. The author of the text, Ben Makuch, uses ethos in his introduction to gain supporters for Terrile’s theory by saying that he is a highly praised scientist and director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In the interest of supporting his theory, Terrile provides the reader with valid arguments. First, he uses ethos and says that his theory is a result of a combination of several things, like working in the fields of evolutionary computation and artificial intelligence. Then he goes on by using logos and explains that there is a finite number of things the universe can be, and those are computable. If they behave in a finite way, when being observed, then the question arises whether it is being computed. Also, “if two things are mathematically equivalent, they are the same. So the universe is mathematically equivalent to the simulation of the universe.” In order to evoke any kind of emotion, Terrile mentions the possibility that our lives are being controlled by a 13-year old teenager in Korea playing on his Xbox. By saying this, Terrile tries to implement a dose of humor into the text.

(210 words)


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