Virtual Reality explained by Ockham's Razor
Created | Updated Feb 8, 2007
Today I found an entry on Am I in Virtual Reality?, and I decided to answer it.
Ockham's Razor
I got this from "The Philosophy Files" by Stephen Law.
You are probably not in a virtual reality, because of a 'law' called Ockham's Razor. The principle is that when there is a problem, the simplest explanation is usually correct.
This is an explanation of how it works:
You have a box with a lightbulb on the top, and a switch on the side. When you flick the switch, the light goes on. How does it work?
Explanation #1Inside the box there is a battery, which is connected in a circuit to the switch and the lightbulb. Flicking the switch completes the circuit, turning on the light.Explanation #2Inside the box there is a battery, which is connected to the switch and ANOTHER bulb which is inside the box. Next to the bulb there is a light sensor. When it detects light, ANOTHER circuit with another battery is closed, and the light on the box goes on. Flicking the switch turns on the first bulb, which activates the light sensor, which turns on the bulb on the top.
You can tell at a glance which explanation is simpler - #1. It is also more reasonable. So the simplest explanation is probably correct.
Virtual Reality
Now we have the Virtual Reality question. How can Ockham's Razor be used to defeat that?
The world is realThere is Earth, with all the people living on it, and it is in the universe.The world is virtualThere is a world of aliens, in their universe, and they are doing experiments on me. In this experiment there is my world, and the people living on it, and it is in my universe.
Look at that, the first explanation is simpler, so it is more reasonable. The second explanation could be true, but it probably isn't.
Any questions?
