if this is a simulated reality that my future self created for me to explore, then I would think given how it seems very real and non-video game like, I should continue to do what I've been doing assuming my future self must have a purpose for doing this.

It would be interesting, because despite it being a simulated reality, it would clearly be meant to be lived as a real life rather than a video game. Video games exist in our world and there is a clear distinction between games and life. If our lives were designed to be lived as a video game, then the world should reflect that.

Yes i would behave differently for sure. I would hit ctrl+alt+del and end the damn program!

Seriously i find this entire discussion about real vs simulated world as purely ridiculous at a scientific level. You go ahead and tell me what kind of infrastructure is needed to simulate say 10^80 fermions in units of >10^40 timesteps per sec (with all quantum choices available to them at each step) to produce what we see in experiments and then i will tell you i dont give a damn anymore if this is a simulation, its a pretty damn good one. Ridiculous all together. What is the difference between real world and saying we live in a world that someone is simulating all the laws of nature . Well congrats then its real to me as well and the hell with the simulation rumor!!!

That's why we have lazy evaluation, its just a few equations or rules except where the wave function collapses.

Its also why we have relativity, cant simulate without a speed limit.

I agree that it's still as 'real' as anything else, but what would change is that I'd now entertain the idea that there might be a 'door' here on Earth that would allow me to go and explore some other realities without having to wait around for wormhole tech to be invented.

Well, the simplest answer is to look at other people who really and truly believe that they are living in a simulated reality.

They fit a class of people, specifically schizophrenic, paranoid type.

So, I can safely assume that I would act like a person with schizophrenia.

Are schizophrenics schizophrenic because they believe they live in a simulated reality? If I had some legitimate reason to believe I lived in a simulation, I dont see why I should safely assume that I am going to start acting like a schizophrenic.

If it was all 8-bit pixelated with a 10 frame per second refresh rate, you would be correct.

A well-done simulation (much as the life as you are living) should lead you to the conclusion that you are not living in a simulation.

Not once you suspect well done simulations are possible.

Indifference except when setting the world right over many beers is correct.

How do you know it's well-done? We dont have any reference.

Two things I think about when I hear/raise this question, Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut, where a cosmic "whump" in time causes everyone to jump back in there lives 10 years purely as an observer (going through the motions but unable to change the circumstances), and what occurs when people get back to the point where they have control again but continue going through the motions for a time. Also, a quote from Viktor Frankel, from his book Man's Search for Meaning which reads, "Live your life as though you are living it for the second time and had made all the mistakes in the first time as you are about to make now."

So, you are left with either being a crazy-paranoid person, or acting normally.

The obvious reason to believe it is not a simulation is that it seems like quite a bother for someone to create a simulation just for me. I am just not worth the bother.

Plus, you will act weird, which is not particularly helpful either way.

Well I find that an impossible thing to accept. My experiences and my feelings and senses indicate to me that I am real. A pzombie wouldn't actually feel anything, wouldn't actually feel pain. They just mimic these things. They mimic what pain looks like, but don't feel it. That could be the case for the rest of the people in the simulation. If I can't vouch for the legitimacy of their humanity, I find it hard to assume they are human, speaking exclusively in a simulation setting. I mean it could be like the holodeck on the starship Enterprise for all I know.

Well, I think the fact that we are assuming we know that this is a simulation, and that we (I, I suppose, if you disagree with my last paragraph), know that we (I) know were (I'm) real: makes it possible and even likely they are pzombies. I could just be in a distasteful videogame of the future, an interface computer simulation, or the worst holodeck ever (Earth).

A pzombie would arrive at the same conclusion, and therefore this type of reasoning can never establish that you aren't a pzombie.

A pzombie, by definition, engages in the same thought processes that you do. A pzombie won't actually feel anything, but it will think it does. Because the pzombie's thought processes are identical to yours, thought cannot distinguish between the "real" feeling of a real person and the illusion of real feeling of a pzombie.

(This road goes much further, but it's a waste to take it that far here.)

Regardless, you have no more reason (at least empirically) to believe that they are pzombies than you do if this isn't a simulation. You can only feel your own feelings, not those of others. You have no more or less reason to ascribe feelings to other humans (in a non-simulation) than you do to ascribe feelings to other characters (in a simulation).

If you know that your character is real, then on what basis would you assume that other characters aren't?

You can't convince me on this. I do feel things. If I didn't actually feel anything, I wouldn't feel anything. It's not just a thought process. A pzombie would solely have a thought process and not feel anything. They would be immune to pain, or pleasure. I mean if I were a pzombie then I would be such a good one that I would be indistinguishable in my humanity from a real human being, as I do have sensation. But at that point I don't think you're describing a pzombie. More like a true artificial intelligent life form, or something.

I didn't postulate the assumption of it being true. I postulated the possibility...as being likely given the factual reality of it being a simulation. You're correct I have no reason to actively assume they aren't real. But I have no reason to assume they are, either. This whole scenario puts a person in a morally precarious position where any action is justifiable, since nothing is distinguishable as real; not even oneself.

Fair enough.

You have the same reason to assume they are real if it is a simulation as you do if it isn't a simulation.

I would agree that I don’t think pzombies are really relevant, but in a simulation other people are not necessarily even pzombies, they might be just temporary characters that are only active when you are interacting with them (like a movie or a video game). If the simulation has been specifically made for you or for a small group of people it would be more efficient to just to make you think the simulation is bigger than what it actually is.

How is that?

If it isn't a simulation, wouldn't the default assumption be that it is reality?

Why would that be the default assumption? Run through the logic.

You're accepting a lot of additional premises beyond "this is a simulation." Why are these premises worth accepting (and why are they any more worth accepting if this is a simulation than if it isn't)?

Of course. So, you are left with the easy choice of either believing that you are worth such effort (to create a world specifically for you to live in), despite the simple fact that you didn't exist for a world to be created for you, or that you exist just as a biproduct of what has happened before you.

I don't know which logic you are referring to, honestly.

The only thing I can think of in regards to this subject of "are we real" is "I think therefore I am" from good old Descartes. From that the default assumption would be that one does exist. If you have another train of logic, fill me in.

How do you extend that to other people?

Someone wrote an article about this a while back. Kinda interesting.
http://hanson.gmu.edu/lifeinsim.html

I don't understand the relevance.

You've explained your reasoning for why you believe yourself to be real.

You haven't explained why you think other people aren't real (in a simulated world), or why you think other people are real (in an unsimulated world), or what the difference is (why pzombies are more likely in a simulation than in reality).