Our simulated world

A very interesting and entertaining essay on some of the logical possibilities that are implied by the notion that the world and the universe are a cosmic simulation created by some immeasurably more advanced being(s). These speculations are mostly from a Deistic point of view. 

Some excerpts:

"...in this post I want to explore the idea that ALL of what we experience as reality, including our selves and our minds, is one huge simulation in a giant computer as suggested by Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Elon Musk among others.  For simplicity here, and without much loss of generality, I will name the entity doing the simulation as "God", and suppose that the platform for the simulation is simply his mind, so that no supercomputer or software are required.
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For those conversant with modern cosmology, you will see that the start of this simulation neatly explains the fine tuning problem apparent in the Universe.  God's purpose presumably included complex beings like us, so his initial conditions and rules would have to allow for our "existence" within the simulation.  No untestable and unparsimonious "multiverse" is needed to "explain" away the obvious fine tuning in ours.  Then again, perhaps God had done a number of previous simulations in order to zero in on the one that would yield what he wanted.  That would depend on your view of God; whether he is all knowing and could get it right the first time without problems, or a Being who likes to explore and play with his ideas to expand his creations for his own good pleasure (or amusement).
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As another "benefit", the simulation hypothesis neatly takes care of the temporal dimension in our reality.  By convention, simulations begin at time t = 0 and proceed in a forward direction.  There is no "prior time", the simulation simply begins to exist at t = 0.  Thus, in this scenario any speculation about what happened "before the big bang" is meaningless.
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This concept of variable time steps only makes sense in the context of the simulator's time frame.  From our perspective inside the simulation, a second is a second; whether God has divided it into femto or atto-second steps, we would not be aware of it. If I am simulating some physical phenomenon, each simulated time step will take a certain number of "clock cycles"; that is, a certain amount of my time in the real world, which will depend on the simulation software and the hardware platform (e.g. clock speed).  Thus the simulated passage of time and the simulator's clock are quite different; God's own timeline (within eternity, somehow) need not be the same as ours, here inside the simulation.  Just as the scientist watching his simulation is not stuck in its time line, so God is not constrained to ours.
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Is it possible somehow that in God's timeline he has "replayed" numerous events numerous times, back tracking to a previous "save game" point in order to change the outcome of the current one?  His preferred result may include your salvation, or my not being killed in a traffic accident.  Of course, with multiple characters in his simulation (many billions over the millennia), it may not be possible, even in principle, to have the "best" possible outcome for all of them.  Thus, if God wants to invest us with meaningful "free will" (whatever that means in a simulation context), even he will not be able to prevent bad things happening to some people.
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In any computer simulation, the owner or operator can interrupt the timeline (suspend the simulation) and then go into the memory registers and adjust any of the parameters he wishes to change, in order to tweak the simulation along whatever lines he wants.  Similarly, God could presumably be free to do the same in his Universe simulation.  Early on, perhaps tweaking the laws of physics to allow stars and planets to exist, then adding rules when needed for chemistry, life, and eventually, us.  This evokes the Intelligent Design theory, where the designer (AKA, God) is "allowed" to be active in his creation, to pursue his own ends.

In the context of a simulated reality, intelligent design (ID) theory also solves the origin of life problem, via the injection of complex biochemical information to get cellular life started on Earth.  Evolution too can easily occur with the occasional injection of new genetic information into existing simulated life forms at suitable time points.  In that way, God can be seen as "tinkering" or "playing" in his creation (the simulation) for his good pleasure, as it progresses toward his goal.
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There is considerable evidence that our minds are not entirely materialistic, nor simply algorithmic in our (simulated?) material context, so perhaps our spiritual aspects exist as an added layer of simulation, connected into God's own mind somehow, and external to the material Universe simulation, but able to interact with it."

The idea (pun...intended?) of the Idealist Simulation is one I've pondered myself, as it initially feels a bit off to me ->

Why does God/Overmind/whatever need to run a simulation as opposed to just having a dream with experiencing agents?

But then, looking through varied discussions, it seems the answer is Ur-Mind's mathematical thought is unified with the experienced Real, as opposed to code being a model for a simulation. When the baseball curves in the air the Ur-Mind is thinking about calculus as well as the varied phenomenal aspects .

So our calculus of the curve ball is drawn from our own existence as beings created/imagined-up in the Ur-Mind's image. Yet this does suggest we, unlike our apparent Creator, have a gap between our mathematical and phenomenal apprehension. We have an experience that we seek to model via mathematics...though there are branches/roots of the Perennial Wisdom Tradition that suggest this is a novelty due to some "Fall", that our Deep Time ancestors could directly acquire scientific/mathematical knowledge through sensory experience...

The idea (pun...intended?) of the Idealist Simulation is one I've pondered myself, as it initially feels a bit off to me ->

Why does God/Overmind/whatever need to run a simulation as opposed to just having a dream with experiencing agents?

Maybe because a dream however elaborate is still the stuff of the consciousness of the dreamer, part of him/itself, but not in direct control of by the conscious self of the dreamer. We presume the being wants a creation including experiencing agents that can be independent to a degree of his/its consciousness. Something with unfolding results easier to observe from outside rather than to flat out predict (or why bother?), with all the advantages of outside control by his/its conscious self such as inputting chosen initial conditions, controlling simulated time rate versus outside reality time rate, tinkering, rerunning scenarios and so on that the essay writer points out. Such an immeasurably powerful being supposedly could wall off part of him/itself to accomplish this, to create what didn't exist before - objectivity, the observer and the observed. The writer is a Christian and tries to show correspondences between Scripture and the implications of a cosmic simulation, with at least somewhat intriguing correlations.

Maybe because a dream however elaborate is still the stuff of the consciousness of the dreamer, part of him/itself, but not in direct control of by the conscious self of the dreamer. We presume the being wants a creation including experiencing agents that can be independent to a degree of his/its consciousness. Something with unfolding results easier to observe from outside rather than to flat out predict (or why bother?), with all the advantages of outside control by his/its conscious self such as inputting chosen initial conditions, controlling simulated time rate versus outside reality time rate, tinkering, rerunning scenarios and so on that the essay writer points out. Such an immeasurably powerful being supposedly could wall off part of him/itself to accomplish this, to create what didn't exist before - objectivity, the observer and the observed. The writer is a Christian and tries to show correspondences between Scripture and the implications of a cosmic simulation, with at least somewhat intriguing correlations.

So, if I understand you, the idea here is that the term "simulation" is meant to convey an Idealism where the Ur-Mind/God/Dreamer is setting a dream to run autonomously with the ability to intervene as this entity chooses?

That is sort of what I was getting at with saying the Ur-Mind is using thoughts about mathematics to keep the simulation aka Our Reality ordered. We see a curve ball and use calculus to model it, but the very reason this works is b/c the Ur-Mind curves the ball in an ordered way by thinking about the curve in terms of mathematics.

From the physicist Ulrich Morhroff:

Spiritual Physics

"...Physics therefore never explains how something is possible, let alone “how nature does it.” It only explains — via its conservation laws — why certain things won’t happen. But this is exactly what one would expect if the force at work in the world were an omnipotent force operating under self-imposed constraints. There would then be no reason to be surprised by the apparent impossibility of explaining the quantum-mechanical correlations laws — to account for them in terms of mechanisms or processes — for it would be self-contradictory to explain the working of an omnipotent force. What needs to be explained is why this force works under self-imposed constraints, and why under this particular set of constraints..."