Really, this is another LW-solved philosophical problem; you just have to grok the quantum physics sequence, in addition to the meanings-of-words one: when you understand that physics itself is a machine, it dissolves the question of what "simulation" or "computation" mean in this context.
Could you point to the concrete articles that supposedly dissolve this question? I find the question of what "computation" means as still very much open, and the source of a whole lot of confusion. This is best seen when people attempt to define what constitutes "real" computation as opposed to mere table lookups, replays, state machines implemented by random physical processes, etc.
Needless to say, this situation doesn't give one the license to jump into mysticism triumphantly. However, as I noted in a recent thread, I observe an unpleasant tendency on LW to use the notions of "computation," "algorithms," etc. as semantic stop signs, considering how ill-understood they presently are.
Could you point to the concrete articles that supposedly dissolve this question? I find the question of what "computation" means as still very much open, and the source of a whole lot of confusion.
Please note that I did not say the sequence explains "computation"; merely that it dissolves the illusion the intuitive notion of a meaningful distinction between a "computation" or "simulation" and "reality".
In particular, an intuitive understanding that people are made of interchangeable particles and nothin...
You all know the rules: