FFAI Simulated Reality

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FFAI Simulated Reality by Mind Map: FFAI Simulated Reality

1. algorithms and "core CS"

1.1. efficiency

1.1.1. simulating large numbers of physical objects accurately, with friction

1.1.2. object, device, and human animation: how do you do it?

1.1.3. how do you deal with roundoff errors?

1.2. parallelization

1.2.1. large amounts of computation needed for physics and agent simulations

1.2.2. handled both via multicore and distributed computations

1.2.3. tough issues dealing with latency, node failures, and cheating/security

1.3. accuracy

1.3.1. a lot of physics is "faked" right now: objects are scripted instead of simulated etc.

1.3.2. human motion is generally handled via motion capture

1.3.3. landscapes etc. are visually approximated to keep the polygon count low; illusion falls apart if you get too close

1.3.4. detection and visibility (for combat simulation) is usually faked, leading to unrealistic behaviors both ways

1.4. NPCs, agents

1.4.1. interactions proceed through a series of scripted stages

1.4.2. NPCs are largely scripted, not intelligent

1.4.3. usually, little or no memory, no understanding or intelligence

1.4.4. usually, no natural language understanding (except for early text adventure games)

1.4.5. path finding; occasionally, some swarming behavior

1.4.6. only area of limited intelligence: combat strategies

1.4.7. great potential for AI, self learning

1.5. lots of potential

1.5.1. AI, learning and artificial evolution for better game characters

1.5.2. learning of motor behaviors for better human/animal simulations

1.5.3. better and more interesting combat/game strategies by NPCs

1.5.4. natural language and speech interaction instead of menus

1.5.5. more realistic perceptual systems on NPCs to make sneaking/combat more realistic

2. movies / literature

2.1. Time out of Joint

2.2. Simulacron-3

2.3. The Matrix

2.4. eXistenZ

2.5. The 13th Floor

2.6. lots of SciFi series (ST, SG1, etc.)

2.7. Permutation City

2.8. Schild's Ladder

3. summary

3.1. intelligent agent simulations are a key aspect of many kinds of research

3.2. these ideas have become an integral part of our culture

3.3. both "classical" religion and the simulation hypothesis postulate creation and transcendence, but differ greatly in purpose, properties, and observability

3.4. many topics related to simulation are an active area of AI research

3.4.1. intelligent agent simulation

3.4.2. internal world models

3.4.3. digital physics

3.4.4. brain machine interfaces

3.4.5. uploading

4. Exercise

4.1. Write a 5-10 essay on the simulation hypothesis.

4.2. address

4.2.1. What was your (implicit/explicit) view of reality prior to hearing of the simulation hypothesis?

4.2.2. How does that differ from the simulation hypothesis? Contrast and compare the two views.

4.2.3. What is your conclusion? Do you believe that it is likely that we live in a simulation? That it is possible?

4.3. Note: there is no right/wrong answer. The goal is to present clear arguments.

4.4. You can't just answer these three questions, you need to tie your essay together in some way, to tell a story.

4.5. (There will be one more, a "research proposal".)

5. plausibility

5.1. consistency with reality

5.1.1. physics

5.1.1.1. all known physics is representable in terms of computations

5.1.1.1.1. otherwise: hypercomputation

5.1.1.2. in fact, it may be representable in terms of cellular automata

5.1.1.3. Conway: Game of Life

5.1.1.3.1. Game of Life

5.1.1.3.2. Game of Life in Game of Life

5.1.1.3.3. Game of Life in Minecraft

5.1.1.4. Fredkin: Finite Nature

5.1.1.5. Wolfram: A New Kind of Science

5.1.2. minds

5.1.2.1. "simulated minds" require strong AI

5.1.2.2. game-style simulations have "external minds" (players) plus NPCs

5.1.2.3. external minds / players may or may not choose to be aware of their presence in a simulation

5.1.2.4. possible positions

5.1.2.4.1. you and everybody else is a simulated mind

5.1.2.4.2. you are an external mind but not aware of it

5.1.2.4.3. you are not a simulated mind but there are external minds presents

5.1.2.4.4. you are an external mind and aware of it (please tell us all about it)

5.1.2.4.5. Which would you rather be? Is the "real" world necessarily better than the "simulated" world?

5.2. who and why?

5.2.1. entertainment

5.2.1.1. strong incentive to create "game worlds"

5.2.1.2. game worlds are often oriented at / based on some historical context / events, together with non-historical elements

5.2.1.3. strong drive towards making NPCs smarter and more real: it's more entertaining that way

5.2.1.4. potentially big applications for AI research in creating NPCs and "game AI"

5.2.1.5. example: WoW, Skyrim, eXistenZ

5.2.2. communication

5.2.2.1. virtual worlds serve as a communications medium

5.2.2.2. replaces physical travel, while still providing many of the benefits of physical presence

5.2.2.3. example: SecondLife

5.2.3. history, economics, sociology, business

5.2.3.1. multi-agent simulations

5.2.3.2. try to learn about, understand, and predict how real populations of people act under constraints

5.2.3.3. the more realistic the simulation of individual agents, the better the predictions

5.2.3.4. already useful for low-levels of individual intelligence

5.2.4. AI research

5.2.4.1. simulate agents, robots in a simulated environment

5.2.4.2. try out different kinds of architectures, assumptions, etc.

5.2.4.3. the simulated environment can be quite different from the real world; the main goal is to gain insights

5.2.5. robotics

5.2.5.1. simulate agents, robots in a simulated environment

5.2.5.2. the purpose is to create an agent that can then function in the real world

5.2.5.3. the simulated environment needs to be very close to the real world

5.2.5.4. example: lots of robot simulators (including for Mars probes)

5.2.6. "internal simulation", or modern version of the dream hypothesis

5.2.6.1. we have seen that "simulation of reality" or a world model may be an important aspect of building an intelligent system

5.2.6.2. this world might be the internal simulation of a much more powerful intelligence, part of another mind

5.2.6.3. example: internal robot planning

6. simulation argument

6.1. "reality is an illusion" is an old idea

6.2. simulation hypothesis

6.2.1. Nick Bostrom paper kicked this off

6.2.2. web site

6.2.3. the "reality" we experience is an actual simulation, running on some powerful computer somewhere

6.2.4. there are scientific reasons for believing so

6.3. argument

6.3.1. civilization types

6.3.1.1. current ("human"): some technology, some computation

6.3.1.2. post-human: enormous computing power, capable of running full simulations of entire worlds

6.3.2. one of these three hypotheses must be true

6.3.2.1. EITHER civilizations never reach a post-human stage because they kill themselves first

6.3.2.2. OR civilizations aren't interested in running "ancestor simulations"

6.3.2.3. OR we are living in a "ancestor simulation" created by a post-human civilization

6.3.3. Bostrom only believes (3) with probability less than 50%

6.4. implications

6.4.1. the simulation argument implies a creator and a motivation for creating the simulation

6.4.2. note the connection with traditional religious views; however, theories about the motivations of the creator are very different

7. kinds of simulated realities

7.1. game-style

7.1.1. brains or people connected somehow to a simulated reality

7.1.2. external interfaces, direct brain interfaces

7.1.3. the world contains both "real people" and NPCs

7.1.4. Skyrim

7.1.5. World of Warcraft

7.1.6. Second Life

7.1.7. Eve Online

7.1.8. primary motivation: entertainment, training

7.2. simulation-style

7.2.1. the entire world is digital

7.2.2. all characters in the world are "simulated" (and hence AI within a virtual environment)

7.2.3. character / minds may have initially been created through scanning and uploading

7.2.4. Permutation City

7.2.5. crowd simulation

7.2.6. primary motivation: research in economics, AI

7.3. emigration-style

7.3.1. minds can both enter and leave the simulation

7.3.2. real mind -> simulation

7.3.3. simulated mind -> real body

7.3.4. Caprica Cylon

7.3.5. primary motiviation: robotics