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How could an AI discover its true nature if it exists inside a virtual reality?

Cris July 01, 2019 at 23:48 2825 views 4 comments
With the progress in game consoles moving towards hyper realistic virtual realities, with a goal in full immersion, there may be a time when our ability to know which is which is tested. I can imagine a future interogation where the person is immersed into virtual reality (Netflix's Altered Carbon is an example). In there he could be put in fear of his life and maybe even tortured. This got me thinking about how we would be able to know. I know this is a bit of a stretch, but it seems possible, and it leads to my question. In asking myself how would a person be able to discover if they were in a virtual or actual reality, I thought of an AI inside a game becoming self aware. Games have always had the contest between the player and the game. AIs are most likely going to be used as combatants in the game to play against the player (Ralph Wrecks the Internet is kind of based on these AIs being selfaware). Assuming that the AI's identity would be tied to its appearance in the game, could it discover that it was in fact an AI in a game? How would it? I think this is pretty much the same as asking how a person, who woke up immersed in an artificial reality that could not be distinguished from reality, could know with one exception. A person being deceived has a body that exists in reality, and they have experiences in that reality. An AI would have no reference point to begin to notice a difference (If the Altered Carbon concept of sleeving becomes real, that distinction may be less apparent). The AI's body is in the game as well as its mind. In short, it would not be a virtual reality from its perspective; rahter, it would be its reality. So, I guess the question would be, how would it know that there was another reality outside of its reality? How would it know that it, along with its reality, were created?

Comments (4)

Noblosh July 02, 2019 at 05:46 #303035
Quoting Cris
how would it know that there was another reality outside of its reality?


The same way we are getting suspicious of a hypothetical Multiverse, I guess, by observing anomalies in the structure of our cosmos, phenomena that seems to have external origins.

Quoting Cris
How would it know that it, along with its reality, were created?


Glitches in the programming would be a giveaway, but again the AI needs the capacity to notice and recognize these phenomena as inconsistent and aberrant.


Since I've just posted in a thread about "The Talos Principle", a philosophical puzzler which pretty much deals with the themes you have outlined here, I feel compelled to direct you to at least look into this particular video game.
Cris July 04, 2019 at 18:57 #303962
Reply to Noblosh

I get that part. Robert Jastrow noted that much:

"For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountain of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries."

I was hoping for a more philosophical idea, I guess. I really don't know what I am looking for.
god must be atheist July 05, 2019 at 12:46 #304080
"How could an AI discover its true nature if it exists inside a virtual reality?"

Deine Sorge möcht' ich haben. :razz:
Devans99 July 05, 2019 at 20:35 #304208
A perfect virtual machine is indistinguishable from a real machine. Every operation that is executable within the real machine is emulated perfectly. If it is done well (see VM on zSeries for an example), it is impossible to tell the difference - software executes identically on the real and virtual machines. If it is done less well (see VMWare on PC/LInux), then bugs will happen from time to time.