Comments on: Universal segfault http://www.chipx86.com/blog/2007/04/21/universal-segfault/ Virtualization, Open Source, and Life Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:41:35 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Niklas http://www.chipx86.com/blog/2007/04/21/universal-segfault/comment-page-1/#comment-41680 Niklas Thu, 26 Apr 2007 19:04:29 +0000 http://www.chipx86.com/blog/?p=218#comment-41680 Deadlocks. You mean doing something funny might make time stop in parts of our universe. That could bee interesting! Deadlocks. You mean doing something funny might make time stop in parts of our universe. That could bee interesting!

]]> By: Tony http://www.chipx86.com/blog/2007/04/21/universal-segfault/comment-page-1/#comment-41672 Tony Tue, 24 Apr 2007 05:12:02 +0000 http://www.chipx86.com/blog/?p=218#comment-41672 Any developer capable of designing something as heinously complex as this universe wouldn't get tripped up by a bad dereference or an overflow. I'd be more worried about deadlocks, personally. Any developer capable of designing something as heinously complex as this universe wouldn’t get tripped up by a bad dereference or an overflow. I’d be more worried about deadlocks, personally.

]]> By: Johan http://www.chipx86.com/blog/2007/04/21/universal-segfault/comment-page-1/#comment-41671 Johan Sun, 22 Apr 2007 22:37:00 +0000 http://www.chipx86.com/blog/?p=218#comment-41671 People have thought about similar things - Gerard 't Hooft has tried to develop some sort of cellular automaton model for quantum mechanics. Few people take those attempts seriously, for good reason. Among other things, they seem to violate Bell's theorem. People have thought about similar things – Gerard ‘t Hooft has tried to develop some sort of cellular automaton model for quantum mechanics. Few people take those attempts seriously, for good reason. Among other things, they seem to violate Bell’s theorem.

]]> By: Aaron http://www.chipx86.com/blog/2007/04/21/universal-segfault/comment-page-1/#comment-41670 Aaron Sun, 22 Apr 2007 19:32:49 +0000 http://www.chipx86.com/blog/?p=218#comment-41670 Hopefully, if the simulator crashed the programmer would fix the bug, rewind to a point just before the failed experiment, and restart it. Hopefully, if the simulator crashed the programmer would fix the bug, rewind to a point just before the failed experiment, and restart it.

]]> By: Dan http://www.chipx86.com/blog/2007/04/21/universal-segfault/comment-page-1/#comment-41669 Dan Sun, 22 Apr 2007 16:54:55 +0000 http://www.chipx86.com/blog/?p=218#comment-41669 Truly a software developer's point of view on QM :) What if the opposite is true.. suppose you and your computer are experiments carried out by sentient quantum creatures. What if they get bored? Truly a software developer’s point of view on QM :)
What if the opposite is true.. suppose you and your computer are experiments carried out by sentient quantum creatures. What if they get bored?

]]> By: Murray Cumming http://www.chipx86.com/blog/2007/04/21/universal-segfault/comment-page-1/#comment-41668 Murray Cumming Sun, 22 Apr 2007 14:55:07 +0000 http://www.chipx86.com/blog/?p=218#comment-41668 It's not a bug. It's just poorly documented. It’s not a bug. It’s just poorly documented.

]]> By: Torsten http://www.chipx86.com/blog/2007/04/21/universal-segfault/comment-page-1/#comment-41667 Torsten Sun, 22 Apr 2007 10:24:08 +0000 http://www.chipx86.com/blog/?p=218#comment-41667 I had the following suspicion for a long time: What is up this this how quantum things: Why is there a minimum energy quantum that can be transfered ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck's_constant )? Why is even the position of subatomic particles quantimized ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_length )? This just looks like the simulation is running on integer math and the Heisenberg uncertainty is the end of its resolution. I had the following suspicion for a long time:

What is up this this how quantum things: Why is there a minimum energy quantum that can be transfered ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck’s_constant )? Why is even the position of subatomic particles quantimized ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_length )?

This just looks like the simulation is running on integer math and the Heisenberg uncertainty is the end of its resolution.

]]> By: harrytuttle http://www.chipx86.com/blog/2007/04/21/universal-segfault/comment-page-1/#comment-41666 harrytuttle Sun, 22 Apr 2007 09:45:17 +0000 http://www.chipx86.com/blog/?p=218#comment-41666 "What if it crashed?" well the real question would be: what are they trying to achieve with the simulation? but i guess they could just they pick the latest backup (hoping that's not in the middle ages or before...), debug the crash, fix it, and start again. and there will be a universe without quantum mechanics... another interesting question is: could this have already happened in the past? and could we guess when? “What if it crashed?”

well the real question would be: what are they trying to achieve with the simulation?

but i guess they could just they pick the latest backup (hoping that’s not in the middle ages or before…), debug the crash, fix it, and start again. and there will be a universe without quantum mechanics…

another interesting question is: could this have already happened in the past? and could we guess when?

]]> By: Daniel http://www.chipx86.com/blog/2007/04/21/universal-segfault/comment-page-1/#comment-41665 Daniel Sun, 22 Apr 2007 08:49:28 +0000 http://www.chipx86.com/blog/?p=218#comment-41665 Funny, I don't even need NyQuil to go that far. I blame videogames :) I thought of basically the same idea a couple of days ago (while taking a shower), but in my case the system had a purpose other than simulation (storage? computation?) and the universe (or thermodynamics) was pretty much the bug. But I'm sure it wasn't an original idea (in my case), just a mash-up of weird ideas I've heard or read about. What I find funny thing is that I'm an atheist biologist and that idea is sort of like Intelligent (but Fallible) Design. I don't consider the whole thing probable or even feasible, but I know that it's something we've been exposed to for a long time (think Chariot of the Gods, 2001, Matrix, The Bible, XFiles, HHGTTG, etc.). It's interesting to discuss what we come up with both as a mental exercise as to gauge the influence of these memes on us... I guess it might indicate the expected outcome from these influences would be "gee, [Infallible] Intelligent Design makes a lot of sense". Perhaps that'd be expected without any influences, I don't believe it but it might be so :) If you find yourself with time to spare, check http://outoforder.adventuredevelopers.com/ for a IMHO nice game that is based on a... related scenario. There is a walkthrough available online, in case you get impatient like I did ;) Funny, I don’t even need NyQuil to go that far. I blame videogames :)

I thought of basically the same idea a couple of days ago (while taking a shower), but in my case the system had a purpose other than simulation (storage? computation?) and the universe (or thermodynamics) was pretty much the bug. But I’m sure it wasn’t an original idea (in my case), just a mash-up of weird ideas I’ve heard or read about.

What I find funny thing is that I’m an atheist biologist and that idea is sort of like Intelligent (but Fallible) Design. I don’t consider the whole thing probable or even feasible, but I know that it’s something we’ve been exposed to for a long time (think Chariot of the Gods, 2001, Matrix, The Bible, XFiles, HHGTTG, etc.). It’s interesting to discuss what we come up with both as a mental exercise as to gauge the influence of these memes on us… I guess it might indicate the expected outcome from these influences would be “gee, [Infallible] Intelligent Design makes a lot of sense”. Perhaps that’d be expected without any influences, I don’t believe it but it might be so :)

If you find yourself with time to spare, check http://outoforder.adventuredevelopers.com/ for a IMHO nice game that is based on a… related scenario. There is a walkthrough available online, in case you get impatient like I did ;)

]]> By: Adam http://www.chipx86.com/blog/2007/04/21/universal-segfault/comment-page-1/#comment-41664 Adam Sun, 22 Apr 2007 08:33:14 +0000 http://www.chipx86.com/blog/?p=218#comment-41664 Heh. Interesting thought. Have you seen http://www.simulation-argument.com/computer.pdf ? Heh. Interesting thought. Have you seen http://www.simulation-argument.com/computer.pdf ?

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