YouSaid · the spoken record

Michael Stevens

lines on the record: 61
first: 2019-12-17
most recent: 2019-12-17
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Think it is extremely useful as a thought experiment because it makes sense to everyone, especially as we see virtual reality in computer games getting more and more complex. You're not talking to an audience in Newton's time where you're like, imagine a clock that has mechanics in it that are so complex that it can create love. And everyone's like, no. But today you really start to feel, you know, man, at what point is this little robot friend of mine going to be like someone I don't want to cancel plans with? And so it's a great, the thought experiment of do we live in a simulation? Am I a brain in a vat that is just being given electrical impulses from some nefarious other beings so that I believe that I live on Earth and that I have a body and all of this?”
2019-12-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Michael Stevens: Vsauce · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Right, but if it's not even a real cat, then it's just like a video game cat. And, right? So what's the difference between killing a digital cat in a video game because of neglect versus a real cat? It seems very different to us psychologically. Like, I don't really feel bad about, oh my gosh, I forgot to feed my Tamagachi, right? But I would feel terrible if I forgot to feed my actual cats.”
2019-12-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Michael Stevens: Vsauce · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't really, well, I care because it's a fascinating question. And it's a fantastic way to get people excited about. All kinds of topics physics, psychology, consciousness, philosophy. But at the end of the day, what would the difference be?”
2019-12-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Michael Stevens: Vsauce · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, again, purely speculative. I think that we will never know the answer. We cannot know the answer. There is no experiment to find an answer to that question. Everything we experience is an event in our brain. When I look at a cat, I'm not even, I can't prove that there's a cat there. All I am experiencing is the perception of a cat inside my own brain. I am only a witness to the events of my mind. I think it is very useful to infer that if I witness the event of cat in my head, it's because I'm looking at a cat that is literally there. And it has its own feelings and motivations and should be pet and given food and water and love. I think that's the way you should live your life. But whether or not we live in a simulation, I'm a brain and a vat. I don't know”
2019-12-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Michael Stevens: Vsauce · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I would not say that I believe in determinism in that kind of an absolute form. Or actually, I just don't care. Maybe it's true, but I'm not going to live my life like it is.”
2019-12-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Michael Stevens: Vsauce · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That is a very useful way to think about the universe. It's done as well. It's brought us to the moon. It's brought us to where we are today, right?”
2019-12-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Michael Stevens: Vsauce · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Just the first part because I think the consciousness then emerges from the fact that a state of the universe that contains Fragments or memories of other states One where you're going to feel like there's time. You're going to feel like, yeah, things happened in the past. And I don't know what will happen in the future because these states don't contain information about the future. For some reason, those kind of states are either more common, more plentiful, or you could use the anthropic principle and just say, well, they're extremely rare, but until you are in one, or if you are in one, then you can ask questions like you're asking me on this podcast. Why questions? Yeah, it's like, why are we conscious? Well, because if we weren't, we wouldn't be asking why we were.”
2019-12-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Michael Stevens: Vsauce · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And why should we be conscious? Why are we aware of ourselves? That is a very strange and interesting and important question. And I think for the next few thousand years, we're going to have to believe in answers purely on faith. But my guess is that we will find that within the configuration space of possible arrangements of the universe, there are some that contain memories of others literally Julian Barber calls them time capsule states where you're like, yeah, not only do I have a scratch on my arm, but also this state of the universe also contains a memory in my head of being scratched by my cat three days ago. And for some reason, those kinds of states of the universe are more plentiful or more likely.”
2019-12-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Michael Stevens: Vsauce · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But I think that consciousness is probably. Something that can be fully explained within the laws of physics. I think that our bodies and brains and the universe and at the quantum level is so rich and complex, I'd be surprised if we couldn't find a room for consciousness there.”
2019-12-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Michael Stevens: Vsauce · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We just hypothesize. So, yeah, I mean, I should clarify this is all speculation. And I'm not an expert in any of these topics, and I'm not God.”
2019-12-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Michael Stevens: Vsauce · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, we could do it by Finding the physical foundations of psychology, right? If all of our emotions and moods and feelings and behaviors are the result of mechanical behaviors of atoms and molecules in our brains, then can we find correlations? Perhaps like chaos makes that really difficult and the uncertainty principle and all these things. Like we can't know the position and velocity of every single quantum state in a brain probably, but I think that if we can get to that point with psychology, then we can start to think about Consciousness in a physical and mathematical way. When we ask questions like, well, what is self-reference? How can you think about yourself thinking? What are some mathematical structures that could bring that about?”
2019-12-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Michael Stevens: Vsauce · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source