2010-11-09
Original: 2010-11-09 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1: Two blobby/lumpy alien-like beings sit across a table from each other, connected by a cable to a device between them.
Left being: "Ugh, the universe's physics is too complicated. I'm gonna simplify some rules for our simulation."
Panel 2: Two beings with long flowing blonde hair sit across a table, with a device between them.
Left being: "Ugh, the universe's physics is too complicated. I'm gonna simplify some rules for our simulation."
Panel 3: Two large-headed gray alien-like beings sit across a table, with a device between them.
Left being: "Ugh, the universe's physics is too complicated. I'm gonna simplify some rules for our simulation."
Panel 4: A scene with two humans. A woman with brown hair on the left and a man with gray-streaked hair on the right stand at a whiteboard with an equation written on it: L = <Ψ|.∂ₜ-H|Ψ> + g<Ψ|Ψ>
Woman: "So, the universe is made entirely of tiny wobbly strings?"
Man: "Weird, right?"
Votey:
A hand-lettered list:
• Where there is intelligence, there are physicists
• Where there are physicists, there are oversimplified simulations
• If they can build a simplified simulation, you are not in the simplest possible universe
• If they can't, you are not in the most complex possible universe
• You're now even LESS special!
Left being: "Ugh, the universe's physics is too complicated. I'm gonna simplify some rules for our simulation."
Panel 2: Two beings with long flowing blonde hair sit across a table, with a device between them.
Left being: "Ugh, the universe's physics is too complicated. I'm gonna simplify some rules for our simulation."
Panel 3: Two large-headed gray alien-like beings sit across a table, with a device between them.
Left being: "Ugh, the universe's physics is too complicated. I'm gonna simplify some rules for our simulation."
Panel 4: A scene with two humans. A woman with brown hair on the left and a man with gray-streaked hair on the right stand at a whiteboard with an equation written on it: L = <Ψ|.∂ₜ-H|Ψ> + g<Ψ|Ψ>
Woman: "So, the universe is made entirely of tiny wobbly strings?"
Man: "Weird, right?"
Votey:
A hand-lettered list:
• Where there is intelligence, there are physicists
• Where there are physicists, there are oversimplified simulations
• If they can build a simplified simulation, you are not in the simplest possible universe
• If they can't, you are not in the most complex possible universe
• You're now even LESS special!
Alt text
A four-panel comic. The first three panels each show two different species of alien-like beings sitting across a table from each other (lumpy blobs, then long-blonde-haired figures, then gray big-headed aliens), each with a connected device between them, and in every panel the left figure says the identical line: "Ugh, the universe's physics is too complicated. I'm gonna simplify some rules for our simulation." The implication is nested simulations, each simplified from the one above. The fourth panel finally shows humans at a whiteboard bearing a physics equation; a woman asks, "So, the universe is made entirely of tiny wobbly strings?" and a man grins, "Weird, right?" — revealing humans are the bottom, most-simplified layer of simulated reality. The votey is a hand-lettered logical syllogism: where there is intelligence there are physicists; where there are physicists there are oversimplified simulations; if they can build a simplified simulation you are not in the simplest possible universe; if they can't, you are not in the most complex possible universe; concluding "You're now even LESS special!"
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.