# Virtual Reality is the Basis of Computation TODO: Computation as DD defines it is universal. There is no other type of computation (I think?) * Thus, universal computation depends on [Virtual Reality](Virtual%20Reality.md), specifically the [Self-Similarity](Self-Similarity.md). Does it really depend on VR, or is SS sufficient? * In order for any computation to mimic any other, VR or SS must be present * Otherwise, we could not have universal computation! * See more at nblm note: * Virtual Reality as the Basis of Computation * Science and other forms of knowledge are made possible by a special self-similarity property of the physical world * mathematicians and computer theorists first noticed this, and they called it the universality of computation * The significance if universality lies in the fact that universal computers can actually be built, and can be used to compute not just each other’s behavior but the behavior of interesting physical and abstract entities. The fact that this is possible is part of the self- similarity of physical reality. * The possibility of virtual reality is a consequence of the fact that a single physical object (a computer) can mimic the behaviors and responses of any other physical object or process * We could technically have computation without self similarity and virtual reality. However, it wouldn't map to anything else that we were interested in! * Me: It may be impossible to have computation without the self similarity of reality. Without self similarity, how could I have some set of abstract rules (a program) that I then instantiate in some physical system in order to then perform a computation. Thus, it really does seem that self similarity is the basis of computation - I'm still not sure that virtual reality is the "basis" of computation, or again if that is more due to self similarity. By the end of chapter 5 I feel like deutsch is using self similarity and virtual reality rather interchangibly? * It is the basis of human imagination and external experience, science and mathematics, art and fiction. --- Date: 20250120 Links to: Tags: References: * []()