[MD] moq thought experiement 1.

[craigerb at comcast.net]

[Craig, from "Personal introduction" thread]
> Krimel, our resident chaos expert, is on hiatus.
> In the meantime:

> http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-self-organizing-quantum-universe

[Krimel}
> Thoughts on TE1:
> This thread was often hard to read because I had so many reservations about
> the experiment. It started out as sci-fi but gravitated toward an ill
> conceived understanding of the brain-in-a-vat scenario. Brain-in-a-vat is a
> modern variant on Descartes' clever demons argument. It is the idea that our
> experience is being manipulated by some external agency for purposes of its
> own which may or not be in harmony with our own.

An ill conceived understanding of the brain-in-a-vat scenario, indeed.  Neither
the Brain-in-a-vat nor Descartes's clever demons argument is a morality tale.
Their point is epistemological.  In each case it is an attempt to drive a wedge
between our experience & reality.
Craig