I agree, and I'm not sure the scenario given could happen. The basis of the possibility of the scenario is "the universe is deterministic" and "we have infinite computing power" - but then, is the infinite computer itself part of the universe? b/c as soon as the top layer interacts with the sims, it diverges, which means the sims are not the same as the top layer anymore, so are not equivalent to it even though they are otherwise deterministic - the first sim under the top is deterministic, but dependent on interaction with another deterministic (top level) universe. Hence, the first sim is no longer representative of the top level - the top level can still interact with the first sim, but it can no longer consider it to be a mirror - this is the answer to the paradox of "running the sim into the future" - once the top level observes the sim, it is altered in a way that might cause the sim to diverge.
> when the simulations reach the time of the original reversal?
The sum total time of the reversal is finite, so the top (level 0) level will observe the reversal in a finite time, the level 1 will therefor observe the same finite delay wrt the top. Hence each level N will be delayed by the same amount wrt the level above.
The idea of a "loop" would be wrong, b/c when a sim reaches "the time of the original reversal" the result only affects the next sim down. But each sim as level N does go through the loop N times, because it shares the loop of each of its parents, hence if a loop delays by 10s, level N which goes through N loops is delayed wrt top by N*10s
> The moment the 'camera' appears in a simulation, it has diverged from the 'real' world
True, but now the "next" sim interference will not be replicated between level 0 and level 1, which in turn can cause level 1 to diverge, and so on.
> with no memory of the camera having once appeared
You could just stop all the sims after you interfered with them, and them restart the sim without interfering (or equivalent - like rewinding the sim and then playing it w/o interfering) - the same would happen in all sims too, so they would be, and have, the same pristine sims.
Thanks for your thought-provoking replies. I have a few follow-ons, and to avoid this reply becoming mostly quotes, I will just repeat the quotes you used as tags to indicate which section I am replying to. Also, I have changed my views somewhat, in response to Nition's reply.
>> The author is being slightly inconsistent...
I think we have to take it that the computer is part of the top-level, 'real' world, and therefore that the physical location, of the information making up each of the simulations, is in the real world. Each level gets a different view of that information (somewhat like a recursive function's view of the stack), though these views are all the same insofar as they all see an infinite stack of simulated worlds.
They are not all identical, however. For example, when the narrator's world is fast-forwarding its simulation to catch up with their own time, their simulated world is not the same as their own, and they can see that this is so. The level above the narrator's might be in a similar situation with regard to both the narrators world and the narrators simulation.
The author is only assuming that the inhabitants of each simulation perceive their situation as being the same, and only when one compares them at the same local time in each. So far, I don't see any paradox between that and the fact that the simulations are not identical (a fact that can be verified by anyone further up the stack, who has a broader view of what's going on.)
>> when the simulations reach the time of the original reversal?
I think we are in agreement here, but up until now, I had been thinking that there is no way that a simulation could detect that it has been through a time loop. The top-level operators, however, could make their clock visible in the first simulation, which would pass it on to the second one and so on, and, just as the narrator deduces that the black ball materializing on the ceiling is a viewport, each simulation will deduce that the clock is showing real time.
Would this permit a simulation to count the number of times they have gone through a time loop, and therefore be able to deduce something about their position in the stack? I don't think so, as going backwards in simulated time erases, from the simulated world, all memories and any other physical record from its future: the world's inhabitants will just see the real-world clock suddenly jump forward, at the point where the loop starts going forwards again. This will be a different jump at each level, as they have each gone around the loop a different number of times, and therefore fallen behind real time by different amounts. As they have forgotten the duration of a loop, however (erased by time-reversal), they cannot deduce how many loops the clock-jump represents.[1]
On the other hand, going forwards, each simulation has a different memory of how much the real-time clock jumped, and they will not agree on that even at corresponding local times... I have not figured out whether that is a problem for the story's premises.
[1] Alternatively... maybe each level can deduce the duration of a loop, as they will perceive the simulation they are running go around it once? I'm not sure this is consistent...
I agree, and I'm not sure the scenario given could happen. The basis of the possibility of the scenario is "the universe is deterministic" and "we have infinite computing power" - but then, is the infinite computer itself part of the universe? b/c as soon as the top layer interacts with the sims, it diverges, which means the sims are not the same as the top layer anymore, so are not equivalent to it even though they are otherwise deterministic - the first sim under the top is deterministic, but dependent on interaction with another deterministic (top level) universe. Hence, the first sim is no longer representative of the top level - the top level can still interact with the first sim, but it can no longer consider it to be a mirror - this is the answer to the paradox of "running the sim into the future" - once the top level observes the sim, it is altered in a way that might cause the sim to diverge.
> when the simulations reach the time of the original reversal?
The sum total time of the reversal is finite, so the top (level 0) level will observe the reversal in a finite time, the level 1 will therefor observe the same finite delay wrt the top. Hence each level N will be delayed by the same amount wrt the level above.
The idea of a "loop" would be wrong, b/c when a sim reaches "the time of the original reversal" the result only affects the next sim down. But each sim as level N does go through the loop N times, because it shares the loop of each of its parents, hence if a loop delays by 10s, level N which goes through N loops is delayed wrt top by N*10s
> The moment the 'camera' appears in a simulation, it has diverged from the 'real' world
True, but now the "next" sim interference will not be replicated between level 0 and level 1, which in turn can cause level 1 to diverge, and so on.
> with no memory of the camera having once appeared
You could just stop all the sims after you interfered with them, and them restart the sim without interfering (or equivalent - like rewinding the sim and then playing it w/o interfering) - the same would happen in all sims too, so they would be, and have, the same pristine sims.