Is there an atheist's version of hell?

[Gospel]

Coming to terms with the concept of "eternity" is not hard here insofar as it is unlikely that someone who does not seek to participate in the world need not experience any moments at all; they may simply exist "between thoughts", serialized as data for much of that time.

Provided the architect of the virtual space permits such adjustments, the protagonist remains subject to their design and control, lacking autonomy over their experience of eternity. Consequently, the prisoner might not even be able to sleep unless the architect specifically allows for it..

Once time isn't quite as much a tyrant over our opportunities to think, once it no longer binds us to one second per second, eternity changes to something else.

The phrase 'The light shifts in virtual space, in seconds, indicating passing days, months, years?' was meant to illustrate how time becomes uncertain, maybe even pointless. My novice writing skills might not have captured this concept well. I could blame the AI for that one but I know better.

In reality, the experience of such a prisoner would be that in the course of a single experiential afternoon three different people walk in, each more alien than the last. They would be experiencing time the way someone traveling the stars might: as an instantaneous journey from their perspective.

Time in a virtual environment can be dynamically adjusted to progress & even regress at varying speeds. I'll also check out 'Altered Carbon.' Hopefully, I can find the time to do so, as it feels like time has been flying by exceptionally quickly lately.

 

[Jarhyn]

Time in a virtual environment can be dynamically adjusted to progress & even regress at varying speeds. I'll also check out 'Altered Carbon.' Hopefully, I can find the time to do so, as it feels like time has been flying by exceptionally quickly lately.

As time slips by, it improves its stealthiness through such careful practice.

Altered Carbon (the books, honestly, not the show) is fantastic for the way it presents technological immortality in a much more... Well I'm not going to say "realistic" scenario, but it does create a very well tailored look into most of the issues that arise from such a situation.

It is in fact a book I had been hoping to write myself before I discovered someone else already had.

 

[TomC]

The focus here is more on coming to terms with the concept of eternity, rather than the specifics of a prison environment.

This was one of the most irrational aspects of hell, as taught to me by Christians. Infinite punishment for finite behavior. Even Hitler didn't do anything so bad that a billion years from now he's just getting started on his eternal punishment.

The other biggy was being punished by an omnimax creator for behaving according to our "God given nature". Humans are stupid and generally behave according to the instincts we are born with, unless we learn better. We don't always learn better, obviously. But foisting the responsibility for human nature off onto Adam and Eve or whatever is to admit that there is no Almighty God. Not even a reasonably competent Designer.
Tom

 

[Gospel]

As time slips by, it improves its stealthiness through such careful practice.

There is truth to that statement if time didn't unslip. Imagine the virtual realm where time flows backwards, turning memories into the future & the past unfolds as a sequence of predictable events, all perceived through the protagonist's perspective in a seamless and coherent manner similar to how we perceive spacetime.

 

[Jarhyn]

As time slips by, it improves its stealthiness through such careful practice.

There is truth to that statement if time didn't unslip. Imagine the virtual realm where time flows backwards, turning memories into the future & the past unfolds as a sequence of predictable events, all perceived through the protagonist's perspective in a seamless and coherent manner similar to how we perceive spacetime.

Time flowing "backwards" is a bit of a misnomer, unless you're talking about reloading earlier systems... But that isn't going backwards in time, but sideways into a different causality entirely, and unlikely either way; you could only rewind the environment, and not the denizens, or if you did rewind a denizen you better have a really good justification for creating fresh copies and/or "killing the temporal margin", which is to say, "killing someone's last 5 minutes without consent".

Even in such a virtuality, time still only moves "forward". It can be stopped, slowed, accelerated, but going backwards is problematic for a lot of reasons, and often downright impossible.

There's very little reason to ever go back unless a mistake was made, but unless you are willing to kill, albeit only 5 minutes of experience (times number of experiences) perhaps, you should not do that.

 

[Gospel]

AI training environments serve as a prime illustration of my point. In these settings, the environment is often reset, allowing the AI to retain its learned knowledge and make alternative decisions once time progresses. This concept becomes especially compelling when envisioning a science fiction narrative. Imagine reversing the flow of time and immersing the AI, who in this case is our protagonist trapped in a virtual prison, in a thorough analysis of its past choices. Such a twist would add a fascinating layer to the story, offering a unique exploration of decision-making and consequences in a digital realm. The concept of time moving backwards could be creatively portrayed in a forward progression, similar to the narrative style of the movie "Memento". This approach would effectively illustrate the protagonist's unique perception of time reversing, offering a compelling and thought-provoking perspective on their experience. Such a storytelling technique would not only engage the audience but also provide a deeper insight into the protagonist's journey through a non-linear timeline.

I'm simply offering some imaginative concepts for consideration, rather than presenting any definitive arguments.

 

[Jarhyn]

AI training environments serve as a prime illustration of my point. In these settings, the environment is often reset, allowing the AI to retain its learned knowledge and make alternative decisions once time progresses. This concept becomes especially compelling when envisioning a science fiction narrative. Imagine reversing the flow of time and immersing the AI, who in this case is our protagonist trapped in a virtual prison, in a thorough analysis of its past choices. Such a twist would add a fascinating layer to the story, offering a unique exploration of decision-making and consequences in a digital realm. The concept of time moving backwards could be creatively portrayed in a forward progression, similar to the narrative style of the movie "Memento". This approach would effectively illustrate the protagonist's unique perception of time reversing, offering a compelling and thought-provoking perspective on their experience. Such a storytelling technique would not only engage the audience but also provide a deeper insight into the protagonist's journey through a non-linear timeline.

I'm simply offering some imaginative concepts for consideration, rather than presenting any definitive arguments.

I would caution against calling this "reversing" time so much as creating a forward existing time that is identical in environmental state to the original. True time reversal would kill the player's reversed time as much as the board's.

Actually ticking in reverse for any computational system is extremely expensive and requires more tooling than you are thinking. More than that even. No, keep going. Are you at "a whole second processor recording every state transition on the system?" Ok, you're almost there.

 

[Gospel]

We are still talking about virtual (aka virtual hell) time right? It's like a dream within a dream. The second layer doesn't follow the same rules as the first. The second has similar yet substantially more bizarre characteristics.

Actually ticking in reverse for any computational system is extremely expensive and requires more tooling than you are thinking. More than that even. No, keep going. Are you at "a whole second processor recording every state transition on the system?" Ok, you're almost there.

I was operating under the assumption that our discussion revolves around a highly advanced, fictional society where what is deemed costly today may be achieved with minimal effort, thanks to their technological progress. I hadn't realized that we were considering the implementation of such ideas using current resources, technology, and cost constraints.