From Escapism to Realism: Manifesting Universes with Mathematical Objects
With progressing information technology, humans increasingly escape into shared fictions that, unlike physical reality, depend on belief to exist. Instantiated mathematical objects, if achieved through cryptographic techniques, offer an alternative due to their objective independent existence. These objects would autonomously-operate, maintain their own secrets, and grow unbounded in complexity. They may transform shared fictions into objectively real universes that are enriching for humans to inhabit rather than escapist.
I. Escapist Fictions
Objective physical reality, governed by immutable natural laws, exists independently of human belief - gravity works whether we acknowledge it or not. This provides a robust foundation to exist on, but at the cost of customization. We cannot edit physical laws to spawn a metallic element with an ideal supply curve and fair distribution across Earth.
Unlike immutable physical laws, shared fictions are customizable to our choosing. As shown in Figures 1 and 2, as information technologies have expanded our capacity to construct shared fictions, we have increasingly escaped the "state of nature" to inhabit them.
Unlike objective physical reality, shared fictions depend on belief in an attesting authority. When this authority falters, as shown in Figure 3, the shared fiction dissolves - often with devastating consequences. Shared fictions offer customization at the cost of robustness.
Figure 1. The progressive development of information technology.
Figure 2. The corresponding increase in scale and sophistication of shared fictions.
Figure 3. The dissolution of shared fictions when belief in the attesting authority collapses.
Shared fictions will become increasingly sophisticated - generative simulations connected to our sensorium with AI and BCI technologies. However, they will always require escapism to inhabit because they depend on belief to exist and are never unanimously accepted like physical reality. As a result of the escapism, fictions remain dissolvable, risky to invest in, and fundamentally separate from reality.
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On the Design of Escaped Realities
Generative Anthropology
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The History and Future of Memeing Things Into Reality
Generative Anthropology
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The Originary Scene
Generative Anthropology
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The Straussian Moment
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Amusing Ourselves to Death
Escpaism Critique
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Hyperreality
Escpaism Critique
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Non-Things
Escpaism Critique
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Simulacra and Simulation
Escpaism Critique
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The Society of the Spectacle
Escpaism Critique
II. Mathematical Realism
Mathematical platonism offers a solution. It asserts that mathematical objects exist objectively and independently of belief; this allows them to achieve unanimous acceptance on par with physical reality. As shown in Figure 4, these objects have long been used to represent physical reality and successfully act within it, often when shared fictions failed.
Figure 4. The transition from fictional to mathematical representation of physical reality.
Beyond mere representation, mathematical objects have even begun manifesting new aspects of reality. Hash functions assign IDs to each unique piece of information - like fingerprints everyone sees, with no shared fictions necessary. Digital signatures prove information authorship with more unforgeability than physical signatures. Bitcoin, using these techniques, created a scarcity that objectively exists outside of physical spacetime and independently of belief in any attesting authority.
Mathematics' "unreasonable effectiveness" in bridging the physical and mental worlds, as seen in Figure 5, both represents and manifests new aspects of reality. Taking this to its logical conclusion reveals a profound implication: all mathematically-consistent universes may objectively exist, with our physical spacetime merely being the particular structure we currently observe. We may eventually manifest and truly inhabit, without any escapism, the ones of our choosing. However, the mathematical objects we can currently represent are too primitive for such complexity and scale.
Figure 5. The uninhabted platonic mathematical universe.
The objective physical world, the subjective mental world, and the Platonic mathematical world as a bridge between the two. Humanity has settled the physical world with industrial technology, and developed our mental world with information technology, but hasn't yet manifested the platonic mathematical world. Adapted from Roger Penrose's 2007 book, The Road to Reality
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Mathematical Universe Hypothesis
Mathematical Philosophy
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Modal Realism
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Parallel Universes
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The Emperor's New Mind
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The Unreasonable Effectivenss Of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences
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Three Worlds Model
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Anthropic Bias
Simulation Theory
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Are You Living in a Simulation
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Ontological Anti-Realism
Simulation Theory
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Reality+ Excerpt
Simulation Theory
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The Matrix as Metaphysics
Simulation Theory
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The Virtual and the Real
Simulation Theory
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Why Make a Matrix, And Why You Might Be In One
Simulation Theory
III. Instantiating Mathematical Objects
Mathematical objects exist abstractly, so we represent them symbolically. Written language enabled static symbolic representation, and electrical encoding advanced it into dynamic symbolic manipulation. By harnessing this advancement using networked computing, communication evolved from static text letters to the dynamic multimedia web of today, growing shared fictions into the size of entire cyberspaces in the process.
Cryptographic techniques, as shown in Figure 6, applied to networked computing are now similarly evolving mathematical objects from static forms to their dynamic, idealized endstate. These instantiated mathematical objects, if achieved, would autonomously self-operate, maintain their own secrets, serve everyone neutrally, and grow to unbounded complexity.
Figure 6. The cryptography development tree.
Fully-homomorphic encryption allows computation over a single source of private data without leaking the data or the output of the computation. Multi-party computation allows computation over multiple sources of private data without leaking the data but revealing the output of the computation. zkSNARKs prove correct execution of a computation on inputs kept private by the computer's owner. Witness encryption encrypts a message that can only be decrypted with a proof of a specific computation. Obfuscation allows a party to execute encrypted computation and produce correct outputs without seeing inputs or even the program. From gubsheep's 2024 essay, Programmable Cryptography
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Autonomous Worlds
Cryptographic Automata
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Atoms, Institutions, Blockchains
Cryptographic Automata
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Programmable Cryptography
Cryptographic Automata
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The God Protocols
Cryptographic Automata
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True Nyms and Crypto Anarchy
Cryptographic Automata
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Blockchains Response to The Sweep of History
Cryptographic Automata
IV. Manifesting Universes
Today, billions have escaped to cyberspaces - shared fictions dependent on corporate servers. This dependence restricts cyberspaces to malleable business logic. Servers need administrative control and corporations have financial and legal constraints. Only the corporation can validate state and actions within its cyberspace - Twitter can assert your follower count, Bob cannot. Hence, user actions remain temporary event logs that cannot connect to users' broader lives without corporate permission. Removal of this dependence would remove the requirement for escapism and make cyberspaces enriching to reality rather than separate from it.
In contrast, instantiated mathematical objects operate as immutable laws existing independently of authority. If used to construct a cyberspace, users would collectively run, upgrade, and scale it themselves. All user actions become permanent, objectively verifiable records that permissionlessly connect with their broader lives. As mathematical cyberspaces advance towards manifesting objectively real, sensorially equivalent, and infinitely imaginable universes... cyberspaces evolve from escapist diversions to enriching expansions of reality.
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Permutation of the Real
Substrate Independence Futurism
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Pigs in Cyberspace
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The Age of Em Preview
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