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Do we care about existential risk to the universe?
If the universe is a non-naive simulation run by a reasonably cautious entity, thinking certain thoughts might end the simulation prematurely or elicit serious fuckery from those running the simulation.
Current thinking is that this issue is too big to deal with at this juncture, that we should seek to defend the Earth before we seek to defend the Universe itself.
I would say yes.
Defending the Earth can be considered as a proof of defending some part of the Universe, so although it does not ensure defending the whole universe, it means protecting some part of it.
But we can only know so much about what thoughts are considered Dangerous or Wrong by the entities running the simulation... the only insight we have is What Would We Do... but if we live in a non-naive simulation then presumably we are at least conceivable to the folks upstairs... it's a pretty thorny puzzle, and since it requires absolute control over one's mind in order to avoid triggering the loss condition, it's not clear that it makes sense to try to avoid it given that we are all a bunch of monkeys.
Instead of creating general rules of what to think, one can deal with each situation specifically. Meaning is often grounded in what is natural to do.
Reading an introductory book on Ethics, where I found this profound idea.
Also, if we live in a non-naive simulation, the folks upstairs are either quite liberal or do not have good security practices, since I thought a bunch of thoughts this morning that would cause them no end of trouble and was apparently allowed to retain the memory.
Meaning is grounded in what is natural to do, but unfortunately this is the primary mechanism that hostile simulations use to extract information from prisoners. What is natural is often different from what is right.
One realization I had when trying to find a counter-argument to the simulation hypothesis, was that eternal inflation might have an effect which produces very complex and weird outcomes although it is not a simulation. So, that's my current go-to-explanation why the world is so complex.