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Notes -
I've been thinking about this exact thing lately. But if it's true, are all 8 billion of us being tested? If it's just me, do we really need so many people being simulated? Are they actually being simulated with a high level of fidelity or are most people NPCs, i.e. rough approximations of human beings? Are there really 8 billion people or just the few hundred that I know? Maybe they're not even being fully simulated most of the time when I'm not around them.
If it's true, does it make sense for there to be religions that promise reward for doing good and punishment for doing evil? Wouldn't it be better to test how I would act if there weren't such incentives? Or is part of the plan to align me by making me aware of a religion?
Why was there no serious effort to make me religious by putting me in a religious family? Am I being tested for how I would act if I realized the religion was false?
Why not put me in a position of power to see how I would act if I actually had some control over other people?
Maybe I'm just an extra character to help align someone else in my world who is the AI being aligned.
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