Disappearing Santa Hat

[DebunkThisPls]

So did you tell your mom you were "very freaked out" by a magic teleporting Christmas hat, took a photo of the hat....and it transported again?

She simply turned off the TV and went to bed while you go post the story on a skeptics forum?

Believe it or not, kids don't tell their parents everything. I do tell my mom a lot of things, but I didn't mention this to her, I didn't think it mattered at the time. She could probably tell I was a little freaked out, but I never told her directly, no

 

[Matthew Ellard]

Believe it or not, kids don't tell their parents everything. I do tell my mom a lot of things, but I didn't mention this to her, I didn't think it mattered at the time. She could probably tell I was a little freaked out, but I never told her directly, no

Really? You were not freaked out enough to tell you mum after it teleported the first time and you took a photo as evidence and after that, it teleported again?

You asked your mother if she moved your magical teleporting Christmas hat, and she didn't ask "Why?"

 

[Matthew Ellard]

Just had the Hat in my room, right next to a shirt on my bed. I was laying down. I got up once but I can't remember if it was before or after I had placed it here. It's not there.

Sooooo... it didn't teleport when you were in the shower, nor was it on the blanket when you took the photo. So how did it move next to your shirt? You moved it, right?

 

[Matthew Ellard]

My family was with me the whole time. My mom never moved, my dad was in the other room and never came into the living room, my sister was right by me, and she's 9

Amazing.

 

[Matthew Ellard]

... after a shower I found it on my bed. Then I took a picture as I was, at the time, afraid it "teleported", and I wanted to make sure I didn't hallucinate it. I got up once or twice after this, and then at around 12, looked over and saw it wasn't at the foot of my bed, or on my pillow, so I then walked around the house and saw it on the couch.

So your family wasn't with you the entire time and your mother turned off the TV.

 

[Nakani]

Perhaps our youngest member is curious about the realm of possibilities, one in particular piques his interest. He thought a discussion with a forum of skeptics would be totally rad but he doesn't know how to present a case for something that has zero evidence.

An easy way would be if, what he would consider to be an example happened. An anecdote based on an actual hat is tailored to limit the explanations and focus the conversation. Add some hypothetical emotion, possible explanation and a thread was created.

 

[Matthew Ellard]

Perhaps our youngest member is curious about the realm of possibilities, one in particular piques his interest. He thought a discussion with a forum of skeptics would be totally rad but he doesn't know how to present a case for something that has zero evidence. .

I have directly asked him where he read the article about simulation theory as described by Elon Musk. He avoids answering that. Elon Musk did make a comment in an article in 2016.

I'm happy to move onto that, but he doesn't want to discuss it.

 

[Butter!]

ME, get a grip.

Even if this person were lying about every last thing (which I don't think he is), your reaction would be over-the-top.

DTP, if you want to move on, just ignore Matthew and answer Thermal's question about simulation theory and where you heard about it and what you think about it. That's the only way the discussion is going to move on.

Let's not get a huge portion sent to AAH again.

 

[Thermal]

Ok, we've presented the most reasonable explanation for a hat being in places it was not recalled to be: faulty recollection. How about less likely explanations? Say for instance, I dunno, glitches resulting from living in a simulation?

I'd say right off the bat that this is not a good explanation. Do you often see the hat turned black with pink trim for a couple hours? If there were as many glitches as we propose, the colors would be occasionally wrong too, right?

Ok, maybe you think it's only location that gets glitched (for whatever reason). Do the trees on your street occasionally appear on the wrong side of the road? Does your mom's car occasionally appear in the kitchen? Are your drinking glasses frequently lined up on the ceiling? Does your bathroom sometimes manifest as a streaming line of code with ERROR blinking in the middle?

See, if we were in a simulation that was prone to glitches, we would see others besides remembering a hat being in a different place. Why wouldn't your sneakers be found floating in the hallway once in a while? The complexity of the Universe is stunning. It doesn't stand to reason that mundanities like a hat's location across a few feet is going to be the sign of it.

As poster Myriad pointed out upthread, so what if we were ultimately part of something else that we don't understand, like something else's simulation? Does that make your mom or sister any less real to you? Do your fingers wiggle less when you want them to? If we are in a simulation, it wouldn't matter. Its being alive to us. Enjoy it. Theres a lot of fun to be had, and learning to be...uh, learned. Go set the simulation on fire with your career in journalism. Impress the Code Writers with how much you can do. Have at it, bro.

 

[alfaniner]

Yeah, I hate it when the sky and the trees get all pixelated. It's like the holodeck streaming can't keep up or something.

 

[theprestige]

I woke up this morning and the sky was the color of telvision tuned to a dead channel.

 

[Spektator]

I woke up this morning and the sky was the color of telvision tuned to a dead channel.

Drink a Gibson and enjoy the new romance, sir.

 

[P.J. Denyer]

Drink a Gibson and enjoy the new romance, sir.

Recipe please.

 

[Spektator]

Recipe please.

Simplest : 2.5 oz of gin (vodka if you insist), .5 oz of vermouth. Stir or shake in a well-chilled mixing glass. Pour into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a cocktail onion.

Bear in mind that I do not myself drink ardent spirits, though I did work as a bartender for two summers.

And really the labored pun referenced William Gibson's SF novel Neuromancer.

 

[Matthew Ellard]

How about less likely explanations? Say for instance, I dunno, glitches resulting from living in a simulation?

The obvious debunking point to this is that if the universe is a simulation, what is it a simulation of......the universe? That makes no sense.

Secondly, nor does quantum mechanics apply to teleporting party hats. If I measure a dual waveform/particle, I am collapsing that waveform and at extreme narrow probabilities I get some weird results. However quantum mechanics has no mechanism for making a large compound object turn into a recoverable dual waveform/particle thingee, where every subatomic particle remembers to form a party hat again. when that wave form collapses again.

 

[Thermal]

The obvious debunking point to this is that if the universe is a simulation, what is it a simulation of......the universe? That makes no sense.

Makes sense to me, especially if I were a Matrix fan. There is a Real World, and a simulation to keep the Coppertops happy and healthy. Or a grand sociological or evolutionary experiment. Remember, to a 14 year old, the Universe is not that big a place. Never saw Egypt or Antarctica. Pictures and writings are the only proof they are even there. Also, we could propose a multidimensional thingy that this Universe pales in comparison to.

Not advocating this, of course. But that the proposed simulation appears to be the Universe we know is no show-stopper.

Secondly, nor does quantum mechanics apply to teleporting party hats. If I measure a dual waveform/particle, I am collapsing that waveform and at extreme narrow probabilities I get some weird results. However quantum mechanics has no mechanism for making a large compound object turn into a recoverable dual waveform/particle thingee, where every subatomic particle remembers to form a party hat again. when that wave form collapses again.

Right. OP is 14. Working the straightforward angle here, although I alluded to the compound nature problem with the black and pink hat thing.

 

[Matthew Ellard]

Not advocating this, of course.

As You don't advocate this I'll offer a debunk.

Hypothetically to have a simulated universe that gives all the illusion of being the entire universe, with "real" humans in it, the simulation machine would have to be bigger than the actual universe. The simulation machine would have to still calculate and have all the same historical, quantum & otherwise events, that have had to occur everywhere in the real universe. For example, the simulated 13 billion year old photon from just after the big bang, still has to be in dual waveform particle state as the same photon in the real universe or it wouldn't make sense mathematically.

In the Matrix all humans still shared the same simulated world, so the entire universe would have to remain consistent. That sort of doesn't make sense when you introduce controlled quantum probability

Secondly, the Matrix made no sense whatsoever. What energy can you obtain from keeping humans that you can't with, say, elephants or dogs?

I guess that's why the Wachowski sisters said it was a coming out cry about their future simultaneous sex changes from being male.....and not a science fiction film.

"The Matrix is a 'trans metaphor', Lilly Wachowski says"
https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-53692435

OP is 14. .

Which is an odd claim as Elon Musk's magazine article, on simulated universes was five years ago and the OP was supposedly reading at 9.

 

[Nakani]

Originally Posted by*Thermal*
OP is 14. .

Mathew Ellard

Which is an odd claim as Elon Musk's*magazine article, on simulated universes was five years ago and the OP was supposedly reading at 9.

We could assume he read the musings of Musk at any point after 2015.

If the anecdote is a genuine attempt to describe actual events, it would seem that the glitch is in the matrix of his mind.

Also, my apologies for the name calling. I mostly just wanted to see if the OP knew who Matlock was.

 

[Thermal]

As You don't advocate this I'll offer a debunk.

Hypothetically to have a simulated universe that gives all the illusion of being the entire universe, with "real" humans in it, the simulation machine would have to be bigger than the actual universe. The simulation machine would have to still calculate and have all the same historical, quantum & otherwise events, that have had to occur everywhere in the real universe. For example, the simulated 13 billion year old photon from just after the big bang, still has to be in dual waveform particle state as the same photon in the real universe or it wouldn't make sense mathematically.

In the Matrix all humans still shared the same simulated world, so the entire universe would have to remain consistent. That sort of doesn't make sense when you introduce controlled quantum probability

Your take assumes a physical simulation. As I recall the movie, the humans were literally plugged in to an electronic simulation. Kind of like the Sims. The Sims world didn't build real houses, right? The Matrix shot electrical impulses to the brain that mimiced sensory input. In theory, the machines who created the Matrix did so on a laptop or whatever. No real ages of photons were needed; just the sensory input that convinced the subject that it was there.

Secondly, the Matrix made no sense whatsoever. What energy can you obtain from keeping humans that you can't with, say, elephants or dogs?

Brain processing power? Neural activity? Humans have dramatically larger brains than other animals. Plus my recollection of the movie's premise was that machines and humans were battling it out, so the machines had all these perfectly good humans to harvest power from that they needed to get rid of anyway. Two birds , one stone.

I guess that's why the Wachowski sisters said it was a coming out cry about their future simultaneous sex changes from being male.....and not a science fiction film.

"The Matrix is a 'trans metaphor', Lilly Wachowski says"
https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-53692435

Yeah, I heard that before. And much like calling a banana taped to the wall 'art', they can call it whatever they want. To the rest of us, it is indisputably and by any definition a sci-fi fantasy action movie.

Movie discussion tho: I expected the character Switch to have some kind of different real-world appearance, because of the name and the only one appearing in all white. I read somewhere that she was originally written to be a male in the real world?

Which is an odd claim as Elon Musk's magazine article, on simulated universes was five years ago and the OP was supposedly reading at 9.

Ok, skeptical argument against your criticism here:

Our unreliable narrator claimed that it was both a magazine article and a pop up link, as well as saying he was not sure. He thought it might have been the space.com story he posted earlier, from 2018. Why do you ignore his link and require the article he doesn't cite?

Now, only you are trying to lock him onto the SciAm article from 2016. You also lock him onto reading it immediately upon its original paper publication date. Why? In an America doctor or dentist's office, the waiting rooms are filled with old magazines. Years old. Why do you require that he read that specific article when it first came out?

Say he meant an online magazine, as opposed to a paper publication. Reasonable enough. You are surely aware that he could be linking to magazine articles that are older than he is, no? I can refer to a newspaper article I read from the freaking 1800s, while literally meaning a link to a website archive. Although we have valid criticisms of the OP's claims, this isn't one of them.

 

[CORed]

I really need an answer from a skeptic. This just happened about 20 minutes ago. I had a Santa hat that I left on the couch. It was there for maybe 2 hours, at least I know for a fact it was, and walked in and out of the living room several times between 8-10. But at around 10, i started watching a movie with my sister. I was on the couch the whole time, didn't move once. I am 99.999% sure the Santa hat was beside me. I have a memory of looking at it, in the dark with the TV on. The room was only dark during the movie, when I didn't move, and I haven't had the hat since the first when I put it in the closet by mistake and just never felt like getting it. Ok, but the big part is that I walked into my bedroom at around 11 when the movie was over (it was a TV special but same thing) I saw it sitting on my bed. Now, between 8-10 I walked into my room at least 5-10 times. I don't have a memory of moving it, and my sister nor my mom saw me do so, but it is possible I moved it and forgot about it, which I've doing a lot recently. Yet that doesn't explain why I remember seeing it. It's really, really, scaring me. I'm kinda freaking out right now, and I know I can't get a definitive answer, I just could really use some speculation about this

Edit: Now that I think about it, between 8-10, the last time that I know for a fact that I saw it, I only got up once, and I did go in that area, but I don't remember walking over far enough to grab rhe hat, as I wouldve had to walk over at least another 5-10 feet

Edit 2: Just had the Hat in my room, right next to a shirt on my bed. I was laying down. I got up once but I can't remember if it was before or after I had placed it here. It's not there. Found it in the same place I thought saw it the other time. I'm scared out of my mind. No one's playing a prank on me, I was with the whole family the whole time, except for my dad but he was in my parents room and never got up once. We only have two hats and one has a much bigger pom pom, so it's very easy to tell the difference between the two. My mom and sister remember seeing the Hat before the movie started so I couldn't have hallucinated the whole thing, it's still possible I hallucinated or misremebered one part, but it was there at one point in time. And for the second one I know for a fact I had it there because I even took a picture, as i was so scared what happened the first time might happen again and i wanted to be skeptical and sure I had it. Now, I don't know when I went in the other room, I just know that i walked to around that area of the couch , talked to my mom, and said told her I was going to bed. I don't remember, at least 100% if I saw the Hat when I went into my room, as my memory there is a bit foggy since I cut the lights off and i tend to forget when i can't see well. But look, I'm really, really scared right now. I don't think this is real anymore, I think this may be a simulation. I know I've had lots of these issues over the last couple months as a result of my depression and anxiety, but those times I had possible explanations, this time I have people who saw it with me and I can't wrap my head around either one

Well, clearly Santa came down the chimney while you weren't looking, took his hat back, and went back up the chimney and back to the north pole.

Either that or you forgot what you really did with it.

Seriously, I have lost track of something that I was sure I knew the exact location of so many times that either I am haunted by an goddamn army of poltergeists, or I'm just an absent-minded fool. It couldn't possibly be the second one. I regret to inform you that it will likely get worse as you get older. I guess poltergeists like old farts.