By Bryan Caplan
There are roughly 1057 atoms in our solar system, and about 1070
atoms in our galaxy, which holds most of the mass within a million
light years. So even if we had access to all the matter within a
million light years, to grow by a factor of 10200, each atom would on average have to support an economy equivalent to 10140 people at today’s standard of living, or one person with a standard of living 10140 times higher, or some mix of these.
I’ll reply with a hypothetical, naturally. Here goes:
Suppose the universe contains one person and one really good virtual reality machine. In this virtual reality, the universe’s sole inhabitant is a god. Whatever he thinks, happens. Question for Robin: As long as this person regards virtual reality as a good substitute for actual reality, why shouldn’t we say that his standard of living is not just 10140 times greater than ours, but infinitely greater than ours?