<start>Simulators
A flight simulator is used as an example to show the usefulness of software that simulates reality and sends signals about reality to a sensor of reality.
Thank you for reading beyond what is in reality a horrible subtitle.
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Philosophical Issue: Are Humans Simulators, operating as FSMs inside Reality?
Humans experience what they believe is reality through the five senses: touch, smell, sound, sight, and what? The senses are perceived by human body parts: the skin, the nose, the ears, the eyes, and the what? The sensors perceive physical attributes signaled by objects that exist in reality around humans: big molecules of some thing (touch), small molecules of some thing (smell), waves through the air (sound), waves through space (sight), and…
the “what” is the sense of taste, perceived by a tongue, judged harshly by all.
Taste and smell are based on perceiving molecules, through similar but also different mechanisms. Sound and sight are based on perceiving the difference in waves of air pressure over time and the effect of radiation on the inner eye. Conditions about everything are perceived by the largest organ, the skin.
Accept signals and react: operate as an FSM.
The best word for the task of making a simulator do something is “operating”. The human configures and manages the simulator while it actively operates as a complex collection of FSMs. Humans get through the day by operating FSMs.
Accept a signal from any producer considered to be valid.
Imagine waiting at a concert, with music in your ears from your phone. When you play the music on your phone, you hear the phone and you know it comes from the phone. The same is true of the concert music. You identify signalers.
Human signal processing of signals from the human ear is very sophisticated. When the concert music becomes audible as clearly as the phone music, your ears can separate and consider both signalers. In the same way, when a small band of 4 or an orchestra plays, individuals are identifiable. Your mind is able to separate and identify each signaler, based on input as perceived by the ear.
Accept a valid signal as real.
The funny thing, and the fun thing, is that a human can tell their brain that a particular signal is valid, enough to be considered to be from reality. This is called “suspension of disbelief”; when the mind signals “Hey, that’s not real!”, a human skill allows humans to believe it is real, and then make use of and write simulators, enjoy science fiction movies about time travel, and pretend to fly.
Allow any reference to a signal to connect to the real signal or the virtual signal.
In the flight simulator, the user may configure the weather or look up the weather on the interwebs. The simulator does not know the weather source, only a signal as provided by the virtual weather (menus), or, NOAA and NWS.
