Do you ever wonder if our reality is actually a simulation? This idea has been gaining popularity lately, especially with Elon Musk speaking about it. Many thinkers discuss the probability of us living in a simulation and ponder its origins. However, they overlook a crucial perspective that is so obvious it’s hard to notice, like water to fish. This perspective is fundamental to everything we observe, think, and create. In this article, I will reveal the definitive answer to the simulation question, without the need for expensive laboratories, advanced degrees, or endless expert studies. Once you grasp this insight, you’ll see your life and the world in a whole new light.
Let’s dive into three simple revelations that can revolutionize your understanding of reality and potentially transform your life.
To start, let’s define two key terms: Simulation and Reality.
- Simulation: The representation of one system’s behavior or characteristics through the use of another system.
- Reality: The state or quality of being real; resemblance to what is real; a real thing or fact; real things, facts, or events as a whole; the independent existence of something from which all other things derive. Note: The first part of the reality definition is circular, not a true definition.
Revelation 1: Reality Isn’t Real. It’s intriguing that the concept of reality, which most of us are certain about, can only be defined philosophically. Despite this, we live with unwavering confidence in our understanding of what is real. Our parents and ancestors have ingrained this certainty in us for centuries. So, let’s pause for a moment and seriously consider this observation. Every experience you’ve had and will have is influenced by what you perceive as real. This becomes particularly significant if we are indeed living in a simulation. Take a breath, slow down, and open your mind to the possibility that your notion of reality may not be as concrete as you believe.
Revelation 2: Your Brain Constrains Reality. Everything you “know” is processed internally. Your brain receives sensory input from your surroundings and transforms it into thoughts and feelings. It generates conscious sensations like sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touch. However, your brain, enclosed in your skull, can never directly interact with the “objective world.” This means that your entire life experience is mediated by your senses and the sense-making processes inside your mind. It’s becoming evident that your entire existence is shaped by a simulated reality within your own consciousness.
Revelation 3: Senses as Simulation Interfaces. As an engineer, I find the term “transducer” fitting for our sensory apparatus. A transducer converts one form of energy into another. Transducers are used in various technologies to make our modern world function. What we rarely question is that our senses serve as transducers, translating inputs from reality into outputs sent to our brain. Consider the philosophical question: “If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?” As it turns out, without a “hearing transducer” present, the falling tree doesn’t create a sound. It only generates air pressure waves. Only if a sentient being with the ability to hear is there, will they experience sound. In other words, our senses simulate the reality we perceive. Sound, along with all our other senses, doesn’t exist independently in nature. Thus, our senses are incapable of directly experiencing an objective reality. We are, in fact, living within a personal simulation created by our senses and our sense-making apparatus. Feel free to prove me wrong.
Now your mind is likely to jump to questions such as: Yeah, this is great but I want to know if this is a computer simulation. And if so, who created it? Why did they create it? Who are they? And on and on. These questions probe into the unknowable and don’t take us anywhere. This is the nature of the discursive, self-referencing ego mind which will forever project power and agency outside of itself like a perpetual mental masturbation machine. This property of the mind works in perfect synchrony with the other aforementioned components to make the simulation all the more convincing. A topic we will likely explore further in future essays.
Having the knowledge that life is a simulation, you face a choice. You can file this new piece of interesting information away and continue to lumber along as a pawn in the simulation. Or, you can become a lucid character in this game. You can choose to fully engage the world in possession of the greater power that comes with greater truth and learn to wield it artfully within this new operating system. If you choose the latter, I invite you to send me your comments and questions. Then join me as we journey further down this rabbit hole. We’ll begin by answering the next question: You are Most Certainly Living in a Simulation, Now What?
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