Why Simulation Theory is a Sign of the End Times
Why You Really Think You Live in a Simulation 2of3: The Worse News
Part 1: The bad news—You really do live in a simulation.
Part 2: The worse news—Believing you live in a simulation might be a sign of the end times.
Part 3: The good news—You can escape anytime and we will all be okay.
Part 2: The Worse News
Fake It ‘Til You Unmake It
Last week, I wrote about how the reason you think you live in a simulation is that we as a society have more or less turned our entire daily experience into a giant simulation. This isn’t something totally new, civilization by its very definition is about modeling the base reality that is survival and reproduction with symbols, and then treating those symbols as important, even sacred. I’ve talked about the importance of rituals before. I’ve talked about practice. But a problem arises when you focus too much on getting good at the practice at the expense of reality.
Take sports for example. Sports began as a simulation of war. The Olympics were originally a series of sacred games that allowed participating city-states to gain glory and resolve the question of “who would win in a war” without actually having to fight the war. The life-or-death stakes have been removed, but the exercises—running, javelin throwing, wrestling, boxing, etc.—could more or less model the likely results of an actual war. If our best athletes are better at these things than your best athletes, chances are we’d get the same results on the battlefield. Bragging rights go to us, everybody has something to train towards, and best of all, if those uncivilized non-Greeks turned up to test us, everyone’s alive and in fighting shape.
Problems arise when we forget why we use physical prowess in sports as a marker for battlefield prowess, or when we start watering down the sports to make them less like war but do not adjust our expectations of the sports’ ability to simulate reality. It’s fine to treat entertainment as entertainment. It’s terrible to treat entertainment as a practical demonstration. How effective were the gladiators at defending the Roman Empire during its waning years? How effective were the charioteers? What sort of fight did the ballplayers, acrobats, and actors put up against the Visigoths and Vandals?
A similar story is told in the beloved classic, Outlaws of the Marsh, in which a thug with no major talent besides kickball catches the eye of the crown prince and becomes chancellor to a decadent emperor during the last days of the Song Dynasty. Where athletic mastery was seen as a sign of life mastery, when the symbolic replaces what it’s symbolizing, disaster follows.
At its most basic level, this is what happened with nearly every major civilization that collapsed before our own. To avoid having to deal with “the real thing” where “the real thing” is “some form of dangerous or uncomfortable activity”, we create an approximation of “the real thing” and then use the simulation as a proxy. The model is easier to deal with, more predictable, and gets it right most of the time. Over time, even the edges in the simulation are too uncomfortable for us to face, so we modify the simulation, adding layers to make it safer, less painful, more gentle. Soon, all we know is the simulation, even convincing ourselves that the simulation is all there is when the simulation itself couldn’t be further attached from reality.
Life as a LARP
This has led to a lot of comparisons between this or that art or activity and the practice of dressing up as fantasy characters and acting out Dungeons & Dragons in the park, aka Live Action Role Playing, or LARP.
I first encountered the term being used outside its intended purpose in the world of martial arts. What began as preparation against violence gradually gets watered down for strip malls and children’s classes, until the martial art you practice becomes indistinguishable from training for the theatre, for sacred ceremonies, for sport. Soon, you forget why you’re training, or convince yourself that the techniques which look graceful onstage, win competitions, or develop flexibility and discipline are actually the most effective for dealing with assailants in a dark alley at 2 AM. You forget that many of the movements you practice are meant for specific rulesets, for what are effectively duels between parties that agree to play by those rules, and not effective against unpredictable, “uncivilized” opponents.
Today, as more and more of our intelligentsia become convinced that we are all living in some nefarious computer-generated virtual reality, is it any wonder that the term LARP is getting applied to more and more facets of our existence? In the political realm, our leaders seem to lack the skills or fortitude to actually lead. Rather, they seem to be LARPing at leadership.
Things are no better on the grassroots activist side either. Where once the feeling was that those who protested had achievable aims, today many of our marches seem like LARPs for people who want to play at rebellion.
And Then Things Get Very Real
There’s a general mistrust of logic and reason that runs through most traditional cultures rooted in the understanding that the mind has a tendency to fall in love with its own creations. As generations living peacefully behind the walls of an empire progress, that mistrust tends to go away. People who once obsessed over the defense of the borders gradually begin to obsess over more frivolous pursuits, like gambling or theatre-going, shopping, or art. Towards the end of the good times, an uneasiness creeps in. None of it feels real, there’s no way things are this good. The truth is, it may not be. Data will tell you that a lot of what’s really happening is actually being hidden. Who cares if Rome is burning if the capital is now in Constantinople? What difference does it make if the Jurchens rule China and the emperor is a puppet if you still have an emperor?
And then, seemingly overnight, it stops being good. Suddenly, nobody saw it coming and nobody’s equipped to deal with it. The tower topples, and everyone’s in freefall.
How could this have happened? How could we have kept it from happening? Oddly enough, preparation is prevention.
That’s what the next part is about. Getting out of the simulation of our own creation.
Part 3: The good news—You can escape anytime and we will all be okay.
No time for too many recos this week. But if you’d like to check out the Chinese Classic beloved by East Asians including Korea and Japan, check out Outlaws of the Marsh.
I appreciate how you have articulated the situation. I agree that only fighting is fighting. Sport is not combat, nor should it be, and one will never achieve true fighting ability through sport.
As a side consideration, perhaps there's a place to make combat into art. Not to pretend that will ever make someone a fighter, but to shape the savage into something else. That shouldn't be a construct, but a way to enhance our lives and help our personalities develop.