I get what a simulation is, at least in the very literal sense. What I’m experiencing feels like reality, it would have to, it’s all any of us have ever known. But what would it mean for us if we truly lived in a simulation? Can it just be turned off and we cease to exist? If we found out we did live in one, how could it change our reality? How do we even hypothesize such a thing? I have zero background in physics just so we’re at an understanding of my physics understanding.
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It is a philosophical question.
The famous movie “The Matrix” was inspired by the philosopher Baudrillard and his idea of Simulation and Simulacra ([brief scene where the book is shown](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6R94keJcHk))
So what did Baudrillard say?
He had the idea that everything in the world, everything that we experience is part of a simulation. There is a simulacra (things that are being represented) and simulation is the process.
A very simple example – a kid doesn’t want to go to school so he fakes a fever. The simulacra would be the ilness/fever (because he is not actually sick) and the simulation would be the method to achieve, say putting the thermometer into tea, pretending to be very tired etc…
This idea is applied to everything. The Cold War was a simulation – the actual underlying real threat (nuclear wipeout) never happened but there was a simulation – proxy wars, etc.
Any of the proxy wars are also a simulation. Most USA citizens did not feel the reality of those wars. They saw a simulation through media etc etc, of what is happening.
All of this was to say – there is no need to talk about any underlying reality. Because people live in this world through a simulation. (This was very different at the time, because a lot of philosophy was still based on seeking out the truth, seeking out what is reality, etc. and Baudrillard basically said – why? The world runs as a simulation.
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