Simulation is the sincerest form of flattery

Whenever sunsets are too radiant, salmon croquettes are too moist, or New Yorker cartoons are actually funny, someone invariably says, “See? More evidence we’re living in a simulation. I told you so.” I suppose. Why then should that possibility ruin any pleasure derived from such uncontroversially wonderful occurrences? Are you sending back the fish until it’s drier than pressure-treated wood, most likely cedar, used in backyard decks? I wouldn’t bet on it.

If something looks pleasant enough, don’t bite the computer-generated images that feed you. Let’s agree that we're residing in a simulation. So what? People say it like it’s a bad thing. Like they’ve never had an incredibly vivid dream they enjoyed. A dream that was cheaper and better than most vacations. One they didn’t want to wake up from.

I tend to believe that the reluctance to accept the reality we’re living in is a false reality is rooted in ego. Our own overwhelming sense of grandiosity that’s been cultivated and encouraged since birth. Parents, coaches and French french horn teachers have all led us to think that everything we do is special. In elementary school, many were taught that we’re not only better than everyone else, but also equal. A contradiction like this makes a person both confused and complex. I know that’s what they taught at my school. Every class began with a sly nod to a haphazardly sketched food chain on the chalk board. A stark reminder to any shark fans in the back of the room that unless you're swimming in the ocean, lost and harpoonless, our finned-friends must defer to homo sapiens. They're beneath us. Educational methods such as these were based on the idea that every child must grow up with an overflowing sense of his or her own self-worth. Self-esteem is only a start.   

A simulation puts everyone and everything on the exact same plane. Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos are no better than you or me. That’s fine. I already suspected as much. But do you think you’re better than Daffy Duck or Frodo Baggins? You’re not. They aren’t any less real than you are. In fact, you could argue that they're more real. Their reality is an honest simluation, one that doesn't attempt to deceive us. It just is. 

It’s all a simulation, okay? Strap in, tune out and enjoy the salmon.