We are either Manifesting for [them] or for ]us[. pic.twitter.com/7czKl21Png

— Vincent Kennedy (@VincentCrypt46) February 5, 2023

Two interesting responses to the above:

Elon Musk on the subject, four years ago.

Basically, he says that video games are becoming so sophisticated that sooner or later they will be indistinguishable from reality. In which case, what is “reality”? And, he seems to claim, the end-game is civilization will become extinct. (I presume he means because humans always get technological, which sooner or later “goes nuclear” in one way or another.)

What are the building blocks of any simulation? Data, tiny dots added/networked together — “compounded”— in more and more sophisticated ways. In other words, his world view is atomistic.

Which means: that old adage, “the map is not the territory” still makes sense. No matter how much a detailed map may appear to match the territory it aims/pretends to “cover,” it is still composed of finite points that we assume are identical to parts/elements of the whole (the territory); these parts/elements we’ve “identified” are themselves based on deeper assumptions, of which we can never reach the bottom! The territory is always larger, deeper, fuller, than any map. Just as:

There’s always a deeper set of assumptions

below those we are inventing/using

now.

There is no bottom.

We are always constructing with our minds

from the void.

Nevertheless, DO we live in a simulation?

I have no idea!

And, does it matter?