Text: un: tangofoxtrot

[fleetcaptain]

I know some of us have been feeling unsettled since the world was "reset." The thought that maybe nothing here is real isn't easy to wrap your arms around. You start to question everything: every action, every decision, every bond you’ve formed. You wonder if it matters. You wonder what it means.

And I'm not going to tell you that there's any one answer to that. On earth, there have been philosophers since at least the seventeenth century who've grappled with questions like this, without coming to any firm conclusions.

In his Meditations on First Philosophy, René Descartes laid out the Evil Demon Hypothesis as a sort of epistemological experiment. Descartes imagines a powerful demon that creates an illusion of an external world so indistinguishable from reality that it could make Descartes believe he was sitting by a fire, even though he wasn't. As the existence of a simulation indistinguishable from reality is unfalsifiable, Descartes concluded that the foundation of all knowledge - the only thing that could not be doubted -- is the existence of the self. Most famously expressed by his statement "I think, therefore I am."

Since then, versions of the same thought experiment have popped up. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the idea that all reality is a simulation gained some traction. First by philosophers and epistemologists, later by scientists, then by whatever Elon Musk was.

But the further down the chain you got, the more divorced from the original purpose of the thought experiment it became. Cartesian skepticism was a way to pick out fundamental truths about the nature of knowledge itself. To show that reality is experienced subjectively, that our senses are not always reliable, and there are few things that we can know with absolute certainty. That our observations may be dubious, but the existence of the observer is unimpeachable.

One thing you can take away from that idea -- what some people do take away from it -- is solipsism. Solipsism, as a philosophy, is pretty juvenile. It takes the idea that we can't be sure of anything but our own existence and extrapolates that only you and what you want are important. What you do doesn't matter. Other people don't matter. What you do to other people matters least of all. What reason is there not to be selfish, if you are the only thing with any weight?

You could do the same now -- you could decide that, if the world we're living in isn't real, then what we do here doesn't matter. That nothing matters. You could take this as a reason to be the worst version of yourself.

But I think that's a mistake.

Whether this is real or not, we are real. The way we treat each other, the choices we make, the parts of ourselves that we share -- those things are real. They're ours. They're part of each of us. No matter where we are, we still have the power to define who we are and what we stand for.

You'll never be sure that the life you're living, or the place you're living it, is "real." You can't be. Why not do the right thing, just in case it matters? Why not treat people well, just in case they're real? What do we lose by treating people with kindness and respect? What do we lose by being the people we'd want to be if we knew it counted?

Meaning isn't handed to us. We create it. Through our actions. Through our connections. Through our kindness. Through our courage to face uncertainty and keep going.

Every day, we make the choice to push forward. To protect each other. That's what matters. That's what makes us who we are. Whether we're living in a simulation or not, our values don't change. The way we care for one another doesn't change. We still have the power to be kind, to be brave, to stand together.

So let’s keep doing what we’ve always done—make our own meaning. That’s real enough for me.

Comments

text; un: Sugarlips (I'm so sorry for this thirsty ass woman)

[southernchere]

Sugar, I bet ya still got that new car smell.

You charm birds out of trees often?

[fleetcaptain]

Only if the car you've got in mind smells like sandalwood and ozone.

Not often. If I encounter a bird on a normal day, there's something seriously wrong with my altimeter.

[southernchere]

When ya get to fly around as often as ya walk like I do, breathin in the high air ain't that bad.

Ya lost me on that, Honey, but I reckon it's a future tech thing. If ya ain't got birds then I'm gonna guess ya lived in space. I went over yonder way before.

[fleetcaptain]

A fellow pilot, then? Or naturally gravity defiant, which I've come to understand is not entirely unprecedented around these parts?

Good guess. I've spent about as much of my life out of orbit as I've spent in it.

[southernchere]

I'm a pilot of my own self. I'm a mutant and one of my powers is flight.

Space is too wide for me. Not enough green acres, haystacks, frog giggin. My name is Rogue, Sweetie. What's yours?

text; un: principal

[nuraridouman]

Allow me to summarize:

"Don't be an ass just because you're having an existential crisis."

....is that about right?

[fleetcaptain]

Yeah, actually. You pretty much nailed it.

[nuraridouman]

I'm glad. It'd be embarrassing if I failed in giving succinct summaries that consider a typical student's attention span, given my occupation ....back home, as you'd put it?

[fleetcaptain]

Would that occupation be a principal, by any chance?

(I know, I know, nothing gets past me.)

[nuraridouman]

Why change a nickname when it's both true and has been around forever?

I actually kept it as my tag on this network in the hopes that anybody from my home might see it and know to come find me.

voice; un:curtaincall

[endcaller]

The parts of this star that are a mere simulation are hardly worth the effort of a second thought.

But the parts that are real are real enough to worry about.

[fleetcaptain]

Real enough to worry about. Not the most comforting way to frame it, but I can't say you're wrong.

How do you think the ratio shakes out?

[endcaller]

Most of this mockery of a world is illusion. Our homes, our neighbors, perhaps even our bodies are all fabrications of the AI!

The only things that are real for certain are our souls. Should the corruption that was taking hold 'ere we performed the reset return then, well... We could lose even that.

[fleetcaptain]

I guess that depends. If you're a simulated version of yourself, do you share a soul, or do you each have your own?

[endcaller]

Quite a thought, isn't it!?

I've a few theories about the copying of souls but never mind that.

If our souls here are separate from the ones we have outside the simulation, then my point hardly changes. The corruption could come, erode our souls, and we, the we who exist here, will become naught but data—as if we never existed at all. What an unfortunate end for the Chosen.

May the other "we" live happily ever after, I suppose.

text | un: user010102

[computation]

Your profile skipped over the fact that you're a Descartes fan. I'm more into Schrödinger. Aren't we all quantumly entangled?

Anyway, I think you owe me a game of 3D chess.

[fleetcaptain]

I wouldn't say he's a personal favorite - I'm more of a moral philosophy man - but you have to give him credit as a foundational epistemologist. Do I like Schrödinger? Yes and no.

That's right, isn't it? I'm sure there's a board around here somewhere.

[computation]

You're lucky I can tell you understand Schrödinger based on the professorial lecture you just gave. You really think anyone is going to listen to it?

Sounds like a you problem. I already offered to lose repeatedly until I figure out the rules.

[fleetcaptain]

I don't know. If they do, I hope they find something useful or comforting in it. But ultimately, what other people think of me, and what they do with my advice, isn't really my business.

I'll check with Spock. If nothing else, I'm sure he's got a treatise on 3D chess notation for correspondence chess memorized.

[computation]

I agree with you, for what it's worth. Either we're all real, we all matter, every single thing and person matters, or nothing does. And I'd rather not live like that. [ Not anymore. ]

Ohhh, I'm gonna learn 3D chess and it's going to be in notation? Not saying I'm not up for the challenge, but at that point we might as well make the application ourselves. Release 3D chess to the masses.

text, un: fauna

[nightwild]

im not reading all that
thats too long

[fleetcaptain]

That's okay. The basic idea is that, whether the world we're living in is "real" or not, we are. So we should be good to each other, and true to our best selves.

[nightwild]

oh
more of that
no shit
whether or not this place is real we still gotta eat
getting too in your own head about whats real or not isnt gonna be useful
you gotta survive like its real if youre gonna figure out how to fight back

[fleetcaptain]

Fair point.

And just to reiterate-- eating is still the primary use for pressure cookers.

text; un: dawnlord

[cartridgerefill]

Marvelously written.

While I find it interesting that we're in a simulation, does that truly change our truest selves? Our intent, our goals? What is real is in our hearts and minds. That, I think, is the most important takeaway from our experiences.

You are well spoken, my friend. Thank you for expressing yourself so honestly. I'm certain it will help others.