Scientists have conclusively proven that you are living in a computer simulation. Everything — your memories, relationships, feelings, experiences — is generated code. Your life continues exactly as before. You still feel everything. Your relationships are intact. Nothing changes except you know this fact. Does the proof change how you live?
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Question

Scientists have conclusively proven that you are living in a computer simulation. Everything — your memories, relationships, feelings, experiences — is generated code. Your life continues exactly as before. You still feel everything. Your relationships are intact. Nothing changes except you know this fact. Does the proof change how you live?

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Accepted Answer

61% chose "No — if it feels real, it is real" and 39% chose "Yes — knowing it's simulated changes everything". Nick Bostrom's simulation argument (2003) proposed that advanced civilisations would almost certainly run ancestor simulations, and that if they did, simulated beings would vastly outnumber 'real' beings — making it statistically likely we are simulated. The philosophical question is whether the ontological status of reality affects its value. Descartes asked a related question in his evil demon thought experiment. Most people's intuitive answer — 'nothing changes if it feels real' — aligns with functionalist views of consciousness.

The simulation question

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