A man's grief drives him to explore a conspiracy theory that just happens to be true... he is living in a simulation. A fun premise, and it did make me think, but I found it a little unsatisfying. Guess that makes me a true American where I like my stories neat and well packaged.
The boundaries of the simulation are not at all clear. Was his daughter a person? Was his wife a person? Or were they just part of the simulation? If his daughter wasn't part of the simulation then where was she while dead? So how many real humans are there and how many of his friends and family are just the simulation? Are their bodies their own or part of the simulation?
Is his drive toward the breaking of the simulation just part of the test, of the game? To test his mind? His love? Was his wife real and crazy or just another part of the 'maze'? Is he the only real thing? Can the simulation alter his mind or memories? Does only vague memory remain at the end (after the reboot) or does he remember the former life with his daughter dying on a conscious level? Is he just so happy for the reboot he's okay being in a simulation now? If his mind is erased for the reboot then it would only be consistent that the events culminating in the reboot truly were a test or the simulation could have erased his mind much sooner and saved a lot of effort.
If the quantum computer is part of the simulation and only runs when someone observed it, then wouldn't it just pause when he stops looking at the terminal or the omnipotent simulation erase or stop the program?
All these questions were fun to ponder. But in the end only one consistent conclusion remains... nothing is real but the protagonist himself (unless the bodies are simulations too and some mind erasure is possible). And those controlling the maze are real. And that makes me feel sad for him. Well, maybe. Free will in this universe exists, but what good is free will when only walls surround you, forcing you down prescribed paths regardless of you desires?
Or maybe the maze is built according to your desires? Perhaps solving the maze means endless restarts until you get to die happy and without regrets. In other words the walls don't change but somehow the maze already knows the path to your ideal happiness. All you need is to keep loading your saved games until you get there with no mistakes (e.g. lletting his daughter die was a mistake) If the simulator erases your conscious memories of the previous attempts, and all that remains is a growing intuition that guides your decisions until you navigate life without mistakes and die happy, is that really so bad? Is the fact that he worked so hard to get to the simulation broken part of the test of his true desires? Maybe the walls do change based on what the simulation/simulators learn of you.
And when you finally die happy, is that just when you are finally removed from the maze and you (if you are even flesh and blood as we know it) have now earned the right to live in the reality in which the simulation is being run? Oh, and is that just another simulation run from an even higher reality? Turtles all the way down... and up.
I guess it really was thought provoking.
The boundaries of the simulation are not at all clear. Was his daughter a person? Was his wife a person? Or were they just part of the simulation? If his daughter wasn't part of the simulation then where was she while dead? So how many real humans are there and how many of his friends and family are just the simulation? Are their bodies their own or part of the simulation?
Is his drive toward the breaking of the simulation just part of the test, of the game? To test his mind? His love? Was his wife real and crazy or just another part of the 'maze'? Is he the only real thing? Can the simulation alter his mind or memories? Does only vague memory remain at the end (after the reboot) or does he remember the former life with his daughter dying on a conscious level? Is he just so happy for the reboot he's okay being in a simulation now? If his mind is erased for the reboot then it would only be consistent that the events culminating in the reboot truly were a test or the simulation could have erased his mind much sooner and saved a lot of effort.
If the quantum computer is part of the simulation and only runs when someone observed it, then wouldn't it just pause when he stops looking at the terminal or the omnipotent simulation erase or stop the program?
All these questions were fun to ponder. But in the end only one consistent conclusion remains... nothing is real but the protagonist himself (unless the bodies are simulations too and some mind erasure is possible). And those controlling the maze are real. And that makes me feel sad for him. Well, maybe. Free will in this universe exists, but what good is free will when only walls surround you, forcing you down prescribed paths regardless of you desires?
Or maybe the maze is built according to your desires? Perhaps solving the maze means endless restarts until you get to die happy and without regrets. In other words the walls don't change but somehow the maze already knows the path to your ideal happiness. All you need is to keep loading your saved games until you get there with no mistakes (e.g. lletting his daughter die was a mistake) If the simulator erases your conscious memories of the previous attempts, and all that remains is a growing intuition that guides your decisions until you navigate life without mistakes and die happy, is that really so bad? Is the fact that he worked so hard to get to the simulation broken part of the test of his true desires? Maybe the walls do change based on what the simulation/simulators learn of you.
And when you finally die happy, is that just when you are finally removed from the maze and you (if you are even flesh and blood as we know it) have now earned the right to live in the reality in which the simulation is being run? Oh, and is that just another simulation run from an even higher reality? Turtles all the way down... and up.
I guess it really was thought provoking.