SIMULATION

Snow Crash was very enjoyable to read. I loved all the Sumerian mythology, as well as linking religion to being viral. It was a new perspective that, although fictional in nature, was entertaining to think about. Still, I'm having a very difficult time accepting the Metaverse as a second world. When users play Second Life, it is so blatantly obvious that the world is fake and I don't think anyone can really accept it as a simulation. I feel that no matter how good the rendering is in the Metaverse, there would be no way to get past the shortcomings of not being able to physically move or touch things in the Metaverse. But maybe I'm missing the point. Maybe the point is to be absorbed into a world that is different from our own in order to escape reality while still acknowledging it's existence. But if that point were to be made, we might also say that a book does the same thing. Are books another form of simulation?

I feel that people have a tendency to question reality often, and I find it hard to believe that we are easily fooled by simulation. Besides, how "real" something is depends on our standards of what "real" is. Here is an excerpt from the Matrix that caught my attention early on, said by Morpheus to Neo:

"What is real? How do you define real? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste an see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain."

Does this not imply in favor of the Matrix? That the Matrix can be considered real? What difference does it make if we live in a simulation? I found the relationship between humans and machines to be symbiotic.

Finally, I would just like to point out how much of a badass Ng was in Snow Crash.