March 15, 2024

Text Message to Bricklyn Eagle Editor Walt Brickman from a “Mr. S.” follows:

“Dear Editor Brickman: an issue is racking my brain and keeping me awake (It is 3:13 a.m as I type). Are there citizens in Bricklyn who themselves are Lego fans and who have extremely tiny Bricklyn like cities in their basements, and if so, do THOSE mini-Bricklyn folks have even tinier Bricklyn type cities in their mini mini basements, and if yes, do those submicroscopic cities have citizens with even smaller subatomic lego cities in their basements, etc., etc., etc. ? This appears to be an existential problem … or have night terrors taken over my brain!”

Text Message Reply to Mr. S. from Walt Brickman, Editor, The Bricklyn Eagle:

Given the emergency nature of your mental state I thought it best to quickly find an answer to your question.

I referred your question to Bricklyn’s Chief Cosmologist, O’Neal deGas Brickson. He replied as follows:

“Dear Mr. S., be assured that you are far from the first person to encounter this fear, anxiety, or even terror, that can lead to night sweat, palpitations, and other worrisome symptoms.

Your concerns appear to relate to what is termed the ‘simulation hypothesis,’ which theorizes that the reality we experience might actually be a computer-generated simulation, much like a video game.

If our reality is a simulation created by advanced beings, it is conceivable that those beings could themselves exist within a simulated reality, and so on, forming a chain of nested simulations. Each level of simulation could contain entities with their own consciousness and perception of reality, much like how nested models or structures contain elements within them.

This idea raises profound questions about the nature of existence, consciousness, and the possibility of other realities beyond our own, which could contribute to your sleeplessness and night terrors.

The majority opinion in the Bricklyn scientific community is that there is a 1 in 2 chance that Bricklyn, and your Outland world itself, are all simply simulations, and possibly nested simulations within a simulation.

This appears to be in line with scientific opinion in your own Outland world, which also interestingly posits that the development of consciousness in artificial intelligence — which seem almost inevitable — would shockingly increase the odds that we are are living within a simulation. See, e.g., “Do We Live in a Simulation? Chances Are about 50–50” (Scientific American, October 13, 2020).

We sought to verify our thoughts with Chat GPT.

Reply from Chat GPT:

“The notion that the development of consciousness in artificial intelligence (AI) could increase the likelihood that we are living within a simulation is an intriguing hypothesis proposed by some thinkers. The reasoning behind this idea often revolves around the assumption that if humans can create conscious beings in simulated environments, it’s plausible that other entities, potentially far more advanced than us, could have done the same.

If conscious AI entities could exist within simulations created by advanced civilizations, it raises questions about the nature of consciousness, reality, and our place within it.” — Chat GPT reply at 1:20pm ET, March 14, 2024.

In sum, Mr. S., all I can offer you as a cosmologist, and as a fellow being, is the following:

Please take some deep breaths, stay calm, float on a raft with a can of beer in your hand, or indulge in some pharmaceuticals, as there is nothing you (or any of us) can do to change the facts of our ‘existence,’ or simulated existence … so whether or not we are living in simulations is ‘in reality’ out of our hands.” ✥

We welcome Letters to the Editor. Please email to: bricklynvt@gmail.com

To the Editor: Do readers of The Bricklyn Eagle really need to wander in the murk of all this talk about simulations? What we’d like to read about is stimulation, not simulation! For me, there’s nothing more stimulating that looking forward to a meal at that new French restaurant that just opened. How about reporting on that, instead of messing with our minds! — Alan Litebrick, South Bricklyn

Reply from the Editor: Alan, thanks for your comment. Here at The Bricklyn Eagle we try to cover both simulations and stimulations! As to your remark about the just-opened L’Étoile du Nord restaurant, get ready to be stimulated because talented correspondent Gloria Vanderbrick will be reporting in the Eagle on this innovative, but classic, French restaurant and its talented chef, Christophe Plater Poulin. — March 20, 2024 update: Vanderbrick’s report on L’Étoile du Nord is now available.