No, we do not live in a simulation. Bro.
Why do I even have to bother with this shit?
It's become increasingly popular among "the young and weird in the west" to feel somehow intellectually superior by supporting the "simulation theory" of existence.
To me, it always felt as shallow as "The Matrix" movies once Neo woke up and I realized that he is now merely living in our reality - with even less of a clue about spirituality, the nature of reality, transcendence and everything else our philosophical, spiritual and religious traditions have dealt with over the millenia.
Here's the thing: if you look me straight in the eyes telling me "Bro, we live in a simulation!", you'd better shield your nuts if you're a guy. Becaues I will aim to hit them as hard as possible just to see how the simulation makes you react to the pain.
And with that I want to convey more than just the warning that believing shit like that has the very real risk of transforming you into a nihilist, a monster without morality (because there are myriad other ways, many of them religious, just look at the news, to achieve similar results).
I have issues touching on the ontology (the study of the nature of being), holistic perspectives, spiritual and epistemological nature of things concerning this "theory". If you need a break to look up them big words, go ahead and look em up while I make myself a cup of tea.
1/ The ontology of it all
So, ontologically (nature of being) speaking, the "we live in a simulation" theory raises really hard questions on the nature of the beings living in this simulation (that is: you, me and everyone else). Are we "real" in any meaningful sense? This can lead to what is also sometimes called "infinite regress", where each layer of "reality" might itself be a simulation. We who are supposedly in a simulation, but also those who run this particular simulation might be in one, and so on and on and on...
This also means that casuality is an illusion, or just programmed. So all the casual connections we see in our lives and in the world are just lines of code. If this doesn't feel wrong to you, probably speak to a pro?
Creator and Purpose issue
Who created this simulation, and to what purpose? This is the "infinite regress" I just mentioned: if our universe is just a simulation, what about the universe of the simulators? Are they also in a simulation? And if not, does THEIR reality have spiritual, transcendental etc meaning?
To sum up this point: this line of questioning doesn't provide any meaningful answers, it just creates an unnecessary layer of complexity on already complex issues.
Are we just code or digital entities? If so, what does it say about our consciousness, our free will, and the meaning and depth of our experiences? I fear that the "simulation theory" can lead to a state of mind where our self of sense and reality become damaged. It's not helpful or healing.
A "holistic" worldview assumes that everything is interconnected and that we are part of a bigger whole. In the 1960s and the New Age movement, this became a popular thing, also around the "Gaia" movement that postulated that "mother earth" and all creatures living on her are part of a bigger, not only biological, but also spiritually connected system.
As corny as this may sound from today's point of view, the "Gaia" theory was way more beneficial for people's sense of self vs the world and had a healing influence on our souls. The "simulation theory" does none of that.
If we are all part of a simulation, the just mentioned interconnectedness might be merely a programmed feature, not a fundamental truth. This undermines the depth and meaning of these connections. It leaves us bare and naked in a cold, uncaring universe. Camus & Co would love that kind of thing...
Meaning through "emergent properties"
A part of holism is the belief that so-called "emergent properties" arise from complex systems. You know, that well-known "the thing is more than just the sum of its part" kind of saying stems from that.
If we are living in a simulation, the properties are just "fake", their significance and authenticity will become obsolete.
In plain words
Did you ever have a significant religious or spiritual experience? Did you ever feel bliss, closeness to the divine? Yeah, well, too bad. It's all simulated and you are not even real. ...
So, let's get to the heart of the matter. What disturbs me most about this so-called "theory" is of course a spiritual matter.
Every time I read about it or someone tries to involve me in a discussion about it, I feel that inner emptiness, quite similar to the feeling of meaninglessness that I felt while watching the "Matrix" movies. Yes, also the first one, that is after the point where Neo "wakes up" as the naked and clueless worm that he and his fellow "awoken ones" are.
We live in very materialistic times and the popularity of this theory (esp among lunatics like Elon Musk) is just another example of how shallow and meaningless the lives of so many people have become.
For many, if not all spiritual and religious traditions, life has inherent meaning and purpose. If life is just a computer simulation, this could imply that our sense of purpose is artificially constructed (so would be the lack of such feeling in hardcore-materialistic people). All of our spiritual experience would therefore be meaningless.
One of the ever recurring elements of spiritual and religious traditions is a view that "transcendence" is important: to arrive at a point where we are attuned enough to the nature of reality to perceive the subtle reality behind our everyday reality. In New Age circles people often speak of "energies", which is also very, very questionable and the wrong word for something sensitive people perceive - but I guess most of my readers know what I mean.
It's a world-view that, in the Western world, is deeply tied with Jewish mysticism. In the Western Occult tradition and in Hermeticism, the usage of a Jewis glyph, the "Tree of Life", as a model for the manifestation of the universe from the initial, pre-material god-head all the way down to our material plane of existence is a helpful tool, and it's extensively used in these more hidden traditions. This model is also "just a theory", but it's a deep and vast one. Studying the Sepher Yetzirah alone can be a life's purpose, something that this knee-jerk "simulation theory" will never come close to.
Moral and ethical implications
If we live in a simulation, our actions and experience are all fake. This means nothing we do has any consequences outside the cause-effect results that are programmed into the simulation. It would, thought to it's consequential end, mean that we can butcher and rape whoever we want - it wouldn't matter. Their suffering? Simulated! Their cries for mercy, their tears? All part of the simulation.
If I look at the news and the authoritarian butchers at work, I'm not surprised that the alt-right and the tech bros subscribe to this "theory" so much. It gives them "carte blanche" to do whatever they want, whenever they want and to whom they want.
It is therefore no surprise that the lunatic billionaire Musk is one well-known advocate of that theory. It sprang from the world he helped create. It goes very well with materialism, capitalism and is a 21st century tech-version of colonialism and imperialism.
4/ Epistemological Concerns
"What can we truly know?" If we accept the simulation theory as a given, this becomes a shallow, meaningless question. If our senses and experiences are mediated by a simulation, our understanding of truth and knowledge is completely unreliable.
Occam's Razor states that if you have two or more competing explanations for a matter, usually the less complicated one is the one you should prefer. It's about simplicity. The "simulation theory" introduces unnecessary complexity into our already way too complex reality by positing that an advanced civilization creates simulations of lives and we are just one of them, which, if you really think it through, raises unanswerable questions about THAT civilization's reality.
6/ To sum a stupid thing up
So, to sum it all up, there are too many unanswered questions remaining when accepting the "simulation theory".
The purpose of it all and the nature of the creators of the simulation, and their world - it's a stupid, useless thing to even think about. It provides no real answers, no solace but just creates new, unnecessary layers of "useless mystery".
The nature of existence... are we just code or digital entities? If so, what does that say about our consciousness, free will and our experiences? This can all lead to numbness and a diminished sense of reality. Real spirituality has the opposite effect.
Lack of transcendental answers: this is a biggie. As Neo waking up to a harsh, cold and meaningless existence in the "real physical world" in "The Matrix", there are no answer whatsoever to life's big questions. Everything humanity ever cared about (meaning, purpose, morality, spirituality) all remain unresolved by this "theory".
It's a lazy cop-out - the simulation theory just shifts the context of all of these questions onto another layer.
It is, to bring it to one point, absolute philosophical laziness. It avoids real thought, because this simulation "theory" doesn't engage at all with the complexities of existence. It posits an unverifiable scenario and doesn't provide actionable insights or meaningful answers. It's like a religion made the stupid way.
And, last but not least, as already mentioned, it bears heavy moral and ethical risks. Nihilism is more than a funny group of people in "The Big Lebowski". It's an empty world-view that eats away at your soul and either throws you into the arms of depression or makes you into a monster - often both.
All of this and more is why reading about the "simulation theory" always felt shallow and pseudo-philosophical to me.
It's like watching a cheap movie (and here, I don't mean the Matrix, I enjoyed the first one none the less).
But for people who feel intrigued by the simulation theory, I have one line of thought for you that might be worth exploring: try real spirituality.
By that I do not mean traditional, established religion (they mostly suck and can lead you down a similar road with their fake promises and dogmas). I mean real spirituality. I mentioned the Kabbalah and the Tree of Life. That could be one point of interest. It will provide you with way more meaning and answers (and yes, new questions!) than any cooked-up, knee-jerk theory out there can ever do.
I said what I had to say.