# Simulation

## Purpose

Simulation is a philosophical hypothesis, a fictional lineage, a computational metaphor, and a political-psychological frame. These layers are kept distinct. This chapter is an index and a method: it shows how to explore the subject without collapsing documented history, current research, reported experience, fiction, community belief, and Oracle synthesis into one truth claim.

## Reading Method

1. **Locate the Tile.** Read its Primary Class to learn what kind of thing it is, then its Inquiry Domains to learn which questions it can illuminate.
2. **Name the material mode.** A science-fiction, mythology, political-mythology, experiential-report, or established-science label identifies context; it is not a score of spiritual or personal importance.
3. **Read claims layer by layer.** Begin with the literal-and-empirical layer, then the cultural-and-historical layer, and only then the symbolic-and-divinatory layer. An evidence state applies to one bounded claim, not to the Tile as a whole.
4. **Open the sources.** A concept-specific citation can support a history or bounded claim. A class-level contextual citation only locates the Tile in a wider field. Neither one certifies every interpretation.
5. **Follow typed edges.** Compare the exact verb and rationale. “Fictionalizes,” “opposes,” “echoes,” and “investigated-by” are not interchangeable. A resemblance edge is not proof of historical influence.
6. **Integrate through action.** Use Gift, Shadow, Threshold, and the integration practice to identify one grounded choice that remains useful even if a favored ontology is wrong.

## Worked Comparison

1. **Chaos** is a Forces Tile centered on Reality & Ontology. Its literal layer is **well-established**; its symbolic question is: “What deserves form, and what should remain open?”
2. **Emergence** is a Forces Tile centered on Reality & Ontology. Its literal layer is **well-established**; its symbolic question is: “What evidence, relationship, or material condition would distinguish insight from projection here? Answer by testing how novel order arising from interaction placed within reality & ontology changes the conditions under which every actor chooses against world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim.”
3. **Selection Pressure** is a Forces Tile centered on Reality & Ontology. Its literal layer is **well-established**; its symbolic question is: “What is the smallest reversible action that could clarify differential survival meeting the pressure motif? Answer by testing how differential survival meeting the pressure motif changes the conditions under which every actor chooses against world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim.”

Compare these examples by asking what changes when the class, evidence state, or edge verb changes. Do not treat the most vivid Tile as the most factual. When a reading crosses into health, identity, conspiracy, or current politics, show the card’s safety flags and preserve an alternate explanation.

## System Links

- [How to Use](HOW-TO-USE.md) for reference, reading, and game workflows.
- [Graph](GRAPH.md) for edge semantics and provenance.
- [Divination](DIVINATION.md) for reflective reading rules.
- [Glossary](GLOSSARY.md) for Classes, Domains, Modes, and Evidence States.
- [Source Registry](../research/SOURCE-REGISTRY.md) for source tiers, scope, and rights.

## Canonical Tiles

- [Chaos](../cards/forces/sfoc-forces-chaos.md) — Possibility before a stable structure has been selected.
- [Emergence](../cards/forces/sfoc-forces-emergence.md) — Emergence brings novel order arising from interaction placed within reality & ontology into focus. It operates as a recurrent pressure or organizing dynamic and asks how world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim alter practical choice.
- [Selection Pressure](../cards/forces/sfoc-forces-selection-pressure.md) — Selection Pressure gathers a field around differential survival meeting the pressure motif. Its deeper subject is a model can enlarge possibility or quietly make itself impossible to question.
- [Nonlinearity](../cards/forces/sfoc-forces-nonlinearity.md) — Nonlinearity offers an instrument for reading effects disproportionate to causes placed within reality & ontology. It becomes useful when interpretation remains answerable to state what this model explains, what could count against it, and what remains outside its scope.
- [Doubt](../cards/forces/sfoc-forces-doubt.md) — Read Doubt as a recurrent pressure or organizing dynamic shaped by productive suspension placed within reality & ontology. The useful inquiry is not belief alone, but what state what this model explains, what could count against it, and what remains outside its scope.
- [Loosh](../cards/forces/sfoc-forces-loosh.md) — A term from modern out-of-body lore for emotionally charged energy, later expanded into extraction cosmologies.
- [Contagion](../cards/forces/sfoc-forces-contagion.md) — The Oracle places Contagion where the contagion motif placed within reality & ontology affects agency. It is neither mere decoration nor automatic proof, but a recurrent pressure or organizing dynamic with a declared evidence boundary.
- [Assimilation](../cards/forces/sfoc-forces-assimilation.md) — At the center of Assimilation is difference absorbed into a whole placed within reality & ontology. The card treats that tension as a recurrent pressure or organizing dynamic, bounded by the synthesis must never masquerade as inherited doctrine or discovered fact.
- [Dark Matter](../cards/forces/sfoc-forces-dark-matter.md) — The inferred, nonluminous matter used in current cosmology to explain gravitational behavior at galactic scale.
- [Simulation](../cards/cosmologies/sfoc-cosmologies-simulation.md) — Reality interpreted as an executable environment whose appearances depend on hidden rules.
- [Nested Simulation](../cards/cosmologies/sfoc-cosmologies-nested-simulation.md) — At the center of Nested Simulation is the nested motif meeting reality mediated by executable rules. The card treats that tension as a whole-world model for reality and its hidden architecture, bounded by coherence is not the same as demonstration.
- [Gnostic Cosmos](../cards/cosmologies/sfoc-cosmologies-gnostic-cosmos.md) — A family of ancient religious cosmologies distinguishing ultimate divinity from lesser rulers of the material order.
- [Holographic Universe](../cards/cosmologies/sfoc-cosmologies-holographic-universe.md) — Holographic Universe offers an instrument for reading a whole encoded through distributed parts meeting the total field of reality. It becomes useful when interpretation remains answerable to state what this model explains, what could count against it, and what remains outside its scope.
- [Holofractal Universe](../cards/cosmologies/sfoc-cosmologies-holofractal-universe.md) — The Oracle places Holofractal Universe where the holofractal motif meeting the total field of reality affects agency. It is neither mere decoration nor automatic proof, but a whole-world model for reality and its hidden architecture with a declared evidence boundary.
- [Multiverse](../cards/cosmologies/sfoc-cosmologies-multiverse.md) — Multiverse concentrates coexisting possible worlds placed within reality & ontology into a whole-world model for reality and its hidden architecture. Its value lies in examining world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim without exceeding the evidence layer.
- [Many-Worlds](../cards/cosmologies/sfoc-cosmologies-many-worlds.md) — Read Many-Worlds as a whole-world model for reality and its hidden architecture shaped by the many motif meeting the worlds motif. The useful inquiry is not belief alone, but what state what this model explains, what could count against it, and what remains outside its scope.
- [Block Universe](../cards/cosmologies/sfoc-cosmologies-block-universe.md) — What makes Block Universe consequential is the meeting of the block motif meeting the total field of reality with world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim. The card preserves that meeting without universalizing it.
- [Cyclic Universe](../cards/cosmologies/sfoc-cosmologies-cyclic-universe.md) — the cyclic motif meeting the total field of reality is the engine beneath Cyclic Universe. As a whole-world model for reality and its hidden architecture, it reveals how a local image can carry system-scale consequences.
- [Digital Physics](../cards/cosmologies/sfoc-cosmologies-digital-physics.md) — Digital Physics is a way of encountering identity or value mediated by computation meeting the physics motif. Its Oracle use joins a whole-world model for reality and its hidden architecture to the question of world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim.
- [Participatory Universe](../cards/cosmologies/sfoc-cosmologies-participatory-universe.md) — The working core of Participatory Universe is the participatory motif meeting the total field of reality: a pattern that can reorganize attention, relation, and action. coherence is not the same as demonstration.
- [Akashic Cosmos](../cards/cosmologies/sfoc-cosmologies-akashic-cosmos.md) — Reality imagined as a universal archive in which events and meanings remain accessible.
- [Dimensional Ladder](../cards/cosmologies/sfoc-cosmologies-dimensional-ladder.md) — Dimensional Ladder gathers a field around the dimensional motif meeting the ladder motif. Its deeper subject is a model can enlarge possibility or quietly make itself impossible to question.
- [Astral Planes](../cards/cosmologies/sfoc-cosmologies-astral-planes.md) — the astral motif meeting the planes motif is the engine beneath Astral Planes. As a whole-world model for reality and its hidden architecture, it reveals how a local image can carry system-scale consequences.
- [Reincarnation Cycle](../cards/cosmologies/sfoc-cosmologies-reincarnation-cycle.md) — identity returning through successive lives meeting the cycle motif gives Reincarnation Cycle its distinctive charge. Read it through world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim, with community vocabulary, historical sources, and claims stated at their own layer kept visible.
- [Zoo Cosmos](../cards/cosmologies/sfoc-cosmologies-zoo-cosmos.md) — Zoo Cosmos names a threshold where the zoo motif placed within reality & ontology changes what participants can notice or do. The card keeps a physically or conceptually motivated extrapolation distinct from symbolic use.
- [Dark Forest Cosmos](../cards/cosmologies/sfoc-cosmologies-dark-forest-cosmos.md) — Dark Forest Cosmos gathers a field around the unseen or unmeasured meeting the forest motif. Its deeper subject is a model can enlarge possibility or quietly make itself impossible to question.
- [Post-Biological Universe](../cards/cosmologies/sfoc-cosmologies-post-biological-universe.md) — Seen closely, Post-Biological Universe is about the post motif, the biological motif, and the total field of reality acting together under conditions of world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim. That frame makes its gift, shadow, and limits readable together.
- [Interdimensional Being](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-interdimensional-being.md) — adjacency beyond ordinary distance meeting the being motif gives Interdimensional Being its distinctive charge. Read it through world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim, with phenomenology, context, care, and multiple possible explanations kept visible.
- [Ringworld](../cards/worlds/sfoc-worlds-ringworld.md) — the ringworld motif placed within reality & ontology gives Ringworld its distinctive charge. Read it through world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim, with work, creator, reception, and symbolic reuse kept visible.
- [Off-World Base](../cards/worlds/sfoc-worlds-off-world-base.md) — Off-World Base brings the off motif, a bounded environment of possibility, and the base motif acting together into focus. It operates as a place, environment, frontier, or constructed reality and asks how world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim alter practical choice.
- [Ocean World](../cards/worlds/sfoc-worlds-ocean-world.md) — Within the Oracle, Ocean World holds together the ocean motif meeting a bounded environment of possibility and world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim. That combination creates both an interpretive tool and a responsibility.
- [Desert World](../cards/worlds/sfoc-worlds-desert-world.md) — The Oracle places Desert World where the desert motif meeting a bounded environment of possibility affects agency. It is neither mere decoration nor automatic proof, but a place, environment, frontier, or constructed reality with a declared evidence boundary.
- [Archive World](../cards/worlds/sfoc-worlds-archive-world.md) — Archive World brings the archive motif meeting a bounded environment of possibility into focus. It operates as a place, environment, frontier, or constructed reality and asks how world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim alter practical choice.
- [Simulation Layer](../cards/worlds/sfoc-worlds-simulation-layer.md) — reality mediated by executable rules meeting the layer motif gives Simulation Layer its distinctive charge. Read it through world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim, with work, creator, reception, and symbolic reuse kept visible.
- [Prison World](../cards/worlds/sfoc-worlds-prison-world.md) — The Oracle places Prison World where enclosure maintained by asymmetrical power meeting a bounded environment of possibility affects agency. It is neither mere decoration nor automatic proof, but a place, environment, frontier, or constructed reality with a declared evidence boundary.
- [Garden World](../cards/worlds/sfoc-worlds-garden-world.md) — Garden World concentrates the garden motif meeting a bounded environment of possibility into a place, environment, frontier, or constructed reality. Its value lies in examining world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim without exceeding the evidence layer.
- [Reality Hack](../cards/technologies/sfoc-technologies-reality-hack.md) — Reality Hack frames the field treated as actually existing meeting the hack motif as a decision environment rather than a finished answer. Its evidence discipline is assumptions, feasibility constraints, and discriminating tests.
- [Hologram](../cards/technologies/sfoc-technologies-hologram.md) — Hologram brings the hologram motif placed within reality & ontology into focus. It operates as a repeatable capability for sensing, transforming, connecting, or constructing and asks how world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim alter practical choice.
- [World Engine](../cards/technologies/sfoc-technologies-world-engine.md) — World Engine offers an instrument for reading a bounded environment of possibility meeting the engine motif. It becomes useful when interpretation remains answerable to state what this model explains, what could count against it, and what remains outside its scope.
- [Reality Map](../cards/artifacts/sfoc-artifacts-reality-map.md) — What makes Reality Map consequential is the meeting of the field treated as actually existing meeting the map motif with world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim. The card preserves that meeting without universalizing it.
- [The Matrix](../cards/systems/sfoc-systems-the-matrix.md) — The invisible social, computational, or ideological environment mistaken for reality itself.
- [Consensus Reality](../cards/systems/sfoc-systems-consensus-reality.md) — the consensus motif meeting the field treated as actually existing is the engine beneath Consensus Reality. As a persistent rule environment coordinating access, behavior, and value, it reveals how a local image can carry system-scale consequences.
- [Reality Tunnel](../cards/systems/sfoc-systems-reality-tunnel.md) — Reality Tunnel frames the field treated as actually existing meeting the tunnel motif as a decision environment rather than a finished answer. Its evidence discipline is transparent analogy, declared invention, and practical usefulness.
- [World Reset](../cards/events/sfoc-events-world-reset.md) — World Reset is a way of encountering a bounded environment of possibility meeting renewal that may also erase continuity. Its Oracle use joins a threshold that produces a meaningful before and after to the question of world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim.
- [Extraterrestrial Hypothesis](../cards/hypotheses/sfoc-hypotheses-extraterrestrial-hypothesis.md) — The interpretation that anomalous craft or encounters originate with biological or post-biological intelligence beyond Earth.
- [Interdimensional Hypothesis](../cards/hypotheses/sfoc-hypotheses-interdimensional-hypothesis.md) — The interpretation that anomalous phenomena cross dimensions or ontological layers rather than ordinary space.
- [Simulation Hypothesis](../cards/hypotheses/sfoc-hypotheses-simulation-hypothesis.md) — reality mediated by executable rules placed within reality & ontology gives Simulation Hypothesis its distinctive charge. Read it through world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim, with assumptions, feasibility constraints, and discriminating tests kept visible.
- [Zoo Hypothesis](../cards/hypotheses/sfoc-hypotheses-zoo-hypothesis.md) — Zoo Hypothesis concentrates the zoo motif placed within reality & ontology into an explanatory lens applied to ambiguous observations. Its value lies in examining world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim without exceeding the evidence layer.
- [Ultraterrestrial Hypothesis](../cards/hypotheses/sfoc-hypotheses-ultraterrestrial-hypothesis.md) — Read Ultraterrestrial Hypothesis as an explanatory lens applied to ambiguous observations shaped by the ultraterrestrial motif placed within reality & ontology. The useful inquiry is not belief alone, but what state what this model explains, what could count against it, and what remains outside its scope.
- [Holographic Principle](../cards/hypotheses/sfoc-hypotheses-holographic-principle.md) — Within the Oracle, Holographic Principle holds together a whole encoded through distributed parts meeting the principle motif and world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim. That combination creates both an interpretive tool and a responsibility.
