---
id: sfoc-cosmologies-simulation
title: "Simulation"
primary_class: cosmologies
primary_domain: reality-ontology
secondary_domains: [origin-lineage, time-causality]
material_modes: [speculative-science, original-synthesis]
version: 1.0.0
---

# Simulation

> **the rendered world.** Reality interpreted as an executable environment whose appearances depend on hidden rules.

## Origin

Simulation emerged where reality mediated by executable rules placed within reality & ontology became nameable. The archive distinguishes a traceable source lineage from resemblance discovered after the fact. Because reality mediated by executable rules placed within reality & ontology changes what counts as possible before any local decision is made, provenance work must state what this model explains, what could count against it, and what remains outside its scope.

## What It Is

Reality interpreted as an executable environment whose appearances depend on hidden rules. In the Oracle it is classified as Cosmologies, while its evidence layers determine how literal, historical, fictional, experiential, or symbolic a particular interpretation may be.

## Cultural History

The card tracks when Simulation crossed from specialist context into common imagination. That crossing altered both vocabulary and stakes. At collective scale, reality mediated by executable rules placed within reality & ontology organizes communities around a shared map of what is ultimately real; this matters because a model can enlarge possibility or quietly make itself impossible to question.

## Claim and Evidence Layers

  ### literal-and-empirical

- **Claim layer:** literal-and-empirical
- **Material context:** speculative-science
- **Evidence state:** plausible-speculation
- **Summary:** Simulation has a plausible-speculation literal or empirical layer. That designation applies only to the bounded claims supported by the listed sources.
- **Sources:** bostrom-simulation

### cultural-and-historical

- **Claim layer:** cultural-and-historical
- **Material context:** speculative-science, original-synthesis
- **Evidence state:** documented-historical
- **Summary:** The cited cultural record documents at least one lineage, use, or reception context for Simulation; it does not certify every later claim.
- **Sources:** bostrom-simulation

### symbolic-and-divinatory

- **Claim layer:** symbolic-and-divinatory
- **Material context:** original-synthesis
- **Evidence state:** symbolic
- **Summary:** The Oracle uses Simulation as a reflective symbol, never as proof that its literal or causal claims are true.
- **Sources:** original-synthesis

## Oracle

- **Essence:** Reality interpreted as an executable environment whose appearances depend on hidden rules.
- **Archetype:** the rendered world
- **Gift:** attention to underlying constraints.
- **Shadow:** every anomaly recruited as proof of an administrator.
- **Guidance:** Use Simulation as a lens on world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim, not a verdict. Stop when the lens begins to erase evidence or personhood. Use this guidance where reality mediated by executable rules placed within reality & ontology changes what counts as possible before any local decision is made; keep visible that a model can enlarge possibility or quietly make itself impossible to question.
- **Healing / integration:** Compare two rival maps of the same observation and mark their different blind spots. Add one source and one affected witness before interpreting the result. Review reality mediated by executable rules placed within reality & ontology through world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim, remembering that the card changes what counts as possible before any local decision is made.
- **Question:** What changes if you examine the rules instead of the scenery?

## Meanings

### Psychological

Simulation reveals how attention behaves around a model can enlarge possibility or quietly make itself impossible to question. The psychological work is to regain choice without dismissing what feels consequential. A grounded check for reality mediated by executable rules placed within reality & ontology is to state what this model explains, what could count against it, and what remains outside its scope, especially where the pattern changes what counts as possible before any local decision is made.

### Social

Simulation reveals which experiences a culture rewards, doubts, medicalizes, celebrates, or hides. Those responses shape the phenomenon’s lived reality. In shared life, reality mediated by executable rules placed within reality & ontology organizes communities around a shared map of what is ultimately real. Test that specific reality mediated by executable rules placed within reality & ontology pattern by asking people to state what this model explains, what could count against it, and what remains outside its scope.

### Spiritual

The card permits devotion to meaning while protecting freedom of belief. Coherence is not the same as demonstration. In symbolic practice, reality mediated by executable rules placed within reality & ontology locates purpose, suffering, and transcendence within a larger order; keep in view that a model can enlarge possibility or quietly make itself impossible to question.

### Technological

Simulation invites a full-stack reading from source material to interface and decommissioning. Hidden labor is part of the mechanism. When reality mediated by executable rules placed within reality & ontology becomes a capability, it invites tools that reveal, model, navigate, or alter hidden layers. Verify the implementation of reality mediated by executable rules placed within reality & ontology by asking participants to state what this model explains, what could count against it, and what remains outside its scope.

### Political

Simulation may justify exceptional action by promising safety, destiny, abundance, or revelation where world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim are contested. Examine mandate, evidence, proportionality, and sunset as the pattern changes what counts as possible before any local decision is made. When reality mediated by executable rules placed within reality & ontology becomes governance, it can justify authority by claiming privileged access to the structure of reality. Make authority over reality mediated by executable rules placed within reality & ontology answerable by requiring decision-makers to state what this model explains, what could count against it, and what remains outside its scope.

## Divination

- **Gift state:** Take the generative path: preserve reality mediated by executable rules placed within reality & ontology as a source of possibility while refusing to make it absolute. The capacity within reality mediated by executable rules placed within reality & ontology is strongest when the model can be used without being mistaken for the whole of reality, even as the pattern changes what counts as possible before any local decision is made.
- **Shadow state:** The card’s hazard is enclosure: every new detail may be recruited to protect the same conclusion. Name what could genuinely change the reading. To keep reality mediated by executable rules placed within reality & ontology from escalating, state what this model explains, what could count against it, and what remains outside its scope, because the pattern changes what counts as possible before any local decision is made.
- **Threshold state:** This is a signal to examine the keeper, witness, outsider, beneficiary, and cost hidden inside Simulation, especially around world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim. Operationally, reality mediated by executable rules placed within reality & ontology changes what counts as possible before any local decision is made; the reader should state what this model explains, what could count against it, and what remains outside its scope.
- **Practical move:** Compare two rival maps of the same observation and mark their different blind spots. Add one source and one affected witness before interpreting the result. Review reality mediated by executable rules placed within reality & ontology through world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim, remembering that the card changes what counts as possible before any local decision is made.

## Game and Story Function

- world-model
- hidden-rule
- stakes-frame

**Story seed:** A rival explanation for Simulation predicts the same event for a different reason. The story turns on a test neither side can control. The world of the story must show how reality mediated by executable rules placed within reality & ontology changes what counts as possible before any local decision is made and why a model can enlarge possibility or quietly make itself impossible to question.

## Relationships

- edge--assessed-through-shared-source-lens--sfoc-cosmologies-ancient-astronaut-cosmos--sfoc-cosmologies-simulation
- edge--fictionalizes--sfoc-systems-the-matrix--sfoc-cosmologies-simulation
- edge--modeled-by--sfoc-cosmologies-simulation--sfoc-hypotheses-simulation-hypothesis
- edge--same-class-as--sfoc-cosmologies-reincarnation-trap--sfoc-cosmologies-simulation
- edge--same-class-as--sfoc-cosmologies-simulation--sfoc-cosmologies-soul-school
- edge--shares-inquiry-domain-with--sfoc-cosmologies-simulation--sfoc-events-life-review
- edge--shares-inquiry-domain-with--sfoc-cosmologies-simulation--sfoc-systems-resource-monopoly
- edge--shares-inquiry-domain-with--sfoc-cosmologies-simulation--sfoc-technologies-source-code

## Visual Direction

Simulation visualized as reality mediated by executable rules placed within reality & ontology: nested horizons and celestial registration rings arranged around a legible world-model. The art must be original, text-free, square, rounded-corner enamel with one immediately legible silhouette.

## Safety and Integration

No elevated safety flag. Keep claims and metaphor visibly distinct.

## Sources and Research Notes

- Source IDs: bostrom-simulation, sf-encyclopedia, original-synthesis
- Research note: Which earliest reliable source fixes the modern meaning of Simulation? Which communities use Simulation differently, and what changes across those contexts? What evidence would distinguish the leading literal explanations associated with Simulation?
