simuloism

Simuloism is a speculative philosophical and cultural movement that treats reality as a layered structure of simulations created by computational processes. Proponents argue that perceived objects and events are occurrences within or across computational substrates, and that human consciousness can be modeled, transferred, or experienced within nested simulations. The term combines "simulation" and the suffix "-ism" to denote a system of thought rather than a fixed doctrine.

Origins of simuloism are informal and diffuse, arising from online discussions, thought experiments, and speculative fiction in the early 21st century. It is not organized under a single school but rather comprises a loosely connected set of ideas shared across philosophy, cognitive science, and digital art.

Core tenets include: reality is computational at some layer; consciousness may be substrate-independent or transferable across simulations; epistemic access is inherently probabilistic; ethics and meaning are reframed in terms of simulation status and parameter control; and inquiry should remain pragmatic rather than metaphysically conclusive.

Practices associated with simuloism appear in concept design, interactive media, and philosophical discourse, often exploring questions through simulations, artificial agents, or virtual environments to test intuitive responses to reality and agency.

Critics argue that simuloism is unfalsifiable and lacks empirical grounding, and that it risks promoting skepticism or cynicism if treated as a metaphysical claim. Supporters respond that it offers useful frameworks for interpreting technological change, epistemic humility, and the ethics of simulated agents.

See also: simulated reality, simulation hypothesis, digital ontology, pancomputationalism.