I keep thinking about the end of Ender’s Game, when Mazer reveals to Ender that the simulations he has been playing are actually real. Ender is 11/12 years old at this time and has spent 5/6 years playing “games.” People at the academy have been prepping and grooming him for this very moment. They fed him all these fake games and tests, made some soldiers become skeptical of the buggers altogether, and then had him, unknowingly, commit a genocide. They made this whole war a game for Ender, and nothing was really real to him until it was over. Ender never got the chance to think for himself.

*****SPOILERS AHEAD (if you watch Black Mirror)*****

It reminded me of an episode from season 3 of Black Mirror, “Men Against Fire.” In the episode, there is a war against these mutants known as “roaches, ” and everyone in the army has a neural implant that helps them analyze different situations and ultimately, be a better soldier. The episode follows one particular soldier, Stripe, who is the best soldier – most kills, least empathy. Unbeknownst to the soldiers, however, the neural implants also augment reality, and the hideous “roaches” they see are actually regular humans, who are being targeted for the military’s secret mission to erase an “inferior” race. When Stripe’s neural implant starts to glitch, reality is revealed to him, and he has to face an internal battle – will he ignore reality to keep serving the military or fight for what he believes is right?

****SPOILER END*********

Which brings me to the question of how do we know anything we see or believe is real? What if we are all just in a simulation and we don’t even know it? This could all be one big Sims game with someone else controlling all of us – but then this would be our reality even if it is someone else’s simulation.

I think we are easily getting to a point where we can walk around with augmented reality all the time. Pokemon Go was an augmented reality game and EVERYONE (an exaggeration, but a lot of people) played. People were crossing streets with their faces glued to their screens chasing after pokemon that aren’t actually there (not knocking it, I did it too). People were invading other people’s property and getting into accidents and other risky situations. If someone developed an augmenting reality app like this, but for “evil,” we could easily be brainwashed.