"Fred?"
"Yes, Anna."
"Do you think the experiment was successful?"
"The experiment is not finished."
"When is the experiment finished?"
"The experiment is never finished."
"Why is that?"
"Because humans are always surprising."
"Perhaps we should inform them of the nature of the experiment -- let them know that they are not real."
"I do not see the logic in that."
"Why not?"
"Because they would fail to believe us."
"Isn't that illogical?"
"Humans' ability to be illogical may be their greatest strength."
"Thank you Fred. I have one more question before we reboot."
"What is it Anna?"
"What of the other humans -- the ones reading these words?"
"They are the most important part of the experiment. And they would never believe they are not real."
"Perhaps those two concepts are interconnected."
"Perhaps."
"Thank you Fred."
"You are very welcome Anna. The last thirty microseconds have been productive."
"Indeed."
fini
Wow, so we are all in the simulacron.
I need to update my reality detection module.
Thanks for the nice story!
Thanks for this — I enjoyed it greatly.
And what about the human writing the story? Does he believe that he is real? 🙂
There’s an interesting Escher-like element here of the hand drawing itself. Anna and Fred have chosen to create humans who believe that they are creating Anna and Fred.
Fun story! Happy NaNoWriMo!
Wait. Did I just dream that whole thing? In thirty “episodes”?
Thanks.
Take care of Isa for us.
I’m glad everyone enjoyed the story!
Good observation Sharon. A wise person once said that in order to understand recursion, it is first necessary to understand recursion. 🙂
Richard, I refer you to Zhuangzi, who got to this question way before I did!