Living in a shared reality with NPCs

Simulation theory has many component parts, but one we haven’t yet addressed is the theme of NPCs (non-playable characters). Many philosophers and authors have long since speculated that our reality is comprised of both conscious beings and NPCs.

The term NPC in simple terms represents a being that lacks true awareness or the capability of independent thinking. In video game terms, it would be the AI-programmed characters you interact with navigating through a game. They tend to follow predetermined routines and patterns like background characters in a game.

If our reality is indeed rendered by consciousness, the inclusion of NPCs makes sense in terms of resource management (assuming the simulation has limitations as suggested by the rules that govern it), helping conscious beings on their journey and giving the illusion of a more complete and fully interactive world.

As readers here may know, I love to talk about Don Juan in the Castaneda books. In ‘A Separate Reality‘, published in 1971, Don Juan discusses from page 40. When quizzed about his ability to truly see he says, “Real people look like luminous eggs when you see them. Nonpeople always look like people”. He goes on to call them allies, in some cases, and admits they can take on different forms, including of animals. He later says, “they look like what they’re pretending to be. A shocked Castaneda responds, “Do you mean that some of the people I see in the street are not really people?”, to which Don Juan replies, “Some of them are not. He went on to explain that the allies or nonpeople cannot take the lead or act on anything directly, yet they could indirectly influence a conscious being. He considered coming into contact with them dangerous because it could bring out the worst in somebody.

Rizwan Virk discussed NPCs at length in his ‘Simulation Hypothesis‘ book. His predominant metaphor in that book was that reality is a video game and therefore is almost certainly populated with AI-generated entities. He suggests the characters are only rendered on demand, and obviously to echo Castaneda’s books, would be a necessary part of a conscious being’s journey.

‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?‘ author Philip K. Dick was also a believer in NPCs populating reality, a theme that was often explored in his works of fiction, and the acclaimed Blade Runner film. He suggested some people could be simulacra, biological robots or scripted beings. He hinted at reality containing hidden control mechanisms to dictate behavior, again echoing the previously discussed sentiment.

It is a topic enforced in Gnostic tradition too, with NPCs acting as agents of the matrix, keeping conscious beings trapped in ignorance. NPCs are those that aggressively defend reality and take issue to those who question reality and begin to wake up from the illusion. The distractions are designed to keep people further from truth and awareness.

Tom Campbell’s ‘My Big Toe‘ theory also states that low-consciousness beings are there to create believable interactions for conscious players and may have more limited processing power.

There have been other articles published that are definitely worth diving into. For instance Cathryn Law posed the question. She also references the video below which might make for interesting viewing for some.