Stephen Baxter, The Real Matrix, in ed. Karen Haber, Exploring the Matrix: Visions of the Cyber Present, 30-47, St. Martin's Press, May 2, 2003. But should we even try to test the limits of reality? In the Matrix, the characters' immediate response to finding out they are living their lives in a "prison for your mind" is to try to break out. So it has been in most previous capture-universe stories. Prison-universes serve as metaphors for paranoia and manipulation. Typically in such stories the protagonist uses defects in reality to deduce the nature of his or her captivity and finds a way through the social, epistemological and physical barriers to escape. But here's a radical thought. Maybe, even if we do find we're living in a fake reality, we should leave well alone. "Captive" is a loaded term. Perhaps we are indeed in some form of exile, or a cage, or even a prison; but perhaps the creators' motives are benevolent, and we are in a nursery, or game reserve, for our own protection: Maybe it's a nasty universe out there. And there are other considerations besides freedom. Even the Matrix universe isn't so bad if you look at it. There's no (real) warfare, and population densities look pretty high in those bottle banks. There's no reason why a very large number of us shouldn't live very long lives in there, as long as we accept the dictates of our captors. Perhaps we should trust them. After all they must be technologically superior to us - and perhaps we should assume they are morally superior to us. Or perhaps we should suck up to them. Robin Hanson, an economist who commented on Nick Bostrom's ideas, says that the main thing to do is figure out the purpose of the simulation, and then work out how to avoid being deleted. If it's entertainment, you should be as dramatic as possible; if it's a moral fable, you should lead a blameless life; if the simulation is designed as a playground for the creators themselves, you should get as close as possible to rich, famous and powerful celebrities - or better yet, become one yourself. You are like a contestant on TV's Big Brother, trying to avoid eviction by guessing what the voting public wants, and giving it to them. The most dangerous strategy of all, says Hanson, would be to talk too much about the discovery of the simulation. If the show starts to look stilted and staged, the creators may choose simply to pull the plug and start again. If you've got this far, maybe you'd better forget everything you've read in this essay - and certainly don't recommend it to your friends ... If you don't buy any of this, I sympathize. If we are being contained and deceived, whatever the motive, we are in a relationship of unequals, and are thereby diminished. We have a moral responsibility to ourselves to try to break down the walls and challenge our captors. As they already know, of course, for even this essay and your act of reading it are parts of the simulation. Are you listening out there? If you exist, show yourselves - and justify what you've done!