I reach out to the truth; text

[truedetective]

It's no secret that what we've experienced over the past several months has been unnatural, to say the least. Things that shouldn't be possible have been occurring with regularity. Our memories have been changing, our physical bodies have been changing, the world has been changing, and sometimes it seems that though we are the only ones aware of it.

Upon observation and analysis, I have a theory-- rather, a hypothesis. I'm not entirely happy with it, because it seems ridiculous even to me. Yet it would seem to explain everything that is going on here. I've yet to encounter a piece of evidence that would disprove it... though I welcome any suggestions, because as I've said, I don't like the implications either.

Before we get to my hypothesis, let's examine the oddities we've faced.

1) Memory alteration, version 1. (Which may in fact be memory preservation.) We are the only ones aware of changes to the world and the prior state, such as the existence of horses.

2) Memory alteration, version 2. We have awakened to "hallucinomemories" of things that seem impossible, of lives we've never lived, of people we've never met. Often, these memories accompany us remembering skills and abilities that return fully and immediately-- such as a completely new set of languages spoken.

3) Physical changes. Eye color, hair color, even physical limbs changing to something new.

4) World changes. We all shrank, temporarily, while the rest of the world did not.

It is worth noting that these only ever apply to users on Retrospec. There doesn't seem to be any instance of non-Retrospec users encountering these; moreover, people who did not previously use Retrospec but who were given access to the app suddenly began experiencing these as well. For that reason, I believe Retrospec users are "awakened" of some kind. I don't know if that's the best term, I'm not a writer.

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But I digress. The point is this: I believe that this world is a simulation of some kind. We are inside some sort of vast computer program.

However, we are real people. I don't know whether our physical bodies are hooked up to some computer in "reality" or our minds were copied, but we existed elsewhere at some point. This is the reason for items 2 and 3: The "hallucinomemories" we've been having, the skills we've been relearning, the physical changes... these aren't invented. We're remembering our real selves, our prior lives. I'm sure of this much; I have personally remembered shared experiences with other "awakened" Retrospec users, with shared details that none of us had told the other.

This also explains items 4 and 1. As a simulation, the world and its parameters can be changed. It would be trivial to change our size, or to replace horses with chocobos.

Retrospec is the key to this, obviously. I do not yet know whether it is intrinsic to our being "awakened" or if it merely exists as a means for the simulation operators to keep tabs on us. But it, and the company behind it, do seem to be the masterminds.

Think about it: Isn't it odd that a social media company would limit its presence to a single city? Where are the nationwide Retrospec users, where are the international ones? Does that mean that this city alone is the simulator?

Again, I am aware that this seems far fetched. But this theory does seem to explain every question we've encountered, and I can't think of any data to disprove it. If you know of any information that might make this less likely, I eagerly await it.

I don't like the idea of being a data simulation any more than you all do. But I am resolved to find the truth, even if it's unpleasant.

-N

Comments

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[cattack]

I can confirm even more physical changes.
But I do not want to believe that this is but a simulation.
What would that mean for our lives here?
And what would the purpose of such a thing be?

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[truedetective]

That I don't know. I can't ascertain any purpose. Only that this seems to be the case.

[true_noir]

I am not yet willing, Naoto, to yield to this theory. I agree that, on the surface, it explains a few things, but there are still potential holes. While the app does not have members outside of the city, I have still met people that have left it, so we aren't limited to this place entirely.

[Though really, the distance they'd talked about was barely past the woods, so she wasn't sure it really counted.]

Some of the things we experience don't even seem to fit what little I have seen of a simulation. I'm not entirely convinced. I do think it's a possible description, and perhaps it might prove correct. But I also think that now that we are into the "Fantastic," there are other possibilities that we may not have even guessed at.

Keep searching, sir, but I'm not quite ready to make a final judgment. Not yet, anyway.

[truedetective]

There is nothing yet that disproves it, and it fits all of the oddities we've found.
Were the people that left the city Retrospec users? How far did they leave?
Perhaps this is a bubble. Perhaps if they're not users, they don't leave anywhere;
their code just makes it seem like they do.

[burningblossoms]

I've been calling non Retrospec users "sleepers"

And no, I don't think it seems too far fetched a theory. It actually lines up, though it could easily be a magical illusion, or a forced dream, or any other similar concept depending on your world view.

[truedetective]

If this is the case, it is almost certainly done with technology.
I'm not ready to believe in "magic."

[frostythehitman]

We're not in the matrix. Trust me, that was my first theory and I already tested it. This is the real world.

[truedetective]

How did you test it? What experiments did you conduct?
Frankly, the idea that we would be able to tell on our own is suspect.

[strawberrypunch]

[It's certainly quite the post to take in, which is why for once he actually takes the time to type out a thoughtful response.]

Ive lived in places all over the country before i moved to recolle

If this city is the only simulator shouldnt that be impossible?

[Not that it would cancel out the rest by any means, but he has his doubts on that particular part.]

[truedetective]

Did you really, though? When? Was it before or after you gained access to Retrospec? Consider the memories we've been having of these other lives. If those are the real us... then what about the lives we've lived here? Are they constructs? Inventions? Have any of us ever actually had a life before awakening here?

[livingdeadgirl]

so... we and everyone we know are all a bunch of fake made-up people?
is that what you are saying?
I know you explicitly said "we are real people," but then you turned right around and said "but this isn't reality and our lives and experiences aren't real, only our hallucinomemories are"
which basically invalidates everything about our existence as we know it
(side note can we pleeease just call them visions, hallucinomemories is a terrible word)

[truedetective]

I didn't come up with the term. It's just what people seem to be using. The "visions" (fine) I've been having seem to indicate I was living in Japan. I had a circle of friends similar to, yet distinct from, my acquaintances here. Those acquaintances here have had similar visions that are all internally consistent-- it would seem that we had a shared life together at one point. If those visions are correct, and that is who we really are, then what does it make this current existence? Only one can be true. Not both.

[vitis]

nice theory
curious as to how two people having a few of the same hallucination equals "remembering our real selves" though
seems a bit much to discount an entire lifetime of memories in favor of that, don't you think?

[truedetective]

Perhaps, if we weren't already questioning the nature of existence thanks to items 1, 3, and 4 in my list. Reality is suspect. Either we're all having a collective mental breakdown, or something is fundamentally wrong with the world. The hallucinations weren't merely the same, they were consistent. Details I hadn't mentioned were present in someone else's own visions.

[lostapprentice]

i can't believe that's really what's happening. that we aren't ourselves, but some other person we can't remember.

[He refuses. Absolutely not.]

maybe we are in the matrix, but how would all of these visions come from the same "reality"? mine was in space over a desert planet, on a ship that was so advanced it seemed impossible. someone else fought a scaled monster with a sword. and from what i've read, there are people with ones from a world that seems exactly like this one.

how would those all be from the same reality? and more than that, how would they have gotten all of us in the same place, if we really are trapped somewhere and hooked up to some virtual world?

[truedetective]

But we are remembering them, one moment at a time. That's the issue. As for those discrepancies... I haven't the slightest explanation yet, but it's not exactly a disproof. Given that it would require tremendous technological advances to run a simulation this detailed and realistic, perhaps it really is centuries or more in the "future" wherever we come from. You said you had a vision of space travel?

[prometheanflame]

Like others have said before, I'm not completely certain that this is a simulation, but it's a possibility I cannot ignore.

The memories I have received and heard about all seem not to correlate to each other, and they're mostly fantastical or nonsensical. If this isn't the real world, then why would the real one be less cohesive? I am curious about these "shared memories" you had with friends. What were they like?

[truedetective]

Without telling too much, they were broadly consistent with one another. We had memories of a certain somewhat fantastical element, despite having never discussed it with one another. The details were the same, and we independently remembered each others' presence. What do you mean your memories don't correlate?

[manufactured]

I suppose the first question I have for you now is what you plan on doing about it.

I'm the last person to discourage the notion of seeking knowledge for its own sake, to do with as you see fit - but in this circumstance, you're talking about discarding an entire existence as false when it seems to have been everything but. Simulation or otherwise, our experiences still exist, do they not? Even if we assume that this is a simulation of some sort, that doesn't invalidate the choices we've made within it.

If an experience is indistinguishable from reality, that makes it reality - at least to a degree. We continue to experience things, even in your brains in a vat scenario - as such, I really have to wonder what you plan on doing once you (hypothetically speaking) manage to prove that scenario true.

[truedetective]

I have no plan to do anything about it.

What can we do? Can we fight against the system? I'm not so sure.
All I'm interested in is solving the mystery.

[tokencanadian]

It's certainly an interesting theory you have. Being in some kind of simulation would certainly prove how everything's happening.
Still, I find it a little hard to believe, even if I've been through my own changes.
What about the people here that aren't native to Recolle?

[truedetective]

You mean the ones who moved here from elsewhere?
Frankly, there's no proof that they did, other than memories. As we've seen, our memories are inherently in doubt.
What's to say that someone didn't just have false memories of living elsewhere implanted?

[explodosafe]

Orrr something is up with this app and we could be all hella trippin' out thanks to it instead.

Makes more sense that going either cult or suicidal death-doesn't-matter-because-it's-all-a-game, dontcha think?

[truedetective]

Who said anything about suicide or death not mattering?
If anything, I would assume that death here equates to a permanent psychic death,
regardless of the health of our physical body (if it exists).

I had entertained the idea that the app was the source of a kind of hypnosis, but the shrinking episode put that matter to rest.

[manolia]

This is an incredibly detailed Matrix, if that's what you mean. From someone who programs when I have to, it makes sense. You could swap out certain variables, comment out memories, or adjust parameters on the fly. It'd take a long-ass time with certain things, like swapping horses for chocobos, because of the level of detail the change entails - but it's possible. It'd explain why Retrospec's devs are so exhausted all the time, and so inscrutable. lolol

The question is, why? Are these memories of our 'real' selves, or of some other invention? We all seem to come from disparate worlds, with disparate 'memories' - so what ties us together in this one, if anything, or is it a multiverse sort of situation?

And then where do we go after that? Do we find this home, if it's even alive anymore? We find the truth, but then we have to have a plan for what to do next.

[truedetective]

Those questions, for now, are beyond the scope of what I've been looking at.
Frankly, the idea of "what" is staggering enough without considering "why," "how,"
and "what's next" on top of it.

Another mentioned a memory involving space travel. Assuming that the creators are incredibly advanced scientifically, then perhaps interstellar travel is in play?
Different planets might explain the differing backgrounds.

[destiny_key]

i mean that sounds cool and all but also it sounds like the plot of a movie

but also yeah its kinda weird that everyone on the network happens to live in recolle

[truedetective]

Just because something sounds like it could be fictional, doesn't mean it is.

[scythegun]

Well, that's certainly an interesting idea. How long have you been considering this? When did you notice the changes starting?

[truedetective]

We've known that things have been odd ever since the change to horses some months ago, around February or March. People began regaining strange hallucinomemories around that time.
Still, I'd been willing to consider it some form of powerful hypnosis until earlier this month with the shrinking incident.
That made me believe that reality itself should be considered suspect.
But it wasn't until I realized that my memories were matching up with others that I began to seriously consider the idea of past "real" lives as the sources of the mysterious visions.

[protegge]

so wait
you think the rest of the world doesnt even exist ?
thats kind of crazy

[truedetective]

It might not.
Have any of us left after awaking to Retrospec?

Crazy doesn't mean it's not true.

[youraffection]

what
r u saying were not real

[truedetective]

Cogito ergo sum. I am talking with you and I am capable of conscious thought, so I, as a thinking entity, am real. I suspect the same is true for all of us. But our identities may not be. The ones in the vision we've seen... they may be the "real" us.

[katsudonfatale]

... How do you know what we're remembering is real?

[truedetective]

Do I "know" for certain? No. I highly suspect it, though. The memories I've been having are consistent with the other people here who have been appearing in them. Moreover, there are additional details I never shared that they remembered independently.

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[biellmann]

[ as she reads this, she gets a sinking feeling in her stomach. It would explain everything inexplicable quite neatly. ]

That makes a lot of sense.

But I really don't like it. Doesn't that mean we're totally helpless?

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[truedetective]

I don't know. I'm not exactly thinking about what necessarily comes next. Whether we like it or not, it might be the truth.

[accordance]

What it seems to me is that Recolle would be a nexus between worlds. My past does not come from Earth, and neither do a few that I know of.

So it would put more credibility in the simulation or reincarnation theory.

[truedetective]

Not necessarily.
Someone had a memory that involved a space ship. Assuming that the computing power necessary to do something like this far outstrips anything we're capable of now, it may be the "future" from our perspective.

To that end, interplanetary travel may be in the cards, which would allow for different levels of development.

[fashioneebo]

[Reading this post and all the other responses, it takes Mikleo some time before he comes up with his own two cents.]

That does explain things neatly, but I'm of a mind to reserve judgment until we get more solid evidence. What little I know of psychology would also hold water. Brains can be tricked, and also papers can be forged. There's a lot to be suspicious of.

I know some people have left the city and stopped being Retrospec users as a result, but is it because of proximity or something else? If we're following your theory on this being a computer simulation, then is it possible that someone leaving means that we get deleted or stored somewhere else? On the other hand, if it's reincarnation, then is it because of this city or Retrospec itself interfering?

[truedetective]

Stored somewhere else, I would imagine. After all, people came here from somewhere else in the first place.

It's possible that from their perspective nothing happened. They left, became inactive elements in the simulation, and were reactivated upon return... and given false memories.

[tarotcards]

A stimulation would make the most logical sense, given how Retrospec can easily change the environment around us, but if that's the case and our hallucinomemories are our real lives prior to Recolle, I have some doubts about that.

[ Souji... feels uncertain about his memories and he talked about this to Shin, about how he doesn't see Yu in any of his memories and how they seem to share a memory as well. Shin brought forth the possibility of reincarnation from a single person which Souji doesn't completely believe in but it's something to consider. ]

[truedetective]

Why? All of our memories have been broadly consistent.

[uncagedbird]

I'm not a scientist or a programmer, so the 'how' of this is all a bit beyond me, but I agree that the visions we've been having are truthful. The emotions I felt in those memories felt as 'real' as anything else. Even though the places and people were different, my heart knew. I can't explain it, but I knew. It was... so powerful, and so intimate...

Whatever may come of our lives here — the feelings we have, the bonds we've made — those are our own. I refuse to believe they are being controlled by someone else.

[truedetective]

I don't like the thought that my life here is fabricated either. But I must at least entertain the possibility. Isn't a painful truth preferable to a pleasant lie?

[obscultator]

I thought I warned you against going down the Boltzmann Brain road, my son.

If this is all a simulation that began a few months ago, and everything before it was an implated memory, why stop there? We could all have been programmed into being five minutes ago, if that's the case. Or five seconds ago, or five milliseconds ago, or a single Planck second ago. How would we know the diference?

And for that matter, how does any of us know anyone else in this city is real? "Cogito ergo sum", as you rightly say, but that only applies to the cognizant individual in question. For all you know, I and every word I have typed thus far are just a memory that has appeared along with your just-created awareness an infintessimal moment ago.

And so forth, and so forth.

Don't missunderstand: I appreciate any kind of debate and discussion about these goings-on, theorizing included. I just don't think that this is an especially fruitful path to go down.

[truedetective]

It's true. We could have come into creation moments ago.
I can find nothing to disprove that theory, or the theory that you are a figment of my imagination.

However, I can find no evidence for that theory, either.
The evidence is clear that the nature of reality should be questioned. That much should not be in dispute.
It is merely the question over what in particular the distortion is that we can discuss.

All things may be possible, but that doesn't make them probable or even likely.