truedetective: (01)
Naoto Shirogane ([personal profile] truedetective) wrote in [community profile] retrospec2017-06-01 01:41 pm

I reach out to the truth; text

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.

----------

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
cattack: (That's not good.)

text

[personal profile] cattack 2017-06-01 06:09 pm (UTC)(link)
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?
true_noir: (Cloak13)

[personal profile] true_noir 2017-06-01 06:17 pm (UTC)(link)
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.
burningblossoms: <user name=yosukesheadphones site=tumblr.com> (Serious Look)

[personal profile] burningblossoms 2017-06-01 06:18 pm (UTC)(link)
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.
frostythehitman: (these wounds they will not heal)

[personal profile] frostythehitman 2017-06-01 06:23 pm (UTC)(link)
We're not in the matrix. Trust me, that was my first theory and I already tested it. This is the real world.
strawberrypunch: ([Surprise] that instant)

[personal profile] strawberrypunch 2017-06-01 06:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[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.]
Edited 2017-06-01 18:29 (UTC)
livingdeadgirl: (frown 4)

[personal profile] livingdeadgirl 2017-06-01 06:57 pm (UTC)(link)
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)
Edited (im done i swear) 2017-06-01 19:07 (UTC)
burningblossoms: <user name=yosukesheadphones site=tumblr.com> (Dramatic Turn)

[personal profile] burningblossoms 2017-06-01 07:29 pm (UTC)(link)
No? That's certainly your world view. I wouldn't discount it as a possibility though.
true_noir: (Hmmm)

[personal profile] true_noir 2017-06-01 07:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Officer Togusa, so a user. You'll have to discuss with him exact details. I didn't inquire too deeply.

And yes, like I said, there is a possibility. I don't deny that it might explain some of the things, but if we're being very thorough, so might a trio of witches who summoned us from our lives in countless alternate realities and who cast magic spells on us that we see as the app.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but I don't think I'm at the point where this is the impossible explanation I accept. I will, however, agree that the explanation is almost certainly something we would normally consider impossible, and which we won't like in the end.
cattack: (That's not good.)

[personal profile] cattack 2017-06-01 07:31 pm (UTC)(link)
I think it is somewhat premature to say that is the explanation.
Capricious gods are just as valid an explanation, and again has no purpose to it.
vitis: ((ʘ‿   ✿))

[personal profile] vitis 2017-06-01 07:35 pm (UTC)(link)
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?
lostapprentice: it happens sometimes (k: murder walk)

[personal profile] lostapprentice 2017-06-01 08:00 pm (UTC)(link)
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?
prometheanflame: Dio please stop killing people (sad that people are dying)

[personal profile] prometheanflame 2017-06-01 08:22 pm (UTC)(link)
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?
manufactured: (Default)

[personal profile] manufactured 2017-06-01 08:33 pm (UTC)(link)
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.
tokencanadian: (Concerned)

[personal profile] tokencanadian 2017-06-01 08:58 pm (UTC)(link)
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?
cattack: (pic#4867983)

[personal profile] cattack 2017-06-01 10:01 pm (UTC)(link)
And if your theory is true, then perhaps that lack of a belief in gods was programmed into you in this simulation.
If your belief is the truth, then whether or not we are 'real people', our entire identities, every aspect of what makes us ourselves, is entirely fabricated.
In that way, we are not 'real people' at all.

Page 1 of 15