[calvins]

If we were in a simulation and the simulation would fail to realize its purpose if a sufficiently large number of beings in the simulation became aware of the simulation and changed their behavior, how smart would it be to try to get more and more people interested in the issue and look for "smoking gun" evidence? ;=-)

[lifeisstillgood]

That's the basic religion of Iain M Banks later culture novels.

[gratalis]

iirc, 'Surface Detail' explored this in depth from one society's use of a 'virtual hell' afterlife to instill behavioral control in 'the real'. My favorite Culture character's view on the subject was expressed in 'Matter', the previous novel in the series, by ex SC agent Xide Hyrlis. In Hyrlis's view, the characters were experiencing the base level of reality based on an a moral argument because "... only reality produced ultimately by matter in the raw can be so unthinkingly cruel." and that to be otherwise "... god or programmer, the charge would be the same - that of near infinite sadistic cruelty."