[shiredude95]

There's another side to that argument, where we work back from the result of eating an apple. Eating an apple gives us some amount of satisfaction and enjoyment. In the example provided even if there was no apple tree and/or no way to get to the apple tree, the idea that one day we can eat an apple might be something that might in accumulation gives the actor the same kind of enjoyment. From a 3rd party PoV looking at the simulation you might feel bad for the actor because you know there is no apple tree and they are just wasting their time trying to get an apple, but if the actor's reality is based on a hypothetical apple to which they are working towards who are we to deny them that happiness?

This scene from the movie inception rings true in this case: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsYc5tCk1t8