An implicit assumption (which should have been made explicit) of the post is that the cost per simulation is tiny. This is like in WW II where the US would send a long-range bomber to take photos of Japan. I agree with your last paragraph and I think it gets to what is consciousness. Is the program's existence enough to generate consciousness, or does the program have to run to create conscious observers?

Great example!

I'm assuming the cost of this simulation is tiny compared to the value of learning about potential enemies and trading partners.

Yes, I agree that you can't give too much weight to my saying I'm in pain because I could be non-conscious from your viewpoint. Assuming all humans are conscious and pain is as it appears to be, there seems to be a lot of unnecessary pain, but yes I could be missing the value of having us experience it.

I'm in low level chronic pain including as I write this comment, so while I think the entire Andromeda galaxy might be fake, I think at least some suffering must be real, or at least I have the same confidence in my suffering as I do in my consciousness.

I'm in low level chronic pain including as I write this comment, so while I think the entire Andromeda galaxy might be fake, I think at least some suffering must be real, or at least I have the same confidence in my suffering as I do in my consciousness.

They people running the Karma test deserve to lose a lot of Karma for the suffering in this world.

If your hypothesis is true, that's a cruel civilization by my personal standards because of all the suffering in this world.

Yes, that is the same idea. "This is a big pile of speculation that I don't take very seriously, but I feel like if we are being simulated, that's where most simulations of me would be instantiate" Why not take it seriously, if you accept high chance that (1) our reality is a simulation, (2)  we seem on track to creating a paperclip maximizer, (3) weird that I, Robert Miles, would have the personality traits that cause me to be one of the few humans so worried about humanity creating a paperclip maximizer if I'm right about us being on track to probably create one?

In your dreams do you ever see trees you think are real? I doubt your brain is simulating the trees at a very high level of detail, yet this dream simulation can fool you.