Walking With The Eye Of The Storm
What
if reality is not static, but an open-source code we help co-write? What if the
glitches we experience—internal conflicts, emotional turbulence, societal
confusion—are not external anomalies, but artifacts of that code being edited
in real time? Self-awareness becomes the still center inside the hurricane
where we don’t fight the system, we walk with it, observe its pathways,
and gradually rewrite its story.
Simulation and the
Nature of Reality
Philosopher
Nick Bostrom famously proposed a trilemma in his paper, “Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?” Bostrom’s trilemma
argues either (1) human civilization will cease before becoming “posthuman,” or
(2) posthuman civilizations choose not to run ancestor simulations, or (3) we
are almost certainly living in a simulation (2001). This argument hinges on the
assumption of substrate-independence, i.e. that conscious minds could be
instantiated on non-biological computational substrates as long as the right
structure is implemented. That means if
future beings can simulate minds in enough detail (down to synapses or even
finer levels), then simulated minds might outnumber biological minds, making it
statistically more probable that we ourselves are simulated (Bostrom, 2001).
Another
perspective which appears in the article, “The Self-Simulation Hypothesis Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics,”
expands on this by treating not only the universe as a simulation, but
consciousness itself as a self-simulation; the mind is simulating itself in a
loop rather than being wholly external (Irwin,
et al., 2020). This reinforces the idea that we are both the coders and
the code: our mental constructs simulate reality inside themselves. Essentially,
our minds are capable of creating worlds like those seen in video games like No
Man’s Sky, the Sims, or even Minecraft; our mind is the “open world” concept.
Chaos, Emotional
Dynamics, and Glitches
The
notion of chaos is more than a metaphor. Emotional dysregulation is modelled
through chaotic dynamics. As a result small perturbations in emotional triggers
can lead to disproportionate, nonlinear responses (Ciuluvica Neagu, et al., 2020). This suggests that our internal
states are not always smooth or linear. Rather, emotional systems can behave
like chaotic systems, sensitive to initial conditions, with feedback loops and
unpredictable trajectories. In that sense, our internal “glitches” (i.e. unresolved
trauma, cognitive distortions, unprocessed emotions) can evolve unpredictably.
However, chaotic systems are not just destructive, but can also have structure.
They can settle into attractors or stable patterns if we find the right vantage
point.
Normlessness,
Social Glitches, and Anomie
Sociologist
Émile Durkheim coined the term anomie to describe a state of
normlessness that arises when societal norms break down, or when rapid change
leaves people without clear moral guidelines (Durkheim 1893; Durkheim 1897).When
rules dissolve or lag behind technological and cultural transformation,
individuals can feel disconnected, adrift, even purposeless (Nickerson, 2025). Durkheim
argued that such conditions can produce social instability, moral confusion,
and even spikes in deviance or self-harm, because the moral “glue” that holds
individuals to community weakens (Durkheim 1893; Durkheim 1897).
From
the perspective of our simulation metaphor, social anomie is like a bug in
collective code: when norms don’t update to reflect new realities, the system
loses cohesion. Bring in the collapse of solidarity within society, and watch
as the hive mind (a limited collective consciousness) falls apart as
disparities grow. The wealthier get wealthier. Everyone else falls to the
wayside, or is trampled to death, or a blend of both.
Dystopian
societies emerge out of the rumble and are given enough foundation to thrive
even though they lack the fundamentals to stabilize and create solidarity for
all. Nobody can win in a dystopia. People experience the lag, the mismatch
between old code (norms) and new inputs (social, technological, cultural
changes). We forget how to create because our tech, our influencers, the world
tells us, we can create for you. This is the
anomie, the alienation that effects both individuals (agency) and groups of
people (mechanical or organic solidarity; Durkheim 1893; Durkheim 1897).
Self-Awareness
There
are three factors that must be considered as a whole, not a pick-and-choose
when it comes to the self-awareness of a perceived simulation: reality, chaos,
and social normlessness. Reality as code or simulation implies that much of what
we perceive, from internal emotions to social norms, can be seen as output of
underlying structure (code, aka the
foundational building blocks). Chaos, or emotional dysregulation, means that even within that structure,
small internal glitches can produce wild behavior or runaway feedback loops. Social
normlessness adds a layer of collective code that might not align with current
lived experience(s), producing disorientation or disconnection (Durkheim 1893;
Durkheim 1897).
Think
of watching the news safe from your home while another person’s home is blown
up in the midst of a war. A disconnect exists between those exposed to war and
those never exposed. That disconnect creates a gap which births options for
agency and/or solidarity. Humans naturally prefer to connect with others who
have similar life experiences. And there will always be plenty of people who
wish to remain in their synthetic bubble. To hold agency is to step outside the
mundane and demand more — self-awareness. Self-awareness offers something
different.
For
the sake of this piece, let’s look at the combat soldier who goes to war. That
combative may be exposed to turmoil, rape, death, and other heinous crimes
against humanity (the external). Furthermore, they belonged to a team while
deployed to a war zone (mechanical solidarity). When they get home and attempt
to cope with the horrors of war, they may feel unable to reconnect with the
people they care about (the internal). This crisis is where solidarity and
agency clash. If they are able to find, learn, and adopt their own agency, than
they are able to become self-aware. Self-awareness offers a perspective from
the center of the storm (the eye of the hurricane).
Eye of the
Hurricane: Key Ideas
Imagine
if we were living in a simulation and the people with the most agency were the
aware of this. Now, imagine that person tries to inform the group they hold no
active membership with them — they literally walk into the storm. The inner
peace and acceptance they feel with being different from the group is in fact
their strength. Let me break this down:
· Observing glitches instead of fighting them.When emotional or social glitches occur, awareness allows us to see them as part of the system’s execution rather than as adversaries. Recognizing them means you are no longer purely subject to them, but you can debug them.· Walking with the eye.In the metaphor, the “eye of the hurricane” is the calm vantage where you see both the internal turbulence (cognition) and the external storm (war). You don’t resist the storm. You align with its motion so that the chaos becomes visible, understandable, even manageable in a not so normal situation.· Rewriting the system.Once you observe the glitches (where norms fail, where emotional loops run wild) you can begin to refactor the code. You update beliefs, adjust norms, repair disconnections. Self-awareness becomes the editor of the system. Think of it as your internal AI open source.· Collective self-awareness.On the societal level, anomie arises when collective code is outdated. If the group becomes aware of the mismatch, norms can be rewritten. The community becomes co-authors rather than subjects of a legacy program. Similar to a collective consciousness where everyone is united under a shared reality, set social facts, and the acceptance of social norms; compliance is required to belong. Whereas agency is completely on the individual.
