My first instalment was a brief foundational explanation of the building blocks of everything, both what we refer to as the simulation and what we might refer to as base reality. Both terms are inadequate to describe

In this next instalment, I describe the Ephiny I had, which confirmed to me that the nature of our reality is digital. This also explains the phenomenon of NPCs. There is no such thing as an NPC; everyone you meet is as real as you are.

Our Subconscious mind is AI

I have been around IT for 45 years and watched it evolve.

I remember the early so-called AI systems (better described as Expert Systems) and they would not have passed the Turing test, but the same cannot be said of today's generative AI and in particular LLMs.

I started using Chat GPT around Christmas and recently I have started to use it daily and think I would be able to identify it most of the time.

It was Arthur C. Clarke who said "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." I can understand how magical today AI must seem to most people but to me, it has all the hallmarks of an IT system.
It's comprised of a number of very impressive one-trick ponies but all together it's clunky and lacks the ability to actually create anything new. It can only regurgitate all the information it has been trained on and isn't even close to being sentient.
BUT there is something else that has occurred to me and that is how similar AI is to how our subconscious mind works.

I am talking about that part of us that runs on auto-pilot requiring no conscious thought. It's the auto-response that we can sometimes observe (like being a fly on the wall) in ourselves when are having a conversation, or when we respond to situations.
I had always considered the sub-conscious mind to be superior or even our higher mind, but I was not making the distinction between the auto-pilot and when we use it with conscious intent. Most of the time, most of us are just running on autopilot.

This means auto-responses based and patterns inherited or previously learnt or observed and there is nothing superior about this level of thinking known as Type 1 thinking.

The classic definition of Type 1 and Type 2 thinking is oversimplified and the results we get from both types of thinking can be equally erroneous depending on the programs (belief systems) we have installed.

Type 1 thinking is fast, automatic and often emotionally based. We process information quickly without deliberate (conscious) reasoning and this requires the least mental effort.
Type 2 thinking is slower, more deliberate, and uses our consciousness in attempted reasoning and careful evaluation of information. It requires significant mental effort, focus, and concentration to process complex information.
Most people only engage in Type 2 thinking when they are forced to by encountering something new, often a problem, that they don't have the automatic response for.
NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) includes the concept of Chunking (Miller's Law) which explains that a person can only process around 7 (plus or minus 2) chunks or pieces of information at a time.
Because our conscious mind is limited to processing a few chunks of information at a time this means that our subconscious mind which is connected to our entire body with all its sensors is receiving around 20 million bits of information per second while our conscious minds can only process 40 bits per second according to Dr Bruce Lipton (40 bits per second is consistent with Miller's law - just measured differently). Interestingly a computer CPU is also limited in its parallel processing with most processors we use today limited to 64 bits of information, another smoking gun in my opinion pointing to the digital nature of our biological computer.
We have 20 million bits of information per second coming in and a capacity to only process 40 bits per second.
That is a huge bottleneck and it's our subconscious minds that have the job of filtering all this input and only passing on to our conscious minds what it considers important.
How does it decide what is important and what can be ignored?
The programs (beliefs) we have installed and ultimately a high-level conscious program that would work in a similar way to the instructions and prompts provided to an AI assistant.
There is an old adage in IT; Garbage in - Garbage out.
This means that even when we do engage in Type 2 thinking, if our high-level conscious program is based on belief systems (programs) that preclude considering certain information because it conflicts with those belief systems then no amount of Type 2 thinking is going to produce truly accurate results.
This is why the idea that Type 2 thinking is superior because it is synonymous with critical thinking is wrong, yet Type 2 thinking is the doorway to escape the simulation.
In fact, Type 1 thinking is often superior to Type 2.
The 20 Million bits to 40 bits bottleneck means that we consciously miss a lot of information but this is provided to us in the form of impressions or "gut feelings".
This is why it is often better to trust your instincts or intuition about somebody or something.
I lived in Southeast Asia for more than a decade and "transgender women" known as Ladyboys are common, especially around areas where tourists and expats congregate.
When I first arrived I found myself asking the question when observing some presenting as female; Is that a real woman? I could then look for all the physical attributes such as Adams Apple, hips etc etc but I soon realised that whenever I asked myself that question I already knew the answer. It was instinctual, my subconscious mind had already observed and processed all those attributes and provided me with an impression of incongruence.
Of course, Type 1 thinking is just as susceptible to your underlying belief systems.
Both types of thinking are required.
Type 1 provides fast and efficient responses to most of the environment that Type 2 thinking is incapable of doing.
Type 2 thinking cannot operate our biological computers, it can't keep the blood pumping and regulate all the bodily functions that we are, for the most part, consciously unaware of. As explained it can only process a minuscule fraction of the information we receive in this simulation.
It is possible to exist in this simulation engaging in minimal to almost no Type 2 thinking and still be highly functional and even considered by many to be educated and intelligent.
A name has been given to such people that originate from the AI-generated characters in games. The name is NPC which stands for Non Playing Character.
Some speculate that they are NPCs in this simulation but I believe they are just as "real" as you or me, but predominately operate in Type 1 thinking.
Type 1 thinking is simply operating fully within this simulation while Type 2 thinking only provides the potential to operate outside (or above) it.
This potential is the "Free will" we are endowed with.