but we have been able to render photoreal things, and do intricate physical simulations, for a long time.
Not like this we haven't. This is convincing because I can have any of you close your eyes and imagine a world where pink rabbits hand out parking tickets. We're a neurolink away from going from thought > to prompt > to fantasy.
I guess I should have clarified: when you talk about reality being a simulation, do you mean that we collectively live in a simulated universe, or that you personally are playing a very realistic vr game?
To add: our reality does not have to be rendered in it's entirety, we'll just have very convincing and unscripted first-person view simulations. Only what you look at is getting rendered (e.g. tiny structures only get rendered when you use microscope).
Not like this we haven't. This is convincing because I can have any of you close your eyes and imagine a world where pink rabbits hand out parking tickets. We're a neurolink away from going from thought > to prompt > to fantasy.