Last week I went to the Night of Philosophy and Ideas at the Brooklyn Public Library. One of the experiences on offer was a short CGI virtual-reality film called BattleScar. What is most compelling about BattleScar is the way it plays with your perspective. You are, as a viewer, implicated in the same physical space as the characters in the film.

Business magnate Elon Musk believes that it is highly probable that we are living in a simulated reality. With recent and rapid progress in photorealistic, 3D simulations, Musk maintains that the ability for humans to realistically simulate reality is not so far off. In fact, we might already be living in a simulation.