Simulacron-3
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| Author | Daniel F. Galouye |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science Fiction |
| Publisher | |
| Released | 1964 |
| Media Type |
The science fiction novel Simulacron-3 was first published in 1964 by Daniel F. Galouye in the United States.
The book tells the story of a virtual city (total environment simulator), developed by a scientist and intended for marketing research purposes, thus ridding the city of its burdensome "pollsters" (opinion polling agents) who must, by law, be allowed to poll anyone for their opinion on a potential product, law, situation,... etc.
The computer-city simulation in the story is so perfect that its inhabitants possess their own consciousness yet do not know (except for one) that they exist only as electronic impulses in a computer. The lead scientist, Hannon Fuller, mysteriously dies and co-worker Morton Lynch vanishes. The protagonist, Douglas Hall, is there when Lynch disappears and struggles to suppress his inchoate insanity. As time and events proceed, he realizes more and more that his world is probably not "real" and itself may be nothing more than a computer-generated simulation.
Probably influenced directly by Philip K. Dick's Truman Show-esque novel Time out of Joint, Simulacron-3 can be rightly regarded as the first description of virtual reality, even if the topic was already treated more than two thousand years ago in Plato's allegory of the cave.
The novel greatly influenced 1999's The Matrix and 2004's Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, and was even filmed twice itself: first in 1973 by Rainer Werner Fassbinder as a two-part television play under the name Welt am Draht (World on a Wire), and in 1999 by Josef Rusnak as The Thirteenth Floor.
The term "Simulacron 3" is given to this just-built simulator, ostensibly because it is the third attempt at "Simulectronics" (this fictional world's technology which simulates reality). "Simulacron 3" is the book's title because there are three levels of 'reality' in the novel (or, three levels of computer simulation, if the reader surmises that the 'final,' "real" world is itself simulated). The book's title is evocative of simulacrum, a superficial image representing a non-existent original, as well as Chronos, the ancient Greek personification of time (which is the root of words like chronograph, chronological, chronicle, etc.).
The book Simulacron-3 is somewhat difficult to locate in public and even university libraries. It is therefore helpful to be aware that Simulacron-3 is also known as "Counterfeit World". For unknown reasons, perhaps at the behest of the publisher, the title "Counterfeit World" was used for a book copy written in 1970. “Counterfeit World” and Simulacron-3 are identical, word for word. It is difficult to site a reference to this fact sans online texts of both books to compare. One example can be found at the CalState Fullerton library. “Counterfeit World” is this only book in the CalState Fullerton library by Daniel F. Galouye. After purchasing a PDF of Simulacron-3 from an online bookstore, and comparing that text to the book “Counterfeit World” found in the CalState Fullerton library, it is apparent that they are indeed the same. Therefore it may be helpful for someone who is trying to find Simulacron-3 to also search for “Counterfeit World” by Daniel F. Galouye. Counterfeit World aka Simulacron-3 in CalSate Fullerton library catalog
Frederik Pohl's classic 1955 short story "The Tunnel Under the World" deals with simular themes, including a satirical critique of marketing research, though the simulated reality it describes is mechanical (an intricate scale model with only the inhabitants consciousness residing in a computer)rather than purely electronic.
