There are noninteractive simulations, like standard simulations of galaxy formation, that do not interact with users at all. Because they aren’t interactive, they don’t meet the definition of virtual worlds. But the hypothesis that I’m in a computer simulation requires that I’m interacting with a computer-generated world through my sensory inputs and motor outputs. This hypothesis is equivalent to the hypothesis that I’m in a virtual world. As a result, the simulation hypothesis can equivalently be stated as the virtual-world hypothesis: I am in a virtual world.
