# simulacron-3 ![[danielfgalouye-simulacron-3.jpg|300]] first edition cover new york 1964 author: daniel f. galouye original title: simulacron-3 country: united states language: english series: a bantam book j2797 genre: science fiction novel publisher: bantam books publication date: 1964 published in english: january 1 1964 media type: print (paperback) pages: 152 pp oclc: 50854239 dewey decimal: 813/.5/4 lc class: ps3557.a42 s56 2000eb preceded by: lords of the psychon (1963) followed by: a scourge of screamers (1968) simulacron-3 (1964) (also published as counterfeit world) by daniel f. galouye is an american science fiction novel featuring an early literary description of a simulated reality # plot summary simulacron-3 is the story of a virtual city (total environment simulator) for marketing research developed by a scientist to reduce the need for opinion polls. the computer-generated city simulation is so well-programmed that although the inhabitants have ir own consciousness they are unaware except for one that they are only electronic impulses in a computer the simulator's lead scientist hannon fuller dies mysteriously and a co-worker morton lynch vanishes. the protagonist douglas hall is with lynch when ey vanishes and hall subsequently struggles to suppress ir inchoate madness. as time and events unwind ey progressively grasps that ir own world is probably not "real" and might be only a computer-generated simulation # similar works in writing the frederik pohl short story "the tunnel under the world" (1955) deals with similar philosophic themes and satirical criticism of marketing research although in pohl's story the described simulated reality is mechanical an intricate scale-model whose inhabitants' consciousnesses reside in a computer rather than being solely electronic. the philip k. dick story time out of joint (1959) presents a man who is unaware that ey is living ir life in a physically simulated town until changes in ir (apparent) reality begin to manifest themselves the matrix (1999) described a world whose population is unaware that the world containing ir minds is a virtual reality simulacrum "the plagiarist" (2011) by hugh howey is a short novel which deals with similar themes and ideas the doctor who episode "extremis" has a similar plot # adaptations the novel has been adapted several times into other media including as the two-part german television film world on a wire (welt am draht 1973) by rainer werner fassbinder "staying reasonably faithful to galouye's book-" as the film the thirteenth floor (1999) produced by roland emmerich and directed by josef rusnak and as a play world of wires (2012) directed by jay scheib # see also **+** artificial consciousness **+** simulation hypothesis **+** simulated reality **+** virtual reality // republic of bob