[imagesource: Maggie Chiang]

Take your pick between the uncanny valley, a parallel universe, or a simulation. Either way, we’re about to explore one of the most terrifying realms known to man.

The ambiguousness and discomfort of a possible unreality.

Over 50 million people have stared into the glossed-over eyes of a girl performing in a video as an NPC – which stands for a non-playable character in a video game – as she does typical first-date activities in Venice.

The NPC is in actual fact TikToker and professional dancer Nicki, who together with her friend Loczek, is driving the growing trend on TikTok inspired by the soulless robotic movements of a video game character.

The hashtag #npc currently has over two billion views.

Nicki has an uncanny ability to imitate the scripted gestures of an avatar, creating a strange, almost unnerving, simulation quality in her videos, reported Dazed.

It’s almost like you’ve entered the Matrix:

@locznikiWhat should we do on the second date?♬ Skyrim Atmospheres – Jeremy Soule

@locznikiDo you recognize the city?♬ The City Gates – Jeremy Soule

@locznikiThe weather at the Polish seaside is not good, but still – it’s getting serious 🤖♬ Skyrim Atmospheres – Jeremy Soule

There’s some method to the madness:

It’s no surprise that the NPC trend has gained traction post-pandemic, as the increasing digitisation of our lives seems to have led to increased attention on The Simulation Hypothesis, a 2003 theory posed by philosopher Nick Bostrom that suggests we exist in a Matrix-style computer simulation.

Many NPC TikToks include the hashtag #simulation or #simulationtheory, with commenters usually reflecting on their own existential doubts.

Elon Musk backs this theory, tweeting last year that after 49 years, “games are photo-realistic 3D worlds” going on to question “what [sic] that trend [sic] implies about our reality”.

Musk is also familiar with Bostrom’s work, and has used it as evidence to suggest that there is a “99,9% chance that the universe we inhabit is a computer simulation”:

Another content creator on TikTok, @realhorrortok, who posts content of everyday people doing weird things resembling the behaviour of NPCs, agrees that “with today’s current events a lot of people are warming up to the idea of us being in a simulation”:

@realhorrortok Follow for more glitches 😨👆 #realhorrortok #xyzbca #horrortok #fypシ #glitch #npc #creepy ♬ Creepy Music Box – Terra Fantasy

The ever-blurring line between machine and human is compounded by the zeitgeist in which 93% of under-18s admit to gaming regularly and virtual reality games and headsets are increasing in popularity. Not to mention Mark Zuckerberg trying to make the Metaverse a thing.

Dazed also reckons it has something to do with the pendulum swinging away from “Main Character Syndrome” and towards “Side character energy”. This relates to “a growing trend on TikTok to describe people who want to take life less seriously and not feel the pressure to live in the spotlight”.

But mostly, it is way easier to joke about being an unthinking automaton than accept that our lives may be beginning to feel increasingly unreal.

[source:dazed]