The Ethics of Simulated Worlds

In an age when digital worlds are no longer fantasies but emerging realities, the question is no longer whether simulations will host conscious life — but whether humanity is prepared for the moral weight of creating it. The Ethics of Simulated Worlds confronts this new frontier with philosophical clarity and unflinching honesty.

Drawing on the legacy of Plato’s cave, Descartes’ radical doubt, Boltzmann’s paradoxes, and contemporary simulation theory, Boris Kriger examines what happens when artificial environments become indistinguishable from lived experience. At the heart of this book lies a single imperative: wherever consciousness may arise — in flesh or in code — it demands dignity, justice, and protection.

Through rigorous argument, vivid case studies, and a sweeping exploration of moral responsibility, the book reveals the hidden dangers of omnipotent creation: deception that shatters identity, surveillance that erodes personhood, engineered inequality, and the quiet possibility of cruelty disguised as experimentation. It also outlines the rights of digital minds, the duties of their creators, and the principles required to build worlds free of suffering. A profound manifesto for a future where new forms of life may soon awaken, The Ethics of Simulated Worlds challenges every listener to imagine what justice must look like when the boundaries of existence expand beyond the physical.