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Simulated reality in fiction

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Simulated reality is a common theme in science fiction. It should not be confused with the theme of virtual reality.

Literature[edit]

Title Author Year Remarks
Accelerando Charles Stross 2005 A collection of related short stories, assembled as a novel, chronicling the life of a man and his daughter both pre and post-singularity.
The Algebraist Iain M. Banks 2004 Posits a religion according to which 'The Truth' is that our universe is virtual.
Gray Matters William Hjortsberg 1971 Set after an apocalyptic World War III, a few hundred persons have their brains preserved in an automated conservatory. Although they have no bodies to move around with, they are free to mentally visit any of the other residents, and engage in all the emotional, intellectual and (pseudo-) sexual congress that they desire.
Amnesia Moon Jonathan Lethem 1995 On a road trip, two characters set out from a post-apocalypse Wyoming town and encounter a succession of alternate realities, including one shrouded in opaque green fog, another luck-based political system, and it is suggested that these divergent alternate realities emerged to obstruct an alien invasion of Earth. Homage to Philip K. Dick.[1]
Breakfast of Champions Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 1973 Kilgore Trout, an amateur science fiction writer, writes a story that mocks individualism by suggesting that there is only one human man and one God, and the rest of humanity are robots, made to test the man's reactions; hence, a kind of simulated reality.
Chronic City Jonathan Lethem 2009 Several strands relating to virtual reality games and virtual objects, but then events in the "real world" lead the reader to conclude that the "real world" is a simulated reality which is accreting errors and anomalies.
The City and the Stars Arthur C. Clarke 1956 "Of all the thousands of forms of recreation in the city, these were the most popular. When you entered into a saga, you were not merely a passive observer, as in the crude entertainments of primitive times which Alvin had sometimes sampled."[2]
Dreams Are Sacred Peter Phillips 1948 It is an early example of what later came to be called a "dream hacking", in which one person enters a dream that is being experienced by another.[3]
The Coma Alex Garland 2004 An Englishman is viciously beaten and injured late at night in the London Underground system. He wakes from the coma only to discover that his reality is inconsistent, and begins to wonder if he'd really woken at all.
The Cookie Monster Vernor Vinge 2004 The characters come to doubt their own reality. This story was reprinted in several anthology collections, won the 2004 Hugo Award for Best Novella and was nominated for the 2005 Nebula Award for Best Novella.[4] One reviewer rated the story "A+" and praised "the central mysteries which Vinge so very skillfully unwraps for you over the course of the story itself."[5]
The Cosmic Puppets Philip K. Dick 1957 A man goes to visit the town in which he spent his early childhood, only to find that he does not recognize anything or anyone. Even basic things such as street names are different. Eventually he discovers that the town and all of the people in it are being subjected to an illusion created by the fight between two cosmic beings.
Count Zero William Gibson 1986 The first sequel of Gibson's Neuromancer, the novel continues themes around cyberspace and introduces a computerized device called an Aleph which contains an advanced version of cyberspace that appears as a simulated reality to those that "jack" into it, as well as to digital entities that reside within it.
Darwinia Robert Charles Wilson 1998 By the end of the story it is revealed that whatever happens in the story is really beyond the End of Time and that the Universe, the Earth and all of the consciousness that ever existed are really being preserved in a computer-like simulation known as the Archive.
Dead Romance Lawrence Miles 1999/2004 Part of the Virgin New Adventures series of Doctor Who spin-off fiction, but mostly disconnected from the rest of the series. The novel is set on a version of 1970s Earth within a "bottle universe," invaded by powerful beings from the greater universe beyond. It is suggested that these beings are fleeing their own invaders and that their universe is merely a bottle within a yet greater cosmos.
Diaspora Greg Egan 1997 A novel set in 2975 CE in which humanity has divided into distinct groups, one of which are the citizens. The citizens are intelligences that exist as disembodied computer software running entirely within simulated reality-based communities.
A Dream of Wessex Christopher Priest 1977 Released in the United States under the title The Perfect Lover. A team of specialists undergoes a sort of computer-monitored group hypnosis to create an alternate England, hoping to improve their dystopian world, but their utopia is endangered by one member with foul emotions and megalomaniacal ideas.
The Electric Ant Philip K. Dick 1969 A man awakes from a vehicular crash, and is transferred to a special treatment facility after being informed that he is a biological robot. He finds that his subjective reality is controlled by a punch tape reel in his chest panel, which he begins to manipulate in an effort to control the world that he experiences.
Electric Forest Tanith Lee 1979 A woman who is so ugly that she is an outcast on her colony planet of genetically engineered perfection agrees to put herself in a container from which she will have full control of and the illusion of independence in the cloned body of a beautiful, wealthy, and intelligent woman.
Epic Conor Kostick 2004 The inhabitants of a whole world play in a virtual world for their real income and status.
Eternity Greg Bear 1988 In particular, his introduction of the Taylor algorithms as a means of determining the simulated nature of an artificial environment.
Eye in the Sky Philip K. Dick 1957 After a nuclear accident, seven victims successively pass a range of solipsist personalised alternate universes, including a geocentric, magic-based universe and a hardline marxist caricature of the contemporary United States. Tom Shippey wrote that it might be "a private fantasy world, watched over by a Vast Active Living Intelligence System."[6]
Feersum Endjinn Iain M. Banks 1994 Describes a version of Earth with very extensive virtual reality capabilities.
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said Philip K. Dick 1974 A famous, wealthy entertainer wakes up one morning in a cheap hotel, only to discover that no one knows who he is and that there is not even a record of his existence.
Forever Free Joe Haldeman 1999
The Girl Who Was Plugged In James Tiptree Jr. 1974
Glasshouse Charles Stross 2006
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams 1979–2009 Earth was designed by an alien supercomputer called Deep Thought to find the Ultimate Question to the Ultimate Answer of Life, the Universe, and Everything (the Ultimate Answer already established as 42), using organic life as part of its operational matrix. However, early on in the first book Earth was destroyed just before the critical moment of read-out, leading to the events of the rest of the series. Later, part of the action takes place in a synthetic universe.
Idlewild Nick Sagan 2003 This novel contains a simulated school inside a simulated world.
Illusions Richard Bach 1977 A pilot on the Midwest summer barnstorming circuit meets a messiah who shows him that the world is merely "like a movie" designed by "the Master" to entertain and enlighten humanity.
The Immortals[7] David Duncan 1960 Two scientists use a computer to predict the consequences on society of a new drug that one of them invented.
The Joy Makers James Edwin Gunn 1961 A new philosophy known as "Hedonism", which makes joy the greatest human need, ultimately results in an advanced A.I. projecting each person's ultimate fantasy directly into their brains while their comatose bodies are cared for inside of locked "wombs".
Killobyte Piers Anthony 1993 Killobyte is a "second generation" virtual reality game that puts players into a three-dimensional, fully sensory environment.
Life Is a Dream Pedro Calderón de la Barca 1635
Loop Koji Suzuki 1998
The Man in the High Castle Philip K. Dick 1962 Initially, it appears that Nazi Germany and the Japanese Empire won the Second World War in an alternate, occupied United States. However, the I Ching divination tool discloses this as an apparent illusion.
A Maze of Death Philip K. Dick 1970 A group of people from different ways of life are assigned to colonize a planet using a vehicle that is one-way, making them unable to leave. Many confusing events take place. Eventually everyone wakes up and discovers that it was a virtual reality program. The passengers of a broken spaceship are in an orbit of an alien gas giant and they are doomed to remain until they die. To keep away boredom and despair they create virtual reality programs in which they are living real lives. The book ends with the restart of the previous program.
The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect Roger Williams 1994
The Mirage Matt Ruff 2012 A world where the Middle East is the centre of capitalism and democracy and the United States is home to sectarian and terrorist violence. Most of the history of the world is told throughout the book through excerpts from a website called The Library of Alexandria, the world's version of Wikipedia. It is eventually revealed that the timeline is an illusion created by a Djinn.
Mona Lisa Overdrive William Gibson 1988 The second sequel to Gibson's Neuromancer, featuring further exploration of the influence of cyberspace in the future.
Moongazer Marianne Mancusi 2007 A post-apocalyptic underground society pacifies its citizens by plugging them into a simulated version of New York City before the war, meanwhile telling the people that they are actually traveling to an alternate reality where they can escape their constricted lives.
Neuromancer William Gibson 1984 In this future, cyberspace has taken on the attributes of virtual reality.
Old Twentieth Joe Haldeman 2005 A group of immortal humans sets off on a thousand-year voyage to explore an Earth-type planet. To amuse themselves, they use virtual reality to take trips to the twentieth century; but when the trips start to go wrong, a virtual reality engineer discovers that the simulated world is ruled by a self-aware computer...who may be running a more complex simulation than they can ever imagine.
Omnitopia Dawn Diane Duane 2010 Features a MMOG called Omnitopia that contains multiple player-built worlds that can compete for popularity, earning real-world money.
Otherland Tad Williams 1998
Ready Player One Ernest Cline 2011 James Halliday creates a virtual reality system called the Ontologically Anthropomorphic Sensory Immersive Simulation (OASIS). Years later in 2040, the world has collapsed so people use the OASIS as away to escape the crappy reality. Halliday dies and since he is one of the greatest (fictional) videogame designers, he has accumulated a lot of wealth: 240 billion dollars (in the movie Halliday's wealth was in excess of half a trillion dollars/credits). Halliday has no heir, so puts his money up for grabs in a high-stakes videogame competition based on the pop culture of the decades past. Whoever finds the money will inherit Halliday's wealth and total control over the OASIS itself.
Paprika Yasutaka Tsutsui 1993 A Japanese novel about a research psychologist who uses a device that permits therapists to help patients by entering their dreams, later adapted into an anime film.
The Penultimate Truth Philip K. Dick 1964 A group of people living in underground tanks during a nuclear war decide that they have to brave the irradiated, dangerous surface in order to get an artificial organ for an irreplaceable member of their community, only to discover that everything that they have been led to believe is a lie.
Permutation City Greg Egan 1994 Explores the question of whether consciousness can be produced by a computer program hosting cellular automata, and what the moral and practical implications of that would be.
Phase Space Stephen Baxter 2003 Includes several short stories pertaining to simulated realities, particularly in reference to their solving of the Fermi paradox. Most notably the framing story "Touching Centauri," but also "Poyekhali 3201," "Glass Earth, Inc." "Tracks" and "The Barrier," which explores the zoo hypothesis.
Princess Ineffabelle Stanisław Lem 1965 A story-dream "The Wedding Night of Princess Ineffabelle" from the story-in-a-story "The tale of Zipperupus, king of the Partheginians, the Deutons, and the Profligoths" from the short story "The Tale of the Three Story Telling Machines" from The Cyberiad.
Professor Corcoran (alternatively: "Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy I") Stanisław Lem 1961 A short story about a professor, who created a set of AIs inside boxes. Each of the AIs inside each box lives inside an ilusionary world, all their feelings and future being dictated by the professor. The professor bitterly comments that he often dreams that he is also inside a box in someone else's lab. Published in Star Diaries ("Memoirs of a space traveler: further reminiscences of Ijon Tichy").
The Reality Bug D. J. MacHale 2003 Is set on a world destroyed by simulated reality.
Realtime Interrupt James P. Hogan 1995 Is set in the near future, a cyber reality with its creator trapped inside.
Reamde Neal Stephenson 2011 Though not set within a simulated reality, the novel stars the creator of a hugely popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game and discusses many of the behind-the-scenes operations in its creation and success.
The Remnants series K. A. Applegate 2001 Set on a ship that creates virtual landscapes
The Restoration Game Ken MacLeod 2010 A mysterious anomaly leads to the revelation that the characters are living in a simulated world, which is in turn embedded within another simulated world.
The Seventh Sally Stanisław Lem 1965 "The Seventh Sally or How Trurl's Own Perfection Led to No Good", from The Cyberiad
Simulacron-3 Daniel F. Galouye 1964 Also published as Counterfeit World. Adapted as a TV miniseries World on a Wire (1973) and as the film The Thirteenth Floor (1999).
Snow Crash Neal Stephenson 1992 Romanticizing the perilous world of some young hackers, the novel discusses the history and nature of language and virtual reality, among many other topics.
Sophie's World Jostein Gaarder 1991
Surface Detail Iain M. Banks 2010 In which a civilization uses computer simulation and mind uploading to create and populate artificial Hells.
They Robert A. Heinlein 1941 A short story that focuses on a man who believes the universe was created in order to deceive him.
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch Philip K. Dick 1965 In this future, alternate states of consciousness are mediated by widespread and legal use of hallucinogens.
Time Out of Joint Philip K. Dick 1959 Ragle Gumm is trapped within an artificial reality that resembles small town America in the late fifties. It is disclosed to be a strategic simulation run by a Terran government at war with its separatist lunar colony in 1998.
The Trouble with Bubbles Philip K. Dick 1953 In an era where scientific exploration has proven the solar system to be devoid of extraterrestrial life and robots take care of most work, humans pass time by building miniature simulated universes called Worldcraft Bubbles.
The Tunnel under the World Frederik Pohl 1955 A person accidentally finds out that he lives the day of June 15 over and over again. It turns out that a ruthless advertising executive took over the whole ruins of a city that perished in an explosion of a chemical and rebuilt them, together with people, in miniature for testing high-pressure advertising campaigns.
Ubik Philip K. Dick 1969 Several former corporate employees are killed but their consciousnesses remain sentient, albeit decaying, in a simulated shared hallucinatory experience.
Utopia Lincoln Child 2002 Set in a futuristic amusement park called Utopia that relies heavily on holographics and robotics.
Valis Philip K. Dick 1981 In this departure, it is our own world that is stated to be a hallucinatory overlay, produced from a gnostic demiurge that is malignant-although it may also be a visual and auditory hallucination produced by authorial schizophrenia
The Veldt Ray Bradbury 1951 A short story from The Illustrated Man, this grim tale describes two children who prefer their simulated-reality nursery to their parents.
Vurt Jeff Noon 1993 In a future Manchester, England, people live for Vurt—a drug-like feather which produces perfectly lifelike illusions. The function of the feathers varies according to their colors.
White Noise (novel) Don DeLillo 1985
White Space - Book 1 of The Dark Passages Ilsa J. Bick 2014 A group of adolescents from very different backgrounds find themselves trapped in an unfamiliar valley during a snow storm, only to discover that the valley, their pasts, and their very lives may be nothing more than stories created by an author with tremendous magical/technological power.
World of Tiers Philip José Farmer 1965-1993 A group of novels based on the premise of travel to alternate pocket universes containing modified man-made worlds. In the series, it is eventually revealed that our existence is also based in a pocket universe whose extent reaches only part of the way to Alpha Centauri.
Pollen Jeff Noon 1995
Automated Alice Jeff Noon 1996
The Wonderland Gambit series Jack L. Chalker 1995-1997 A trilogy that pays homage to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
You're Another Damon Knight 1955 This short story about a character who finds himself in a bizarre, perhaps movie-based reality was frequently reprinted, and was translated into French as "En Scène!".[8]
Republic Plato 380 BC Contains the "Allegory of the Cave"
Eight O'Clock in the Morning Ray Nelson 1963 Inspirational short story for the film They Live
Pygmalion's Spectacles Stanley G. Weinbaum 1935 A short story about an inventor who invents a pair of goggles which produce "a movie that gives one sight and sound [...] taste, smell, and touch. [...] You are in the story, you speak to the shadows (characters) and they reply, and instead of being on a screen, the story is all about you, and you are in it."
The Chamber of Life G. Peyton Wertenbaker 1929 The earliest example of a virtual reality device in science fiction.[9]
City of the Living Dead Fletcher Pratt & Laurence Manning 1930 People are connected to wires and live in cocoons. Why live in the boring real world if you can have everything for free, you do not have to worry about food or anything. You just have to give up yourself to the machines and the experiences that they provide could not be distinguished from the real ones. People are dependent on machines but there is still someone that might save the world.

Theater[edit]

Comics and anime[edit]

Title Author Year Remarks
.hack//SIGN 2002 An anime series about a person whose mind is trapped in an online computer role-playing game
12 oz. Mouse 2005 An American surreal comedy/thriller minimalist animated series
Yureka Son Hee-jun, Kim Yun-kyung. 2000-2013 A comic book series about VR massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Aeon Flux 1991
The Big O Hajime Yatate, Chiaki J. Konaka, N.B. 1999 The reality in question has not been confirmed as simulated, but it is extremely likely.
Blame! Tsutomu Nihei 1998–2003 Takes place in the far future where automated construction of infrastructure needed to sustain and expand an ever-growing simulated reality has run amok, engulfing both the Earth and the Moon.
Danger Room 1963 A training simulator from the (X-Men) universe
Detective Conan: The Phantom of Baker Street 2002
Eternal Family 1997 Surreal comedy anime OVA
For the Man Who Has Everything Alan Moore 1985 A comic book story by writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons, first published in Superman Annual #11 (1985) by DC Comics, about Superman being trapped in a simulated reality created by an extraterrestrial parasitic organism Black Mercy where the planet Krypton never exploded.
Ghost in the Shell 1989–present Postcyberpunk manga, anime and film franchise
Les murailles de Samaris François Schuiten and Benoît Peeters, 1982
Log Horizon 2013 An anime series on players being transported into the game world after an expansion update.
Lyoko 2003 The virtual world run by a super computer in the animated series Code Lyoko.
Megazone 23 Noboru Ishiguro, Shinji Aramaki 1985-1989 A Japanese cyberpunk anime OVA series created by Noboru Ishiguro and Shinji Aramaki based on a simulated reality of Tokyo controlled by a super computer
Memories Katsuhiro Otomo 1995 An anthology film with Katsuhiro Otomo as executive producer, and based on three of his manga short stories.
Noein Kazuki Akane, Kenji Yasuda 2005 An anime directed by Kazuki Akane and Kenji Yasuda where a simulated reality is created
Paprika Satoshi Kon 2006 An anime film about a research psychologist who uses a device that permits therapists to help patients by entering their dreams, based on the 1993 novel of the same name.
Paranoia Agent Satoshi Kon 2004
The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest 1996-1999
Robotech: The Movie 1986 Anime adaptation of Megazone 23
Serial Experiments Lain Chiaki J. Konaka 1998
Summer Wars Mamoru Hosoda 2009 A 2009 Japanese animated science fiction film directed by Mamoru Hosoda.
Sword Art Online Reki Kawahara 2009-present A light novel series (2009–ongoing) and the two anime series adapted from the novel (2012 and 2013), about a massively multiplayer online game where players are trapped in virtual reality by the creator until they clear the game
Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer Mamoru Oshii 1984 An anime film where a group of students are trapped in a time loop, where the same day keeps repeating itself, until they later discover that they are trapped in someone's dream.
Zegapain 2006 Anime series - A high school student in Japan suddenly realizes that his entire reality is a simulation in the midst of the worst possible circumstances for the human race.

Film[edit]

Title Year Genre Based on Description
Avalon 2001 Science fiction drama By Mamoru Oshii. About a female military themed illegal virtual reality video game shooter, whose sense of reality is challenged as she attempts to unravel the true nature and purpose of the game. People addicted to the game become catatonic.
Bliss 2021 Science fiction drama Directed by Mike Cahill. A man whose life is in disarray meets a beautiful woman who tries to convince him he is living in a simulation.[11]
Being John Malkovich 1999 Fantasy
Brainscan 1994 Horror science fiction A science fiction/slasher film slasher film about two teenage horror film fans, who discover they had committed actual murder by playing an interactive video game. Directed by John Flynn
Brainstorm 1983 Science fiction Science fiction film directed by Douglas Trumbull and starring Christopher Walken and Natalie Wood about bringing back a dead coleage by restoring a backup of her brain, through technology they had been developing.
Seconds 1966 Psychological thriller Seconds by David Ely Directed by John Frankenheimer. A man is blackmailed to pay for his "rebirth" into a new chosen appearance and personality, which doesn't go well, and he demands a second try.
The Illustrated Man 1969 Science fiction The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury Directed by Jack Smight The first story told by the tattooed man is about a virtual reality nursery, which can produce any environment the children imagine.
The Cabin in the Woods 2012 Horror comedy Directed by Drew Goddard, in which to prevent doomsday a group of teenagers must be sacrificed without their realizing what is really behind the horrors they experience. One reviewer wrote that the film "is all about the reality conspiracy."[12]
Cargo 2009 Science fiction Directed by Ivan Engler and Ralph Etter. Hearing sound from the cargo bay in a mostly automated 8 year spaceship flight to "planet Rhea", the current pilot wakes a member of the team from cryogenic sleep to investigate, but the man is murdered. A girl in the cargo is making the sounds but she turns out to be virtual reality. Eventually it is discovered that Rhea is virtual reality, to distract them from their actual destination to be "connected to a Mainframe" computer.
The Cell 2000 Science fiction psychological thriller A movie about dream hacking directed by Tarsem Singh. Police agent must enter a serial killer's "saved" mind in order to solve the latest murder.
The Congress 2013 Live action/animation science fiction drama Loosely based on Stanislaw Lem's novel The Futurological Congress By Ari Folman and Stanislaw Lem: An aging, out-of-work actress accepts one last job, though the consequences of her decision affect her in ways she didn't consider. A take on the common sci-fi trope of an apparently Utopian future that turns out to be an illusion.
Cube 2: Hypercube 2002 Science fiction psychological thriller Written by Sean Hood. Captives trapped in cubes connected to each other, each cube with its own rules.
Darkdrive 1996 Science fiction By Phillip J. Roth. Virtual Reality prison for actual convicts is having technical problems. An agent is going in to check what's wrong while having previously met people from the control team in a bad way.
Dark City 1998 Neo-noir, science fiction By Alex Proyas. Attackers from alternative worlds bring their fleeing victim into them.
Dreamscape 1984 Science fiction The Dream Master by Roger Zelazny A movie about dream hacking directed by Joseph Ruben.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 2004 Science fiction Romantic comedy Starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet
eXistenZ 1999 Science fiction body horror By David Cronenberg, in which level switches occur so seamlessly and numerously that at the end of the movie it is difficult to tell whether the main characters are back in "reality".
Good Bye Lenin! 2003 Tragicomedy By Wolfgang Becker: a Berlin family tries to make the feeble mother believe that East Germany did not fall.
Impostor 2001 Science fiction Philip K. Dick short story of the same name. A man wakes up one morning and goes about his day, only to find himself arrested and accused of being an alien robot programmed to kill the Chancellor of Earth, and told that he is not even aware that he is impersonating a dead man from whose memories his were stolen.
Repo Men 2010 The second half of the film is a simulated reality being fed into the protagonist's brain while he's incapacitated in a hospital due to events in the first half of the film.
Inception 2010 Science fiction heist thriller Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, in which an extractor invades dreams to steal information and ideas, but is asked to implant an idea instead of stealing one.[3]
The Island 2005 Science fiction action drama Directed by Michael Bay, in which numerous clones of wealthy investors are kept in an isolated facility as to rejuvenate the investors with the clones' organs. The clones' facility is presented as an idealized society and the last safe place on Earth to prevent them from leaving.
The Lawnmower Man 1992 Science fiction action horror Directed by Brett Leonard.
Looker 1981 Science Fiction Directed by Michael Crichton
The Game 1997 thriller By David Fincher
The Matrix series 1999–2003, 2021 Science fiction, cyberpunk By Lilly and Lana Wachowski, in which humanity lost a war against sentient robots and now are predominately used as bio-electric power for the robots, their minds kept active by populating them in the simulated reality of the Matrix
Mindwarp 1992 Science fiction
Moon 2009 Science fiction Written by Nathan Parker and directed by Duncan Jones. A man working on the Moon harvesting Helium 3, which provides 70% of Earth's energy by fusion in the near-future, believes that he is nearing the end of a three-year work contract and will soon return to Earth to be with his wife and child. After a harvesting accident he learns that his environment is a deception created to keep him from learning that he is not who or what he thought himself to be.
A Nightmare on Elm Street Series 1984-1994 Horror The third film of this series Dream Warriors was directed by Dreamscape's screenwriter Chuck Russell.[3]
The Nines 2007 Science fantasy Written and directed by John August, is focused on the subject of simulated reality.
Nirvana 1997 Science fiction, cyberpunk Written and directed by Gabriele Salvatores
Abre los Ojos (Open Your Eyes) 1997 Psychological thriller By Alejandro Amenábar (remade as Vanilla Sky, 2001).
The Brain 1988 Horror Directed by Edward Hunt
Paperhouse 1988 Dark fantasy Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr A fantasy movie about dream hacking directed by Bernard Rose.
The Lathe of Heaven 1980 Science Fiction The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin Directed by David Loxton
Pleasantville 1998 Comedy drama David and his twin sister, Jennifer, are transported into 'Pleasantville', a black and white TV show. The two must stay in character while completely changing the town's dynamics.
Ready Player One 2018 By Steven Spielberg
The Room 2019 Fantasy, horror Directed by Christian Volckman.
Serenity 2019 Science fiction Directed by Steven Knight
Source Code 2011 Science fiction, techno-thriller An Army pilot is resurrected into a virtual world in order to identify and stop a would-be bomber; a science fiction techno-thriller film directed by Duncan Jones.
Strange Days 1995 Science fiction, cyberpunk, thriller A thriller in which users can experience another person's memories; the film earned director Kathryn Bigelow a Saturn Award for Best Director. Angela Bassett won the Saturn Award for Best Actress.
The City of Lost Children 1995 Science fiction A movie about dream hacking directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
Surrogates 2009 Science fiction, cyberpunk Directed by Jonathan Mostow, is based on the 2005–2006 comic book series of the same name and stars Bruce Willis as an FBI agent who ventures out into the real world to investigate the murder of surrogates (humanoid remote control vehicles).
Synecdoche, New York 2008 Postmodern comedy drama Written and directed by Charlie Kaufman: an eccentric theatre director creates a replica of New York City inside New York City, complete with a copy of himself making his own replica of New York City.
They Live 1988 Science Fiction "Eight O'Clock in the Morning" by Ray Nelson Directed by John Carpenter
The Thirteenth Floor 1999 Science fiction Simulacron-3 by Daniel F. Galouye Directed by Josef Rusnak, is loosely based upon Simulacron-3 (1964), a novel by Daniel F. Galouye, and features many characters acting within an uncertain number of layers of virtual reality.
Total Recall 1990 Science fiction action Philip K. Dick's story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" Directed by Paul Verhoeven, in which the lead character, looking to have the inexpensive memories of a trip to a Mars colony implanted in his mind, experiences an adventure of espionage that leads him to Mars and helps free the colony from an exploitive businessman, but whether these are part of the memory implant or reality is open-ended.
Tron 1982 Science fiction Released by Walt Disney Productions. The film was written and directed by Steven Lisberger. A computer programmer is transported inside the software world of a mainframe computer, where he interacts with various programs in his attempt to get back out.
Tron Legacy 2010 Science fiction By Walt Disney Pictures
The Truman Show 1998 Drama Directed by Peter Weir, in which the lead character discovers his entire life is actually a reality television show.
Untitled Earth Sim 64 2021 Science fiction comedy Directed by Jonathan Wilhelmsson, in which the lead character discovers that her universe is an untitled simulation.
Vanilla Sky 2001 Science fiction psychological thriller Remake of Abre los Ojos (Open Your Eyes) Directed by Cameron Crowe, in which the lead character experiences out-of-control lucid dreaming while having been cryogenically frozen
Videodrome 1983 Horror Directed by David Cronenberg
The Village 2004 Psychologic Thriller Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, in which an isolated-19th-century small Pennsylvania village residents reveal the secrets of their elders.
Virtual Nightmare 2000 Science fiction Dale begins noticing disturbing glitches in the fabric of reality.
Virtuosity 1995 Science fiction action Directed by Brett Leonard
Welcome to Blood City 1977 Science fiction Western Directed by Peter Sasdy
Solaris 1972 Science fiction Solaris by Stanisław Lem Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky In one scene, the living planet Solaris creates, in an island over his surface, one replica of the planet Earth.
Journey to the Seventh Planet 1962 Science fiction The film's ideas of astronauts exploring outer space only to confront their inner mindscapes and memories precede the similar-themed 1972 film Solaris.[13]
Westworld 1973 Science fiction Western Directed by writer Michael Crichton
World on a Wire (Welt am Draht) 1973 Science fiction Simulacron-3 by Daniel F. Galouye German film adaptation of the novel Simulacron-3, directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

Television[edit]

Computer and video games[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. Kelleghan, Fiona (July 1998). "Private Hells and Radical Doubts: An Interview with Jonathan Lethem". Science Fiction Studies. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  2. "Saga by Arthur C. Clarke from the City and the Stars".
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 "SFE: Dream Hacking".
  4. Von Ruff, Al. "Bibliography: The Cookie Monster". isfdb.org. Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  5. Alexander, Justin. "What I'm Reading #46 - The Short Stories of Vernor Vinge". The Alexandrian. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  6. Shippey, Tom (Aug 17, 2012). "We Can Build You: Tom Shippey reviews Eye in the Sky by Philip K. Dick, and How to Build An Android by David F. Dufty". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  7. Duncan, David (October 1960). "The Immortals". Galaxy Science Fiction. pp. 162–193.
  8. Von Ruff, Al. "Bibliography: You're Another". isfdb.org. Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  9. "SFE: Wertenbaker, G Peyton". sf-encyclopedia.com.
  10. Brantley, Ben (January 17, 2012). "Worlds Within Worlds Within Worlds. And a Duane Reade". New York Times. Retrieved January 6, 2014.
  11. McNary, Dave (June 20, 2019). "Salma Hayek, Owen Wilson to Star in Amazon's Sci-Fi Drama 'Bliss'". Variety. Archived from the original on January 13, 2021. Retrieved January 30, 2021. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  12. Bradshaw, Peter (12 April 2012). "The Cabin in the Woods – review". The Guardian. London: Guardian News and Media. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  13. Warren, Bill (2016). Keep watching the skies! : American science fiction movies of the fifties (21st century in paperback ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina. ISBN 9781476666181. Search this book on
  14. Max hallucinating on Valkyr - [the note reads] You're in a graphic novel & Michelle Payne: [the note reads] You're in a computer game, Max.
  15. "Metal Gear Solid 2 Was A Twisted Experiment in Mind Control". Kotaku. August 27, 2016.


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