We are brains in vats. Bone vats. Supported by complex biomechanical, electrical, and chemical systems that convert food to chemical energy and filter waste for

We are brains in vats. Bone vats. Supported by complex biomechanical, electrical, and chemical systems that convert food to chemical energy and filter waste for the brain. So is the important part of the question whether reality is being modified by a man in the middle? You end up exactly where you are already, having to answer the same questions about where you are in Plato's cave, so unless you have evidence to think you're in a simulation, the simplest explanation is that there's no filter between you and reality except the limits of your senses and cognitive capacity. This is the same argument about living in the matrix. You can't assume that the option of us not being brains in vats is available. You'd have to explain what a brain not in a vat would look like - something entirely made of computronium, in a configuration radically different than our hodgepodge evolved meat suits look like. It's more likely that we're simulated and tricked to think we have brains and bodies than for us to be physically different, and stuck in a Matrix all unaware. I'll stick with the simplest explanation that satisfies all available evidence. We're all brains in bone vats riding around meat suits for adventure and exploration.