Tales From The Simulation: Part Two — When Your Old Computer Dies

 

Actually, my old computer didn’t die, but its replacement did. 

That was a year ago. I needed to upgrade my old faithful PC, as it was beginning to struggle with a lack of memory. I suppose that comes to us all eventually. For several years it had done a good job, but time had arrived to upgrade to something that didn’t take thirty seconds to start a YouTube video.

Enter a new Dell, Windows 10 PC. Well, a new(ish) refurbished Windows 10 PC. All was well until it wasn’t. After three months it developed a clunking sound at start-up, only running silent after a restart. It sounded like something was going to fail, so I took it back to the shop.

“It’s a noise from the fan.” Said the shop assistant.

“No, it isn’t,” I replied. “I took the side off, and the noise is near the start button. A component part is going to fail.”

“I’m afraid you will have to bring it back when it fails, as the PC runs perfectly on a reboot.”

Customer service.

I took it home, but one day three months later it made a clunking sound for the final time. I looked at the monitor, and it was like a scene from The Matrix. The picture was breaking up, Matrix-style, numbers falling down the screen. Except this was the PC wallpaper image making a pretty pattern of broken pixels.

Tales From The Simulation: Part One - Do We Live In a Simulation?

 

Something strange happened to me a few days ago. It was something that I struggled to explain logically, other than the idea of coincidence in life. It was as satisfactory an explanation as any other, but only in that it was convenient.

Occasionally, things happen to me which make me wonder what is going on? There is a theory that explains it all, but it is somewhat controversial, and some might say unbelievable. A theory that belongs more in the world of science fiction than science fact — that we are living in a simulation. 

That someone, or something is in control of everything we see and do.

And I regularly ask myself the question. ‘Are we living in a simulation?’

It does sound like science fiction, but there are scientists, philosophers, and tech billionaires who have seriously discussed the idea that our universe might actually be a simulation. Some propose that we are living in a kind of ultra-advanced computer program. It is a serious proposition.

The theory became widely known after philosopher Nick Bostrom published his “Simulation Argument” back in 2003. What he was suggesting was something surprisingly simple; it goes like this.

If life became so advanced that they were capable of creating simulated worlds that were so realistic and indistinguishable from the reality that we know, then how would we tell the difference? Each simulation would contain beings who believed they were alive and real. They in turn would create their own simulated realities. There could eventually be millions, or even billions of them. 

If that happened, statistically, it might be more likely that we are inside one of those simulations rather than living in the original “base” reality.

Did You Know… Life in 1960s/70s Britain: Saturday Was the Day When Football Was Played?

  

This Sunday marks the end of the football season across Britain for 2026. Both the FA Cup and Premier League have been decided, but competition for promotion and relegation for some teams will be going down to the wire. By Sunday night, some will be celebrating, while others will have to wait until next year.

All of these games will be played on a Sunday.

For football fans growing up in Britain during the 1960s and 70s, there was one thing you could rely on every week: Saturday was the day when football was played.

There were no Friday night games or Sunday afternoon games with a start time around midday, or four in the afternoon. And the only Monday Night Football was a game played across the pond in the USA that was often referred to as ‘American football’, just in case we got it mixed up with what they called soccer.

Games for British teams in European competitions were played midweek, but domestic football? No, Saturday was sacred.

And outside the World Cup, the only game that was ever broadcast live on television was the FA Cup Final. Football wasn’t timed to suit global television audiences. 

In the absence of football being broadcast live, all we had was the BBC’s Match of the Day highlights on Saturday night. Commercial television gave us a Sunday afternoon recording. Where I lived it was called Star Soccer, and it mainly showed the games of teams based in the Midlands. We only got to see teams like Liverpool, Leeds Utd, and Arsenal, if they happened to be playing an away game against a team from the Midlands.

The Writer's Life: First Steps On The Property Ladder (From My Soon to be Published Book)

 

Imagine the scene. It is the mid-2000's, and property prices in Britain are rocketing (as usual), and I'm viewing a property, and in conversation with an estate agent.

This is part of that conversation.

“Well, a garden would be ideal,” I said. “It’s just a bit small, more of a patio, with a bit of grass.”

Charles leaned back, full of property-market wisdom and self-assurance.

“But it would be your garden. And it wouldn’t need much work to keep it in order. Gardens add value. If you want one at this price level, this is the best you’ll find.”

He was right. Gardens did add value, but I saw the “value” as more than just money. I don’t think Charles did. And this one had already added a little too much monetary value, for me, anyway.

“I don’t think I can afford it,” I said. “The salary multiples don’t work. I might need to win the lottery.”

“Yes, the lottery! I won the lottery once, just ten pounds. I make a lot more selling houses.” He laughed.

And that’s when the conversation took a turn.

“There is one possibility,” he said. “Have you heard of a self-certification mortgage? They are quite popular at the moment.”

I had. In fact, I watched a documentary about them. They were being handed out to people that they weren’t designed for, most likely fuelling the very property boom Charles was profiting from.

“You basically fill out the form, write down your income, we send it to the bank, and it all goes through,” he explained.

“But I don’t earn enough.”

“Well,” he said, lowering his voice a little, “you just have to be a little creative in the numbers.” He smiled. “Lots of people are doing it. The banks don’t check. It always comes back approved.”

“Really?” I said, pretending to be shocked.

“Then we’ll celebrate with a bottle of champagne. You’ll be on the property ladder. And you’ll have your own little show garden.”

The Writer's Life: The Future of AI and the Creative World - Get Ready for a Rocky Ride

 

At the moment, all of my books are available as an ebook and can be downloaded from Amazon. At some point in the future, I would like to make them available elsewhere, and also as a paperback. Ebooks are said to be popular, but I have found it difficult to gain traction on Amazon. 

Amazon does offer the plus of being the biggest bookseller in the world. The minus is that your book is on the same platform as millions of others, easily lost, and never found. And despite the contemporary popularity, and curse of doom-scrolling, no one is going to scroll down hundreds, or even thousands, of pages to find your book.

I have concluded that on Amazon, most authors are invisible.

Increasingly, that is because of AI.

Reports suggest that most books being published today are AI. And not just on Amazon. Even worse, I suspect that most of them fall into the ‘AI slop’ category. It is also widely believed that most of these books come from writers who self-publish, with the hope of cashing in.

No one should be surprised about this.

When I Was a Lad: Growing Up in 1960s and 1970s Britain, A Memoir of Family Life, Change and Coming of Age

 

My latest book, When I Was a Lad, is available from today.

What did it really feel like to grow up in Britain during the 1960s and 1970s?

When I Was a Lad is a personal account of growing up during one of the most dynamic and turbulent periods in modern British history. This memoir invites readers to experience a changing nation through the eyes of someone who lived it.

It is a Britain that feels both familiar and yet different.

But beyond the personal memories lies a bigger story.

A Book Haul: Finding Self-Help in the Garbage - I Gave Several Bestselling Books a New Home

At the weekend I was out for a walk, heading towards the local country park, when I noticed a big metal skip (dumpster) that was overflowing with what looked like unwanted office furniture and fittings. I decided to have a look, to see if there was anything worth recycling.

It always feels good to find something for free.

The skip was mostly rubbish/garbage/junk, take your pick, but I did come across a small box of books, mostly business and self-help. I had to browse, as they were all in reasonably good condition. Most did have that aged look of pages that were once white, now turned yellow(ish), but they were clean.

That reminds me, this yellowing seems to happen to many things that decay over time. It all takes me back to when I was a lot younger living in a bedsit. My small bookshelf was full of old books bought for a few pennies. The colour of their pages was only matched by the magnolia paint of the walls and the white plastic cistern in the bathroom that had turned yellow.

But back to the book finds.

Quite a few proudly had ‘The International Bestseller’ written above the name of the author. And I knew the author of one, Anthony Robbins. The book’s title, Unlimited Power, was published back in 1989, almost thirty-seven years ago. Robbins regularly appeared on television shows like Oprah Winfrey’s back then. A self-help guru who was very big in the USA and still active today.

The next book, with slightly yellowish pages, is another international bestseller. A hardback book from 2016, IKIGAI — The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life. I wondered what IKIGAI actually meant. I didn’t have to wait long, as the book started with a prologue, 'Ikigai: A mysterious word'. I now know what it means but won’t spoil it for anyone who wants to look it up.

On to the next, a slightly faded, yellowing-paged book from 2012, a New York Times Bestseller, with a very bold title.