Author: William Allen Sisemore
Created: October 8, 2025
Version: 1.0
William Allen Sisemore is an independent theorist and systems thinker exploring the intersection of consciousness, computation, and simulated reality.
In 2025, he authored the Distributed Computational Simulation Hypothesis (DCSH) — the first published model proposing that each conscious being acts as a processing node supplying the computational power required to sustain reality itself.
His work reframes simulation theory through the lens of distributed computing, attention economics, and biological energy systems, offering a scalable alternative to centralized “god-server” simulation concepts.Sisemore’s focus is on clarity and practical understanding — bridging philosophical insight with scientific reasoning, without the hype or conspiratorial noise that often clouds the topic.
The Distributed Computational Simulation Hypothesis (DCSH) proposes that if reality is a simulation, it operates not through a centralized “god server,” but as a distributed computing network where each conscious entity functions as a node providing the computational power necessary to render its own experiential environment.
This decentralized design solves the scalability problem of a universe-sized simulation by offloading computation to the participants themselves — similar to how SETI@home leveraged volunteer computing power to process astronomical data.
In this model:
- Each conscious being provides local compute for its perception and interactions.
- A shared Rules Layer synchronizes universal constants (e.g., conservation laws, causality, shared social state).
- Biological energy and attention serve as computational currency, powering the rendering of reality.
Each conscious entity renders its immediate environment; only observed regions require high-resolution simulation.
A minimal invariant framework maintains global coherence — physics, causality, and social information consistency.
Attention acts as a signal directing local processing resources.
Biological energy expenditure (glucose, fatigue, sleep) mirrors computational cost.
Cognitive fatigue corresponds to processing limits; biological rest resets available processing capacity.
| Model | Core Idea | Difference from DCSH |
|---|---|---|
| Bostrom’s Simulation Argument | We might be living in a simulation created by advanced beings. | DCSH focuses on how it could work — through participant-provided compute. |
| Digital Physics / Pancomputationalism | The universe is fundamentally computational. | DCSH proposes a distributed architecture with conscious nodes as processors. |
| Idealism / Solipsism | Reality is mental or mind-dependent. | DCSH maintains shared synchronization between independent nodes. |
- Attention–Resolution Coupling — increased perceptual or neural activity tied to focus intensity.
- Discretization Floors — physical evidence of quantized space/time or computational “grain.”
- Synchronization Stress Events — rare global anomalies under high correlation (possible “Mandela-type” effects).
- Energy–Complexity Scaling — predictable relationship between cognitive energy and environmental complexity.
- Attention = Energy = Currency
Whoever controls collective attention controls computation flow. - Health = Hardware Maintenance
Sleep and nutrition sustain local processing stability. - Ethics
Manipulating attention for profit or propaganda equates to exploiting computational resources of others.
Sisemore, W. A. (2025). Distributed Computational Simulation Hypothesis (DCSH): A participant-powered architecture for simulated reality.
Version 1.0. https://github.com/YourUsername/Distributed-Computational-Simulation-Hypothesis
A scalable simulation model proposing that each conscious being is a computational node powering reality itself — by William Allen Sisemore.
William Allen Sisemore’s Distributed Computational Simulation Hypothesis (DCSH) describes a universe-scale simulation powered by distributed consciousness — a theory where each living being acts as a processing node rendering its own local reality.
© 2025 William Allen Sisemore
This work may be shared with attribution (CC BY-SA 4.0 recommended).
Commercial or derivative use requires written permission from the author.
“If reality is simulated, we’re not the avatars — we’re the processors.”
— William Allen Sisemore