@karlbode.com @TinJar I've been reading a manhwa premised on the idea that future software is developed that controls past events, embedded in one person's copy of a Sims stand-in (unbeknownst to them).

It mostly focuses on the characters in the past… sometimes the cognitive dissonance is too sharp, and it awakens people to the fact that the events they see make no sense.

Your post got me wondering if it might be a subtle commentary on life under the United Empire of Profit.