I hope reality turns out to be an incredibly immersive sequel to Idiocracy or something similar that I can wake up from and criticize for being dumb, if occasionally amusing. It's the only way I can make peace with things like this story.
I mean, you probably are in a simulation, if that makes you feel any better.
But it may well be a simulation of the history leading up to a society capable of simulating the past.
And as anyone who has ever sat through a history class knows, you tend not to be forced to study the chill parts of history where everything is awesome.