This episode is a sad example of a writer trying to show how clever they are and instead creating a train wreck so epic that nothing rational remains!
Where to begin? There are basically two huge screw-ups in the plot: 1) anything and everything to do with the Veritas This "ancient historical book" has one purpose: to tell the people in the simulation that they are in fact simulations. a) Why does this even exist? It can't exist in the real world (where no-one is being simulated), and and it's counter-productive for it to exist in the simulated world (where the point of the world is to mimic the real world as closely as possible.) b) If the aliens are looking to conquer the present, why would they introduce the Veritas 1000 years into the past? Or if they first arrived 1000 years ago, surely it would have been MUCH easier to conquer the world then?
2) The "clever fact" that computers can't produce truly random numbers is completely botched by a wrong understanding of how that works. a) Yes, computers create repeatable sequences of quasi-random numbers, but only if they start at the same "number seed". Since the people in the simulation are not identical copies of each other, they would not spit out identical "random" numbers. b) "Truly random" numbers are quite easy for a computer to generate if it uses a changing numeric value as the number seed. For example, using the current clock time as the seed. This literally takes only a single line of programming code to do.
3) bonus absurdities: a) Why is everyone committing suicide when they find out they're not real? Sure, some people would react that way, but everyone? Except for Bill, who for plot reasons is allowed to want to "live" even though she knows she's a simulation. If anything, I think that a desire to live regardless would be the majority reaction? b1) Why does everyone assume the book is right in claiming that they're simulations, just because it can predict a string of numbers? There's plenty of more reasonable explanations, such as the book mind controlling everyone. b2) For people who don't understand programming (*eye roll* - such as the writers!), there is no reason to assume the book is correct, since the reader has no way of knowing that "computers can't generate truly random numbers" to begin with. c) The suicided president seems to imply that the aliens are testing human's reactions to the Veritas, which is completely pointless, given that the tests are to see how real humans would react in an invasion. Ironically, the Veritas is the one part of the simulation that doesn't exist in the real world, so they are literally testing the most pointless thing possible.
Where to begin? There are basically two huge screw-ups in the plot: 1) anything and everything to do with the Veritas This "ancient historical book" has one purpose: to tell the people in the simulation that they are in fact simulations. a) Why does this even exist? It can't exist in the real world (where no-one is being simulated), and and it's counter-productive for it to exist in the simulated world (where the point of the world is to mimic the real world as closely as possible.) b) If the aliens are looking to conquer the present, why would they introduce the Veritas 1000 years into the past? Or if they first arrived 1000 years ago, surely it would have been MUCH easier to conquer the world then?
2) The "clever fact" that computers can't produce truly random numbers is completely botched by a wrong understanding of how that works. a) Yes, computers create repeatable sequences of quasi-random numbers, but only if they start at the same "number seed". Since the people in the simulation are not identical copies of each other, they would not spit out identical "random" numbers. b) "Truly random" numbers are quite easy for a computer to generate if it uses a changing numeric value as the number seed. For example, using the current clock time as the seed. This literally takes only a single line of programming code to do.
3) bonus absurdities: a) Why is everyone committing suicide when they find out they're not real? Sure, some people would react that way, but everyone? Except for Bill, who for plot reasons is allowed to want to "live" even though she knows she's a simulation. If anything, I think that a desire to live regardless would be the majority reaction? b1) Why does everyone assume the book is right in claiming that they're simulations, just because it can predict a string of numbers? There's plenty of more reasonable explanations, such as the book mind controlling everyone. b2) For people who don't understand programming (*eye roll* - such as the writers!), there is no reason to assume the book is correct, since the reader has no way of knowing that "computers can't generate truly random numbers" to begin with. c) The suicided president seems to imply that the aliens are testing human's reactions to the Veritas, which is completely pointless, given that the tests are to see how real humans would react in an invasion. Ironically, the Veritas is the one part of the simulation that doesn't exist in the real world, so they are literally testing the most pointless thing possible.