I appreciate the nuanced take. I personally can’t tell what I would choose when push comes to shove. It’s a difficult topic to digest because there’s always lots of big IFs for each scenario.

However I think the definition of the word ‘real’ is obscuring a larger issue. Are feelings of a fictional character in a story real by your definition albeit only to themselves? Who or what is validating these experiences?

Would you voluntarily hook yourself up to the Matrix?