A simulated God leaves the entire system a weightless self-referential simulacrum

Evidence

But what if God himself can be simulated, that is to say can be reduced to the signs that constitute faith? Then the whole system becomes weightless, it is no longer itself anything but a gigantic simulacrum - not unreal, but a simulacrum, that is to say never exchanged for the real, but exchanged for itself, in an uninterrupted circuit without reference or circumference. — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 18

Categorization

• DEFINE: The crucial move distinguishing simulacrum from ‘unreal’: the system never touches the real yet stays weighty and operative.
• XREF: ‘Exchanged for itself in an uninterrupted circuit’ is nearly identical to Jameson’s account of the autonomous signifier and the collapse of the referent. — connects to: Simulation substitutes signs of the real for the real itself — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 9; Only simulacra exist; reality itself is a second-order simulation — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 184; Building the panopticon produces God as an emergent architectural byproduct — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 65 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Only simulacra exist; reality itself is a second-order simulation #corroborates (0.85) — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 184
• Building the panopticon produces God as an emergent architectural byproduct #corroborates (0.80) — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 65