Well… use logic.
What is a simulation? It’s obviously something that simulates something real.
Why do you use a simulator?
Lots of reasons. You want to see how the real thing will work before you actually do that thing. You don’t have the wealth or expertise or influence to that thing in real life. Or what you are simulating defies some or all of the natural laws of the universe.
It’s quite possible that we are a simulation and that there is some higher power like a deity or an alien conducting an experiment or making a creation or playing a game with us.
In the absence of someone running the simulation.. one has to ask, what would it be simulating if it wasn’t based on something “real” that could be built later, or what third party would be gathering data or enjoyment from this “simulation”? The answer is that there isn’t one.. and this is “real”.
The other more existential questions are the ones that Morpheus asked: “What is real. How do you define real? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.”
