@kd@yiff.life If I had to posit an answer to any of this myself: the holographic principle, even if it were to hold true, is frankly completely irrelevant to us.

If the universe is indeed a simulation, we haven't even *begun* to discover where its limits actually are, and we should -at least- take the time to explore that first together with whatever other sapient-or-more-expansive minds are out there, both as an obligation to ourselves and frankly, because anyone that could've deliberately built a universe like this all by themselves would likely be completely and utterly inscrutable to us in our present form anyway - whatever is beyond the simulation could not possibly make a lick of sense to us, and would thus remain totally irrelevant to our interests until we're able to meaningfully engage with it.

And that's of course, before we even get into the question of how to find out what's beyond our own universe at all, something I also don't see any way of getting to know without blatantly breaking the laws of physics entirely. Like... honestly, regardless of if it's encapsulated in some other universe, this is still Our Reality, and we better make the best of it while we can.