---
title: "Ontological Asymmetry"
description: "Bratton's name for the uneven distribution, among a simulation's participants, of knowledge that it is a simulation — \"one fraction of participants who knows it's a simulation and another fraction…"
type: "glossary-term"
canonical_url: "https://antikythera.wiki/terms/ontological-asymmetry"
md_url: "https://antikythera.wiki/md/terms/ontological-asymmetry"
last_updated: "2026-09-06"
site: "Antikythera Wiki"
---

# Ontological Asymmetry

> A working definition written for this wiki from the reading notes; not Antikythera's own wording. From Antikythera Wiki (https://antikythera.wiki/terms/ontological-asymmetry), an independent guide to Antikythera's published work.

Bratton's name for the uneven distribution, among a simulation's participants, of knowledge that it *is* a simulation — "one fraction of participants who knows it's a simulation and another fraction who does not." Often the simulation's purpose requires the asymmetry: somebody has to believe it is real for the other's virtual experience to work (Ender's Game, Milgram). Cinema gives both polarities — Truman (protagonist unknowing) and Westworld (background unknowing) — and breaking the asymmetry is the drama. Raises consent directly, and shades into the abnormal psychology of simulation (targeted-individual syndrome, trauma re-enactment).

## Appears in

- [For a General Theory of Simulations](https://antikythera.wiki/work/journal/theoryofsim) (2025-05-10)

_Glossary generated 2026-09-06._