What would happen if you grabbed a leaf on the holodeck and tried to eat it?

[Forbin]

If computing ability continues to expand in its current fashion, it will be trivially easy to create entire virtual Earths as simulations by the 24th century than to actually settle other planets.

So much easier, that a lot of people (such as Elon Musk) believe the "simulation hypothesis." That is to say, given a future Earth civilization could run hundreds of different simulations of Earth over time, chances are based upon the law of averages we are not IRL, but in a simulation.

A fun theory that I wish no one had thought of.
I've got a young relative who had an overdose-induced psychotic break a few years ago, and now believes that literally, and that the aliens in charge have the whole simulation set up to fuck with his head. He refuses to take anything or anyone seriously, including his doctors, because "they're not real, so what does it matter?" His parents are scared shitless because he doesn't care if he lives or dies.

 

[UnknownSample]

A fun theory that I wish no one had thought of.
I've got a young relative who had an overdose-induced psychotic break a few years ago, and now believes that literally, and that the aliens in charge have the whole simulation set up to fuck with his head. He refuses to take anything or anyone seriously, including his doctors, because "they're not real, so what does it matter?" His parents are scared shitless because he doesn't care if he lives or dies.

I've had that possibility in the back of my head ever since a story in the first book I ever bought in 1969, a Heinlein anthology. (The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag... the whole world was a trick on the main character) Solipsism. It's in philosophy too. It's actually important to have the .0001% possibility in our heads that things around us might not be real. We have no way of absolutely proving all our sensory input all comes from real events and people. That teaches us not to be absolutely sure of ourselves in life generally, and be more open minded.

 

[SpocksOddSocks]

If you try to eat a leaf on the holodeck, the computer notifies the ship's counsellor to schedule an appointment for psychiatric evaluation.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Or someone else trying to improve themselves would stop you... some social worker specializing in holodeck addiction would come and try to get you out of it.

Like in Reverie (haven't watched but heard the premise)