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Simulation Theory

Brooks Wellington III grew up in the Upper East Side of Manhattan.   He has lived a life that has always been full of extravagances and possibilities.   Brooks has never had to wonder where his next meal would come from or even had to work a day in his life.   He has always had more money than he knows what to do with, and most likely always will.   Luxury and wealth surrounds his days, not those filled with hardships.   Jaafar Omer has spent all of his life in the conflict-filled, impoverished region of Darfur, Sudan.   Jaafar awakes every morning hoping that that day will not be the day the one that he meets his end.   In front of his own eyes, he witnessed the brutal murders of his own parents as well as the kidnapping of his younger sister.   He spends his days working in the hot, desert sun.   He is a young teen living with his aunt, uncle and cousins, with barely enough food to survive the demanding life he carries out.   He doesn't know about first loves, video games or many of the other life experiences that Brooks had growing up.   Could these two men ever understand one another?   Is there any possibility that they could imagine what one another's life is like or their hopes and dreams?   The simulation theory would confirm that these two individuals could explain one another's actions by imagining oneself in the other person's situation, and then deciding how the person would be likely to act (Goldman and Mason, 218).   This explains how we have an amazing ability to understand how other people's minds work and how we're able to routinely anticipate and explain other's behaviors.   In reality, people's minds are so different that we would never be able to fully understand one another using simulation.  
Mason and Goldman's views and the simulation theory attempts to prove the notion that Brooks and Jaafar could in fact understand one another.   The simulation theory is an approach to the theory of mind.   The theory states that we, as humans, do our best to explain...