Wow. Killer question!

I tend to agree that there would probably be no way to detect one. A "soul detector?" How would that work? Even if we entertain the idea that we could theoretically detect a life force energy in some way, that would seem to violate the (likely) need for the "sim" to remain indistinguishable from a true reality.

As to how many, I would have no clue. I would guess that it might make sense to include some in the sim. Perhaps to create the sensation of the mass of humanity, in which case it might be a large number. Or, perhaps to "steer" the collective experience in some way, or to help create those individual experiences that we planned with our "spirit guides", in which case it might be a small subset of the population.

What about animals (wasps)?

I have heard some people interviewed who described encounters with people who sounded very much like what we might think of as an NPC. For example, a person played some bit part in an experience someone had, walked out the door, and completely vanished with no trace and no possibility of being "out of view" so quickly. Of course, the problem with all of those reports are the fact that they are anecdotal. Might be an interesting area to explore, though.

That's exactly what Jim's comments remind me of- MIB's. Usually it's UFO witnesses that are pestered by MIB's, but I wonder if there are other ways of enticing them. I'd like a chat. I think they are fairly harmless. Sometimes they make threats, but they are not usually fulfilled.

I was also wondering if anybody had thought of communicating with the Programmer of the universe (if there really is a Programmer of course). I thought maybe beaming a message into the sky or getting a collection of people (say 100) to all say, "Hello Mr. Programmer of the universe". Could you get a reply?

EKuma: Nick Redfern is the guy I was sort of quoting about the way they may be trained to do mysterious things.

As to the original question about how many npcs. I would have to think it's basically either all or nothing. Meaning everyone is an npc of sorts or no one is. I would say everyone is in the sense that we may all be in a simulation of sorts and looked at from a view like google earth, with the individual ego removed. That would make us all sims.

What do you think about the idea of people becoming NPC's in the sense they become robotic. The best example would have to the cashier. They usually will say the same things, same greeting, same good byes. They to me seem most like a game npc's which would be like the shop keeper in some rpg style game.

I myself sometimes feel I'm just going through the motions. Like a character that is on rails. The idea that someone else could be so radically different in their day to day life, makes me question, in what ways am I really in control and in what ways am I letting it go on auto pilot NPC mode.