The Simulation Hypothesis is correct. Here’s why.

This article contains a summary of the Selfish Meme Simulation Theory (SMSTEA — the theory-of-everything one can read while enjoying a cup of tea) that is adapted to the attention span of the average Medium reader. Note: The definitions of the terms subjective reality, Universe, and Multiverse, as well as the computational architecture of the simulation, are fleshed out in the long-form essay.

The premise is that causality is fundamental; Everything that happens requires a cause.

Therefore, for anything to exist at all, it must take the form of a closed, timeless causal chain of events. Otherwise, we’ll be left with the question of what first caused something to exist and why that existed.
The only way our Universe can exist as part of a closed causal chain is if we assume that simulators exist that run possible subjective realities, which then form Universes that recursively simulate more realities, such that for each reality there’s some Universe in which it is simulated.
The obvious way to evolve ordered structures, such as a reality simulator, from random noise (nothing) is via natural selection. We start with a stochastic search that finds elementary ops and then recombine those ops to evolve increasingly complex languages. I explain how this works in the Selfish Meme Simulation Theory.
To evolve more complex ordered structures, already evolved structures attempt to replicate, recombine and form new persistent structures. This is what we observe everywhere in nature.
Structures of comparable complexity (information content) on the same layers of organization attract each other to form new, more complex structures. The fundamental forces are consequences of the selection algorithm that underlies the simulation.
In the Selfish Meme Theory, all that exists is a network of observers that parse a shared state using various, sometimes overlapping, languages. Observers are programs that run in the (from their perspective) simulating reality, and their observations are inside-out projections with a virtual depth dimension that represents what happened in the past. The overlapping subjective observations yield Universes, such as our familiar one that takes the form of a 4D space-time.
In the Selfish Meme Theory, what is not observed, and therefore has no causal influence within the network of subjective Realities, does not exist. Only subjective observation/causation creates concrete states. This explains the wave-particle duality and the Fermi paradox (explanation in the long-form essay).
All observations we make in nature match the predictions of the aforementioned simulation theory. This is a nice bonus feature in addition to what was stated in 1. and 2.; namely that the SMSTEA is the only way we can exist in the first place.