Isn't that the crux of Jean Baudrillard's Simulcara and Simulation? To be honest I've never read the original text, which is not the most accessible, but I've read many overviews and analyses.
When you create a rich enough symbolic system you can detach from what it was intended to symbolize. If the king ordered a map as detailed as possible, as big as the kingdom itself, and dedicated resources to maintaining it, people would start living on the map itself as it becomes less of a map and more of an alternate reality.
The richness of human thought over history is less and less dependent on reality. It will only increase with time.
When you create a rich enough symbolic system you can detach from what it was intended to symbolize. If the king ordered a map as detailed as possible, as big as the kingdom itself, and dedicated resources to maintaining it, people would start living on the map itself as it becomes less of a map and more of an alternate reality.
The richness of human thought over history is less and less dependent on reality. It will only increase with time.