Tag: Creating Reality

“…It may be true that transforming people’s perceptions of what is possible can help them think more imaginatively. But the tech world’s fascination with improv and theater also reveals a darker philosophy. If all of life is a performance, there are few limits on those willing to take charge of the scene. If nothing is truly real but people’s perceptions — perceptions that a canny actor or founder has the capacity to alter — then misleading investors as to the viability of a start-up, or spreading viral conspiracy theories through social media to affect an election outcome can be reimagined not as lying but as alternate reality-formation, the canny creation of truth by consensus. Distort reality intensely enough, and there’s no such thing as reality at all. And in an era where artificial intelligence can easily conflate collective thought with objective truth, tech founders and those who buy their products are less tethered to the real world. Read more