Re: Re-ality

Reality- the state of things as they actually exist; as defined by Wikipedia

The Real World
Clear your mind. Now envision a jungle. Envision lush green vegetation in that jungle. Walk through the jungle and feel the damp humidity. Look above your head at the colorful birds, the acrobatic monkeys swinging through the trees, and the blue sky above.  Walk ahead, all the way to that clearing. Pull back that large green leaf right in front of you. Do you see it? That large elephant in the clearing. Imagine how large it is. Imagine how intimidating it is. Look at its...Pink spots, and how they cover its entire Purple body. Can you see it in your minds eye?   Now answer me this: If I am able to describe this elephant to you, and you are able to see it in your head, does that make it real?

The obvious answer is, NO, of course. In reality there is no such thing as a Purple elephant with pink spots. In reality it does not "exist".  Yet the elephants non-existence does not prevent you from envisioning it and in theory, believing in its actual existence.  This thought experiment is simply a tool to illustrate the point that existence of something (reality) is not a prerequisite for belief and reliance upon it.  Not only is belief and reliance on non-reality possible, but is in fact the default position of our society today.  Reality is no longer important in our society, only belief and reliance on that belief. In short, the real world is no longer "real".

The Real Delusion

The interplay of objective reality and subjective belief in that reality has been a theme of philosophy, religon, and science since man first looked up to the heavens and tried to understand what animated them.  This essay will largely ignore the "Big" question of how to determine what is real (possibly for another essay) and focus more on the point that as a society we have moved away from reliance on reality to reliance on "un-reality" (I decided not to use the term "virtual reality" due to its connotation of a electronically created world, which as it stands, fits under the more inclusive "un-reality" term).  So what is un-reality?  In a general sense it is the exact opposite of reality, meaning a state of things that actually do not exist. Which on it's face seems obvious enough, until you stop to consider how many things in our everyday life actually exist in "un-reality" and we assume exist in reality.

Take for example the average everyday regular dollar bill.  As a literal and physical item the green piece of denim actually exists. You can manipulate it, fold it, tear it, and hand it to someone. But ask yourself can you manipulate the "value" of that dollar? Well obviously no you can not. I hear you say "Whats the point, a dollar is a dollar and the value is part of that". Well yes and no. Ask yourself this, is a really masterfully made counterfit dollarbill the same as a regular dollarbill? Even if they are made the exact same way the answer is no, because the real dollar has something the counterfit does not...legitmacy.  And what gives that dollar legitimacy? Belief in it.  Now this isn't a rant about US money, but the point is a relivant one. The real dollar is no more real then the counterfit with the exception of the belief and reliance upon the belief that the real dollar was printed by a legitimate source. 

It is that belief that is the, excuse the pun, "Real Delusion" that we undertake every day. Our society has increasely relied more and more on these un-reality fictions to function.  Don't believe me, ask yourself how often you actually touch your own money, i'll wait.  Most people today never even see their checks. It's "directly deposited" into their account. In reality the employer sends a digital string of 1's and 0's to the bank that stores this digital information in your un-real account accesed by your account number which you access with a plastic card.  Now of course human society to some extent has always had to rely on these ficticous realities to cope in the world. I chose currency as an example because it's universally used in some form or another in every culture rather it be paper bills, precious metals, or shells and beads.  Religions are another famous example of a belief system inheriently built on what can not possibly be said to exist in any real way.  Yet today's society relies on un-reality in a way and with a more strong dependence then anytime before. 

Really Now

The digital revolution has altered what it means for something to be "real" and has made society more reliant on un-reality to survive.  From the PC to the Ipod to the Kindle more and more of what we consider "Real" does not exist in any way that is recgonizable.  For example imagine starting a new Facebook page.  You fill in the info that is requested: name, birthdate, email, interest, personality and about you. Now imagine you are creating a "Sim" character and you input all of the exact same information. Is this Sim that was created as real as the actual you? Of course it is not "real" it is an avatar created in a digital world to display characteristics...the same as the facebook account you created. Which begs the question how can any person reading the facebook account be sure it is real? They cant! The same can be said for email, bank accounts, anything digital.  The more and more we rely on these tools the further and further we move away from reality and what actually exist. We find ourselves more and more relying on un-reality or things that do not actually exist. We are relying on beliefs of things that have no basis in reality.  We are seeing purple elephants with pink spots. They dont actually exist, but we can envision them and if we infer a legitimacy they are said to be "real".

The reality is that we no longer need reality.  Not only do we not need it, we don't even notice that it is slowly being replaced by something more and something less. A new un-reality is taking hold where belief  in the existence of something is more important then its actual existence.  "Reality-TV" can be as scripted as it wants to be, but if it is called "real" and viewers believe that it is...well it's still not real, but it no longer matters. This is not to say that un-reality is in itself bad. Again, humanity has used societal fictions to sustain itself since the dawn of time (i.e. religions, manifest destiny, divine right of royalty, currency) but today's heavy reliance on un-reality puts us in a precarious position.  One where believing in something that is not real is not only more important then what is real, but preferred. And that...is really something.