Wednesday 17 April 2013

Life is an illusion

This is not a story about the philosophy which
claims that the thing we see out of our eyes
is nothing but an illusion.

It's more practical than all that. I'll try to briefly
prove my point.
We all take short-cuts when it comes to assessing
what is real and what is opinion.
Even if you get up real close to , say, a person,
you cannot understand them fully, and we
know people can't see themselves as
others see them.

Social scientists know that the closer to a
research subject you get, the more warped
a picture you'll get. Your presence affects the
subject and the subject reacts to you and
may dislike the intrusion. This is called
the observer's paradox.

So, next time someone tells you they're a
realist, put them to the test.

This is my favourite reality-bending clips
from the mind-bending Total Recall. It's
based on the novel by Philip K Dick.
In this story, in this future world, you can
have memories of trips implanted, but
then you won't know what's real and what's
bought. The film has so many more layers,
it's hard to explain here. It's so good that
Arnie was the perfect dupe: