Unreality

Am I the only one who feels that the world has stopped feeling real? Is this evidence that we are living in a simulation? Nothing makes sense any more. Is this a new syndrome–global unreality syndrome?

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8 replies
  1. Martin Tudor
    Martin Tudor says:

    Everything feels like it’s just been thrown up into the air. I have a feeling that once upon a time, say in Geoffrey Chaucer’s time, everybody knew who they were; everything felt solid – but now…
    But
    There’s “always the sun” – by The Stranglers.
    Could a simulation burn out our eyes like the real sun?
    How complex the simulation must be to do that!

    Reply
    • Colin McGinn
      Colin McGinn says:

      It could give us the impression of burning out our eyes (we may not have eyes). Are Americans particularly prone to fantasy and illusion? They seem to regard facts as an affront to their prized “freedom”. America is a country of desire not knowledge. Hence the anti-intellectualism.

      Reply
  2. xc
    xc says:

    reminds me of The Shape of Water, where Strickland was reading Power of Positive Thinking in his office….. sometimes people find it difficult to differentiate illusion from positive thinking…

    Reply
  3. Alan Bunton
    Alan Bunton says:

    As a kid I used to throw a stick against a wall. My imagination would find a context. Now many kids have smartphones and Iphones and their imagination is constructed for them. I think that’s the real danger. Hence the world feeling rather unreal. I’m from the north of England living in Japan. There are many Americans here. Occasionally I talk to them in bars, but they use words like ‘geee / awesome / kind of …, and get very excited about Netflix. I think I’m a bit of a snob as I quietly try to understand Wittgenstein.

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