Life is a Man-Made Simulation
What did you spend your last paycheck on?
The argument for living in a simulation has been going on for decades. Could aliens be controlling us? Are we truly free in the sense of making autonomous decisions?
Forget aliens for the moment; they have nothing to do with the simulation I’m referring to. We’re living in a world controlled by concepts and institutions that have nothing to do with reality. Even Medium isn’t real — who claps when they read anyway?
Algorithms choose what to curate based on who knows what, and frankly, it’s often pure shit. And I’m not even salty about not being curated myself!
Each person directs their decisions based on outside influences, such as writing self-help content for claps and curation.
We see an ad for a new pair of shoes we need to have or an Instagram post that influences us to take our vacation to that same place.
An even more distraught example is our information. We get spoon-fed news by media companies who have a story to tell. Then we take that information as fact whether we know there’s an underlying bias or not. Sure, we may take it with a grain of salt, but we don’t care. We have no other way to learn about the world we’re in.
Sadly, reality TV shows teach kids how to act. Participants go out of their way to act in extreme ways, which influences others to act similarly.
There was a video I saw during a lecture that proved the absurdity of this simulation. An interviewer asked a woman, who had recently returned from a warzone, how it felt. She said something along the lines of “I didn’t know how bad it was until I saw it on TV.”
Come on, tell me that’s not odd.
A war veteran was unaware of how bad things were until she saw what the media portrayed. The media tells us what to think about certain events. You’re not even free to create an opinion from your experience!
We’re living in a simulation where our thoughts, ideas, habits, and desires are influenced by things that we cannot control.
Status Symbols
Modern society is rampant with judgment based on symbols. You’re only as cool as the brand of shoes you wear or the type of phone you have. As a millennial, if you don’t have a college degree, you must be stupid.
I’ve personally been chastised for not knowing a designer brand.
Possessions, achievements, and personality traits mean so much more than they should. A pair of shoes has its use-value — protecting your feet. That same pair of shoes also has a monetary value — $100. Lastly, that pair of shoes offers status — your custom, Tom Ford shoes make you look classy (or like someone who’s lost touch with reality, if you ask me). If you were to wear Walmart brand shoes, people would think you’re poor, and as if you had no taste.
How can my pair of shoes possibly dictate what people think about me? They don’t even know me!
What happens if I choose not to buy into the status symbol game? Please, someone, tell me. I genuinely do not know.
I could go on with examples — money, credit, borders, etc. But I’ll abstain because I think I’ve made my point. It seems like we’re already living in a simulation without the help of aliens. Our society is fed by ideas that benefit some while putting others at a disadvantage.
Now be a good member of society and go buy the newest Smartwatch. I heard it’s guaranteed to make you more productive.
