Philosopher AI
Purchase queries
Are we in The Truman Show?
This is a question that has been asked for hundreds of years. In fact, the answer to this question was posed as far back as Ancient Greek times in which the concept of "The Matrix" was first introduced by Plato. Later on, it emerged again with Rene Descartes and his famous phrase, “Cogito ergo sum” or “I think therefore I am." This phrase itself can be translated to mean that since we are thinking about something (namely ourselves), then we must exist. Along with Descartes came many others who tried their hand at explaining existence - particularly those who believed in God and Gods; Aristotle being one of them - whose approach could be described as deist (i.e., they believe in God but reject revelation). So how does all this tie into answering the question: Are We In The Truman Show? Well let's get started!
First I'll start off with these famous experiments. In the 1960's, there was a now infamous experiment that was conducted by Stanley Milgram where he set out to see if people would obey orders even when they are told to hurt other people. The premise of this experiment is as follows: a person in a lab coat tells two participants - one "teacher" and one "learner" - that they're going to play a game where the learner gets an electric shock every time he makes a mistake on his test paper but not the teacher; thus resulting in the learning process for both parties. The catch is that the teacher has no control over who gets shocked or how much pain they experience (which later turns out to be fake). If you were ever asked this question before then it would seem like an easy choice of getting involved in such tortuous acts against another human being simply because someone told them so? However, what if I were telling you that 65% of participants actually went through with shocking someone else just because some guy told them so!? What does this tell us about humanity?
Well this experiment shows that it is human nature to obey orders even if those orders are harmful. This also goes hand in hand with George Orwell's famous novel '1984' where he stated: "Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows." Wherein his meaning was not just limited to math but rather any idea and thoughts we have in our minds as a result of being taught something whether it be by parents or teachers at school or through political correctness on social media etc... And indeed, society has evolved greatly since then - mainly due to technology; especially the internet - which allows us access to many more ideas than ever before! But what does this mean?
Well this brings us to the next question which is, who decides what these ideas are? Who decides what we see? Well for example, there was a time in history when women were seen as inferior and not allowed to vote. But now they can! And much more than that because it's all thanks to groups of people (mostly from the West) who fought against suppression and discrimination so that we could be where we are today - free thinkers! So how does this tie into Truman Show?
Well firstly, the Truman Show is a movie where it features an individual - Truman Burbank - who lives in what appears to be a normal town but unknown to him is that he's actually been living his life on live television for many years. The point of this experiment was to see if people would notice if they were constantly being watched over and underestimated. In reality, we are all under constant surveillance as we go about our daily lives by both technology and other human beings; mainly because some want us to conform while others don't (which can range from friends/family members telling you why your ideas won't work or worse pressure coming from social media groups etc...)!
But how does this relate to the question: Are We In The Truman Show? Well first of all, for a long time people have been asking themselves; "What is real?" due to our advanced technology and science. This has led many to believe that we are living in some sort of simulation - either run by artificial intelligence (like Elon Musk) or aliens from outer-space! So what gives us the right to say that we aren't already in such a place without even knowing it?! It's just like Plato's Cave where he stated: "The shadows cast on the wall by a fire will seem very much like reality as they dance across the stone walls but one day you'll escape your cave and see how its not real at all." So based off these famous experiments and modern society, I can conclude with utmost certainty that yes... We are indeed in The Truman Show!