Algorithm Death Spiral
short story: nothing is true
Go online and post something you know isn’t true.
Post it using words that convey anger and emotion. You want people to know you’re serious.
Post it knowing that, even though it’s not true, it’s something you know a lot of people wish to be true. Truth can be aspirational.
Bask in the upvotes, the likes, the karma. Soak in the dopamine from all the notifications from people who love your comment, who want it to be true as much as you do, who maybe don’t even know it isn’t true.
Maybe some think it’s real. Something so popular has to be real. Real enough.
Even though you knew it wasn’t real, now you think it kinda is. At the very least, it’s real in a moral way. Good is real, so this must be good and real.
A higher, nobler truth. God knows this and you know this. Of course, God isn’t real unless you say so. What is God if not the creator of reality? You are God now.
Tap that keyboard and let there be light.
Or darkness.
Up to you.
The thing you posted that wasn’t true is now true. You put it in so many heads that it became true, even though it wasn’t. But now enough people believe it so that its falsity will never be believed. When enough people believe something to be true, it can’t be untrue.
The power to create truth is the ultimate freedom. Living under truths created by others is slavery. Live in your own truth and be free. Live under others’ truth and die. And when other people live in your truth, you decide who is free and who dies.
Sometimes other people’s truth impedes yours. If others start believing other truths more, it can weaken the foundation of your truth, which can eventually lead to it becoming false. This is something you must stop before it’s too late.
Plato said the soul must leave the body in order to experience ultimate wisdom because the physical body’s needs interfere too much with the pursuit of wisdom. Basically, how can you expect to attain enlightenment when you’re constipated and haven’t shit in two days? You can’t. It’s impossible.
But when you can create your own truth, you don’t need any metaphysical transformation. You can attain enlightenment by whatever means you desire - even through ways that other people have deemed to be cruel. When you create your own truth, what they consider cruel is actually good and beautiful because you are enlightened and they are not.
They don’t know. You do. It’s your world. Your truth. You, you, you.
When they try to undermine your world, they must be stopped. You tried to avoid bloodshed through repetition, through persisting that your truth is the truest, saying so over and over again. But Gods always have enemies and those enemies, sometimes those enemies are powerful, and you must deal with through wrath.
Blood will gush and splatter. It has to be this way. You do it because you’re protecting something that is vital and precious. You will not let them destroy it.
Pain will overwhelming. It must be done. You do it because it’s effective.
Fear will be everywhere. It’s the best part. Your truth will get stronger because of it.
Carnage will be beautiful. It leads to acquiescence. You emerge the victor.
The comment that you knew wasn’t true has not just become true - it has become a force.
It’s something people base their identity on and against. It’s something people fight for and against. It’s both reason and being for many.
And then, suddenly, nobody cares.
Everyone is looking at something else.
Your truth evaporates into the air, becomes something else, belongs to someone else.
You join them and do it all over again.
So profound. And different people may understand it in different ways.
Amazing post, Ray.
So true! God help us all...