Ghosts in the machine

We're all Fools in the cyberspace.

Before continuing, leave a like! And then, if you wish, let me know your thoughts in the comments. - Matte

This week, a reader, intending to compliment me (which I genuinely appreciated), told me that I am out of my mind and a bit crazy. And this happened before as well with another reader, a while back! Considering that he decided to subscribe to a premium account, I assume he also meant it as a compliment.

These two readers, whom I genuinely thank, have prompted me to delve into the recesses of my mind to try and make sense of such statements. Am I crazy? Or perhaps I’m a… Fool?

I am one of those who, since childhood, between one skateboarding adventure and another, lived very little in the real world. From the early 2000s, I would dive headfirst into online communities, forums, and online video games. In these last 24 years, I have assumed hundreds of different, often anonymous, identities, allowing me to interact with people of all kinds, who often also assumed different identities.

A new dimension of Consciousness

I believe that cyberspace and the digital world can be seen as a new dimension of consciousness, positioned between the realm of the subconscious and imagination and physical, objective reality.

Although it has tangible characteristics, through interfaces, screens, and codes, the digital dimension remains a construct that exists primarily in the sphere of information and perception rather than in physical, objective reality.

In this context, human consciousness, and specifically the Ego — which we might define as the central core of consciousness and personal identity — navigates a territory that challenges traditional barriers between the subjective and the objective. Digitized relationships, while real in terms of interaction and emotional impact, lack the physicality and tangibility that characterize relationships in the physical world. The five senses are nullified, and everything is projected directly into the mind, without filters.

The global spread of social networks, and more recently, technologies like generative artificial intelligence, are severely testing our perception of reality and personal identity. Today, any individual can easily multiply their digital identities, which become true Pirandellian masks used to interact with other people in cyberspace.

On the other hand, we are also beginning to witness a completely new phenomenon: the proliferation on social networks of highly evolved bots, which, thanks to deep fakes and artificial intelligence, impersonate real people, even engaging in entirely realistic discussions among themselves and with humans. On this subject, I recently found a video as interesting as it is unsettling, which I encourage you to watch.

In the video, the author shows that he has discovered numerous bot accounts interacting as if they were real people, even finding YouTube accounts where non-existent professors (bots) discuss for hours in extremely realistic videos, accompanied by credible biographies, photos, and realistic every day experiences.

What is the impact of all this on us? Can we still maintain a firm perception of reality and ourselves in this liminal space between dream and reality? Or are we destined to become increasingly dissociated?