In as much as I admire the logical aspect of deception, it's the emotional aspect that really pulls the lever and is also where the attending conflict is present.
Probably, it's pulling the lever that creates the attending conflict and the logical aspect is mostly rooted in principles that are as effective as our own survival instincts.
I'm not sure how true this is. But in Robert Greene's 48 Laws Of Power, the introduction mentioned that what makes humans different from all other creatures is our ability to lie and deceive.
I view it more or less as having a myriad of personalities that are distinct from our Self. Needless to say, it is these personalities that have taken rulership and are holding captive of the Self.
When Machines Join The Masquerade
In the upcoming age of omnipresent AI, I think we will be introduced into a new dimension of deception and these artificial creatures will arguably excel at this deception game much more than us humans.
There are already some signs of this with deepfakes. Without having any context or background information to discern truth from fiction, someone might as well believe that Greta Thunberg is the daughter of Vladimir Putin or that China has developed a society-wide happiness algorithm.
Of course, in a strict sense, one could argue that this is just humans using AI to deceive their fellow humans. Now, we have a tool that's both reflective and refractive, showing us distorted versions of our own desires.
Trying to make any logical sense of the information I consume online is something I dropped doing altogether now. Initially, I used to take everything just as it is. But when you begin to perceive the undercurrents that govern many of these information sources, you realize that there's a "phoenix in the pot".
A "phoenix in the pot" is an underlying power dynamic masked by surface-level discourse. For example, there's a kernel of truth with regards to climate change, but also a whole agenda has developed around this kernel of truth, viewing it as an opportunity for global control, as if every crisis must inevitably become a lever for consolidating power.
Choice in Chaos
It isn't entirely deceptive to belief that we can still distinguish truth from fiction. Every time we think we've caught sight of the phoenix, we realize we're just seeing another reflection in the pot's polished surface.
Part of me thinks the real question has traveled from if we can spot the phoenix anymore to whether we even want to.
Have we become so comfortable with these layers of deception that we prefer them to raw truth?
The most powerful deception isn't in the information we consume, but our willingness participation in this grand masquerade.
In this sense, we're both victims of deception and its willing architects, seeking perceived comfort in a world where the line between truth and fiction isn't just blurred, but also gradually becoming irrelevant.
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