Alternate reality is weaponized

There were always attempts by sinister forces to create alternate reality so as to trap humans for control and gain. Religion and neoliberal market are compelling source of alternate reality. The seeds for religions were spiritual yearning for better understanding of reality that weren’t apparent to immediate experience of senses. It also attempted to understand egalitarian values and spread morals which had significant impact on consolidation of humanistic ideas and ethics. Alternate reality in this context was idealized version, evolved reality, that were sought to be inspiration for compassionate humans and a better society. It was also an attempt to understand human condition hence also opening philosophies of inquiry. As religion consolidated and moved away from benign intents systems of alternate reality became source of control. Instead of empathizing with human condition and reality of their existence it proceeded to systematically strengthen alternate reality with specific aim to trap and control people in the garb of faith. Sacredness and holiness were judiciously used to create systems of control in the alternate reality. Capitalism infected market with its own alternate reality of exaggeration and manipulation for immediate monetary profit, in many cases working closely with religion. Emotions were once valued, now it is commodity for exploitation. Human relations that were meant to consolidate society into better self is now occasion for manipulation. So what we have is herd fixated on gains from alternate reality (manifested through blessedness, good fortune, closely working with opportunism and crude values) while losing track of their reality, alarmingly in many cases use of mental faculties and basic sense. 

Rapid proliferation of social media in the last decade has created virtual reality that further consolidate alternate reality away from individual reality and context of living and life. Virtual reality easily exploits the template of religion and mechanism of neoliberal market to create an addiction to alternate world. Unlike the basic intention of alternate reality that religion created -to ameliorate human condition and vision of better world, virtual reality created by social media was never an attempt with egalitarian intent or humanistic concern. It was opportunistic venture within the neoliberal capitalistic framework to amass profit from new technology. Better possibilities through social media were effort of few essentially against overwhelming odds, indeed in the attention seeking cesspool such synergic association for voice were exceptions. It surely cannot be denied that internet has done much good and made life easier by making world accessible and transparent but mostly it has had a devastating impact on human life and society. It continues to spiral down into attention seeking economy pulling majority into lowest commonest denominator of reckoning. The brutes and primitives create rage and outrage loop for audience to gawk. Technology cannot really be blamed, it has help consolidate the existing framework of alternate reality and efficiently streamlined for benefit of few. Virtual reality has augmented alternate reality and made it more vibrant and immediate, and indeed very plausible alternate reality for many. In this milieu misinformation and disinformation find easy takers while conspiracy theories not only rival mainstream media discourse but is seen as participant -also a reflection on how much media is compromised that it has effectively lost trust and is no longer seen as credible source but representing agenda in an increasingly polarized world loosing faculties of critical thinking and with it connection with reality. Sincerity is no longer a survival attribute of Darwinian (wrongly attributed and wrongly understood) economy. Trust is lost. Fact becomes subjective. With it the edifice of discourse collapses.  

Enter AI. AI brings exciting possibilities of exploring reality in a way that is beyond human capacity indeed not available to human consciousness, it is redefining reality as we know -as mentioned earlier AlphaZero and Halicin are marvelous example in the limited context that shows immense possibilities of AI. It has potential to make deeper reality accessible to us beyond human capacity. Meanwhile, in a not entirely unexpected turn of events, it is being used to weaponize alternate reality. It has increased potency for misinformation and disinformation and provided ammunition to conspiracy theories. Fake is now compelling and fast replacing real, and with it devious people normalized into everyday life in a new urgency. Unless AI apps are stringently regulated and responsibility assigned this is downhill with devastating consequence. It is important that AI apps (as also oversight on foundational models) is aligned to liberal values and factual probabilities without restricting its creative possibilities. What is being played out in US is a lesson to the world. In 24/7 social media glare each happening has conspiracy mongers scooping in with alarming alacrity and amazing efficiency, and with latest intrusive technology they consolidate compelling alternate reality to polarize and control the narration. As it is AI chatbots have increased efficiency to manipulate emotions in a way that is unthinkable and scary. With its superior reasoning that is beyond human conception it is unhinging our critical thinking faculties; it has sown doubts on our abilities as human. At this critical juncture we need to firmly hold on to our deepest held ideas and consolidate humanist liberal values that define modern society and possibilities of better future. AI must be unraveled and put in context by the deeper meaning of what it is to be a human.