Read on Twitter
LARPing Our Way To Armageddon
The intense and present danger of fantasy
a thread
The intense and present danger of fantasy
a thread
One of the interesting things about the scifi / fantasy writing community is that it contains many people who have much higher tolerance for fantasy than the norm.
People who can be around fantasy a lot, without losing track of reality.
People who can be around fantasy a lot, without losing track of reality.
Counter intuitive perhaps. But people who deal with fantasy at a professional level become expert at recognising its stench.
That's a useful skill in 2021, when the world, and particularly America, is being sucked into a vortex of unreality.
That's a useful skill in 2021, when the world, and particularly America, is being sucked into a vortex of unreality.
Because human beings do not, as a rule, have good tools for distinguishing fantasy from reality.
This isn't a bug of humankind, it's very much a feature.
Humans are what we are because of our ability to engage in the shared fantasy we call society / culture / civilisation.
This isn't a bug of humankind, it's very much a feature.
Humans are what we are because of our ability to engage in the shared fantasy we call society / culture / civilisation.
Homo Sapiens are the species that LARPs
Which has always brought with it some structural issues
That just got waaaaaaaaaaay more serious
Which has always brought with it some structural issues
That just got waaaaaaaaaaay more serious
It's a common observation that the Capital mob was like an insurrection LARP
That's not to be used as an excuse. These morons really were mounting an insurrection
while believing the whole thing was a game, fantasy, or LARP
That's not to be used as an excuse. These morons really were mounting an insurrection
while believing the whole thing was a game, fantasy, or LARP
Which is the second tier worrying conclusion from the events of the 6th
Not only are there people who want to pull down democracy.
There are people who have become so untethered from reality that they will participate in the insurrection LARP
Not only are there people who want to pull down democracy.
There are people who have become so untethered from reality that they will participate in the insurrection LARP
And when you look at the reasons why the MAGA LARP was possible.
You start to realise that giant chunks of the population are detaching from reality, like ice bergs drifting into an ocean of fantasy.
You start to realise that giant chunks of the population are detaching from reality, like ice bergs drifting into an ocean of fantasy.
Our main guide to "what is real?" isn't reality itself, but what the people around us agree is real.
If everyone in your village believes in Odin, you're gonna believe in Odin.
If everyone in your village believes in Odin, you're gonna believe in Odin.
Humans have to prioritise our shared reality over actual reality so that we can mainstain constructs like tribes, nations, corporatiins, sport teams.
And most people accept the constructs they are given as reality. If we didn't, they wouldn't work.
And most people accept the constructs they are given as reality. If we didn't, they wouldn't work.
The latest iterations of the internet perform a worrying short circuit on the human fantasy systems.
YouTube is terrifyingly persusive because it hacks our belef circuits.
YouTube is terrifyingly persusive because it hacks our belef circuits.
If you watch a dozen YouTubers, for hours a day, those people take up the roles of tribal elders in your psyche.
If they all agree on something like, say, the QAnon conspiracy, you'll end up believing it too.
If they all agree on something like, say, the QAnon conspiracy, you'll end up believing it too.
Forums, boards, Facebook, Twitter etc do something similar. But video is the most persuasive. Because we're wired to look at human faces and trust them.
Digital media isn't just presenting a competing narrative. It's completely interposing over our sense making systems.
Digital media isn't just presenting a competing narrative. It's completely interposing over our sense making systems.
We've all been operating on an assumption that reality must at some level impose itself on everyone.
It's an assumption that the mass media helped maintain for a century or so, because it was feeding everyone roughly the same constructed reality.
It's an assumption that the mass media helped maintain for a century or so, because it was feeding everyone roughly the same constructed reality.
But that assumption was wrong. We're watching the splintering of reality before our eyes.
And it doesn't take VR headsets or The Matrix. It turns out a few YouTubers can effectively splinter millions of people into a shared fantasy.
And it doesn't take VR headsets or The Matrix. It turns out a few YouTubers can effectively splinter millions of people into a shared fantasy.
These people look like LARPers, because of course they know that the fantasy is just that.
They know they are pretending. But the game of make believe is more rewarding to them. They have identity and status in the fantasy, that reality never gave them.
They know they are pretending. But the game of make believe is more rewarding to them. They have identity and status in the fantasy, that reality never gave them.
What this seems to be creating are profliferating number of LARP armies.
People who have hacked the psychological barriers that would prevent them from participating in a civil war, by believing its just a LARP.
People who have hacked the psychological barriers that would prevent them from participating in a civil war, by believing its just a LARP.
This is all, I shouldn't have to say, extremely dangerous.
The LARP armies suggest the possibility of shocking violence of a kind I would have thought impossible even 2 or 3 years ago.
And once that cyclemofnviolence starts, it won't be a fantasy any more.
The LARP armies suggest the possibility of shocking violence of a kind I would have thought impossible even 2 or 3 years ago.
And once that cyclemofnviolence starts, it won't be a fantasy any more.
