The Game You’re Playing
The year is 2267. This is not for pretend. Consider, for a moment, that I might be telling the truth.
You think you’re in the early 21st century. Very quaint back then. The early 21st century was the beginning of the Game Age, when what you call ‘video games’ became the meaning of life. By 2030, games had advanced to the point where you could enter into a perfectly realistic world, via a direct feed to your Consciousness, and live out your entire life in any of the various worlds you chose to participate in. Now, in the 2200’s, we’ve advanced far beyond this. Our entire culture and lives are ‘virtual’.
In the same way that someone from 2006 might have been interested in the Renaissance or Medieval times, you are interested in the early 21st century. Very exciting time, full of wars and big technological breakthroughs. So you decided to play a game called The Age of Change.
You paid 410 credits to enter the game. You started playing last week. We plugged into your Consciousness, and entered in an entire set of memories so that you ‘remember’ everything that happened prior to last week. But of course, nothing did. It’s all just memory implants.
We also did a character change for you, so that you think you’re another person (you’re actually a 19 year old girl). Then, as you requested, we temporarily wiped out all memories that tell you you’re actually a 19 year old girl in the year 2267. This is a full immersion game. The game will last for two hours, but for you it will seem like 28 years.
Nothing around you is real. The computer you’re reading this on. The clothes you’re wearing. The people you think you know. Even your own body. It’s all just sensory feed from the game The Age of Change. Pretty cool, huh?
You did request that we leave you this one clue as to the true nature of the game. This is it, and you will receive no other. You thought it might be fun if you had a chance to ‘wake up’ in the game — realize you were just playing, so you wouldn’t take it all so seriously. Oh yes – Bianca tells you that she says ‘hi’, and she can’t wait to take you for a ride in her new Tricat Moonjumper, as soon as you unplug. She’s getting lunch with Cassie down at that nice little café next to the space elevator, and she’ll meet you there.
Finally, here’s the message you left for yourself –
How do you know this isn’t true?
Explore posts in the same categories: Quick Thoughts
May 16th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
Brilliant article Kenton. Extremely true.
Reminds me of the movie Matrix. The first part. The sequels were just created to milk the franchise for its economic viability. But Matrix 1 was a deeply philosophical movie.
Steve Pavlina has also written a similar article called “Your own private universe”, on his blog.
The movie “Truman Show” also displayed the same message.
I know what all of you are upto.
All of you are telling me to “WAKE UP”
April 9th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I would hope that if I’m paying to play their game, that they would give me a better character then an overweight 22 year old university drop-out with no job and who lives in his parents basement.
I mean, I’m all for roleplaying, but….
April 9th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
=) I loved this, Jingo Jango!
Your remark brings up an interesting question. If we feel that we have some amount of control over our lives (which most of us believe), then why do WE make choices in our lives which don’t accord with our idea of ‘what makes life good’? Are we victims of circumstance, or is there something in us that gravitates toward a lifestyle of ’suffering’?
Thanks for your thoughtful addition to this.
Sweetwater,
Kenton
May 10th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
I’m also 22, and I have to say… How cheesy, to stop the game at subjective age 50! I won’t be nearly done with it by then.
May 10th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Hey there 203!
Glad to hear that you’re hoping to do a longer run. Hope you get there and beyond
Sweetwater,
Kenton
May 12th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
In the question of a Matrix style plug in world we would have to ask
Would it matter?
Would it really be that ‘real’ to wake up from this reality into the ultimate reality?
Would you be able to tell the difference, would you feel new feelings?
One of the earliest religions in Eastern India had the fundamental assumption that this entire world and you are part of Maya - an elaborate game that you play and dance and sing at, like a dream or a virtual reality, fully immersed to the point of loosing your sense of when you plugged in or fell asleep.
I say you are in the absolute center of the universe and if there is another reality that there are an infinite number of realities above and below you.
You are smack dab in the middle of it, because you are the ultimate God creating all of it from yourself.
The further you travel in any direction with any amount of vigor you will always find yourself in the center of boundlessness.
If you don’t believe in religion or any sort of thing, then try applying this to your own brain, you will never be outside your own brain, you will only experience the electricity in your mind, the ‘outside’ world is only your own creation in your mind, completely abstract.
Create this reality as you go along, because after all, you are the reality you experience.
May 12th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Thank you, petemayo, for this thoughtful and interesting perspective! I’ve visited your personal site, by the way, and very much enjoyed your photography and links!
Sweetwater,
Kenton
May 12th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Stolen from here:
“Once I, Chuang Tzu, dreamed I was a butterfly and was happy as a butterfly. I was conscious that I was quite pleased with myself, but I did not know that I was Tzu. Suddenly I awoke, and there was I, visibly Tzu. I do not know whether it was Tzu dreaming that he was a butterfly or the butterfly dreaming that he was Tzu. Between Tzu and the butterfly there must be some distinction. [But one may be the other.] This is called the transformation of things.”
May 12th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
This really does make you think. It’s amazing how much we know about our world, and what if we really know nothing at all?
May 12th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
How do I know this isn’t true? Well I could take the grammar route and point out that you told me it isn’t true, you’re only asking how I knew. Or i could take the more socially acceptable route. The one Petemayo trodded across at one point or another in his post. I know that it isn’t real because reality is subjective, simply that. What is believe is real, becomes real. the only reason stage magic isn’t real magic is because we don’t believe. Santa Clause exists to millions of children in the world. He really exists. So i suppose i’ll conclude my uneducated internet blathering with this: I know this isn’t real becuase it isn’t real.
later days
babysalesman
May 13th, 2008 at 1:24 am
This could be the worst thing in the world to read if you had just finished smoking salvia divinorum. Heck its a little frightening and its been almost a year. I came to the exact same conclusion (we are in a Game) after smoking one small leaf except that I didn’t want to stay out of the game very long so I don’t remember all the details of where I stepped into or out of. I recommend never smoking Salvia because it makes the above seem way too real. Heck I’m still not sure if the above is true or not. This question has plagued me for a very long time even years before I ever read this post of tried Salvia. Thanks for the excellent read.
May 13th, 2008 at 3:29 am
pretty interesting post!
May 13th, 2008 at 5:12 am
Hmmm…
I loved it… An interesting thought I just had is, what if the game only took a minute, or less, whatever… And all the characters’ paths were already determined. You could then play as every single character in every single game (time period)… In reality, perhaps you (the real you, not this silly character) is actually playing every single role out from start to finish, to better understand everyone’s perspective and what it was like to live at that point in time. If this is true, than the player that is playing your character role, is the player that will play or has already played my character role. So I guess I’m sending this comment to myself huh?
Much love,
Alex
May 13th, 2008 at 5:32 am
Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily.
LIFE IS BUT A DREAM.
May 13th, 2008 at 7:32 am
You raised a very interesting question. Thinking about it made me wonder if what I experience right now is some kind of virtual reality (I guess this was one of purposes of your question in the first place).
How to tell what is right and what is not? A possible way out of the conundrum is not to take the environment too seriously, which at a first glance plays in favor of the virtuality vs. reality, but I think deep down is much more complex than that. I do sometimes get a feeling that there is a deeper part of me which is kind of uncorrodable and independent of what is around us… If we are wise enough we can bend reality a bit to affect it instead of the reality taking complete control. This is what I understood a while ago: true what we believe, but not what it is. Believe in good! It’s difficult, but I suspect it’s the only way…
May 13th, 2008 at 7:54 am
If I die in the Matrix do I die in real world?
May 13th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
We met in an airport last summer (2007) in Minneapolis (or, was it two summers ago?). Our plane was delayed. I was there with Missy. The four of us had an interesting chat about “One”. You might remember?
As serendipity might have it, I found this article by “accident” using Stumble Upon (a firefox plug-in that randomly generates pages of interest http://www.stumbleupon.com/). I recognized this name right away. Now, this should amaze me as we both know the internet is trillions of pages deep. Perhaps an earlier version of myself might have looked for meaning here. Another version of myself might have tried to understand the connection this implies. But I am only slightly amused that this sort of happening is becoming the new normal in my so called life. So, here we are
You have captured my attention once again my friend! What game shall we play next??? Perhaps the one where BEING takes precedence over DOING and magic is like breath. No memory of war and suffering and duality and contrasts. Floating, painting, expressing, singing, and becoming flutes for the wind. I elect to enter a much lighter body and less serious course of study. Perhaps a role as the ghostly jester who plays guitar and sings?? I’ll need a very colorful and impressive costume of course…
Lately I’ve been diggin’ around in the music sandbox. One song that resonates with our theme here is called, Awake and Dreaming. Have a listen and see if you might like the ride
http://www.riffworld.com/Members/blue4u/awake-and-dreaming
Can we trade in the question, What does this all mean? for a magic carpet ride?? I miss the stars and moon and dancing spirits. I think I miss home…
R
May 13th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
AHHH!?! if this is true then why are other people commenting on this reminder that i put in to myself personally?? stop commenting on my reminder damn you!
May 14th, 2008 at 1:24 am
I’m asking for a refund as soon as my game is over!
May 14th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Hey I’m actually a 19 year old girl??! Check out ma boobies!!!
May 15th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Greetings JesseMat,
How right you are, though it might be more apt to say that I stole it from the Matrix, who stole it from the source you cited, who stole it from the Upanishads, who likely stole it from earlier sources. As such, none of these authors are so much stealing an idea as they are reminding us of one of the most primal and vivid pointers we can have as we search for the true nature of reality.
Hello Jon,
Well said. We do indeed feel that we know so much about the world we live in — so much so that some of us can even grow bored, thinking we know or have seen it all. What an amazing discovery when we learn the extent of our own ignorance!
Thanks, babysalesman, for this mind-twister. The overall point here — what do we mean when we say something is ‘real’?
Hello anonymous,
I have precisely zero personal experience with drug-induced states such as you mention. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Thanks, cakes!
Sweetwater,
Kenton
May 15th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Hello Time Taoist,
I love both of your comments — the second points out another place that this concept is hinted at, and the first is a beautiful telling of an ancient Hindu idea. You’re absolutely right — freed of our linear-time creation, why not play all the characters? Where is the limit to this game, and can we go further and experience being a mountain, a stream, or a cloud? Finally, the game could progress so that we are not limited to a single form at a time (this emerges out of the question, “how can I be a stream when there is no clear place where the stream begins and ends?”
As our realizations expand with our technology, we will doubtless be taken to places as magical and illogical as our lives would seem to the people living a century ago.
Sweetwater,
Kenton
May 15th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Dear Vis,
Very interesting! You’re seeing a number of levels of though which can be found in this idea. I’d urge you to keep thinking on these things, noting where your mind stops and accepts an answer. Then examine that answer further, as well as the feeling of the mind stopping and accepting. You’re on to something here . . .
Hello A,
I guess we have to ask what you mean by ‘die’.
Sweetwater,
Kenton
May 15th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Dear Rich,
Rebecca and I were delighted to hear from you! We’ve often wondered of you and Missy. When coming together after such a chance meeting, there is so much one wants to say. And yet, the playful beauty of your writing says it all. I loved the music — both what I found at the end of your link, and what I discovered on your myspace site.
Fly, my friend — what a joy!
Until next we meet,
Kenton
May 15th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
t5, SupaW, and Ollie —
Thanks for joining in the fun!
Sweetwater,
Kenton
May 15th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Although the article is well written,
it is a fruitless endeavor.
I don’t mean to be rude or condescending but this question on reality has been poked and prodded endlessly. We’ve all had that feeling or had a wish that this is all just a dream, or grand-illusion, perhaps the work of something like Descartes’ “evil-genius”. However the answer to this metaphysical question is unanswerable, no knowledge can be obtained, no further insight. We should spend our time furthering humanity and the reality we currently inhabit (whether or not it is truly reality).
Dreams are good - action is better.
-One philosophical pondering point: If you truly feel that this may not be the true reality, think for a second why perhaps we would inhabit a false world? Perhaps “reality” is not so great and the only meaningful life we can ever achieve is through “plugging ourselves in”.
-AsYetUndefined
May 15th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Greetings As Yet Undefined,
You are correct that this has been endlessly debated. And you’re also correct in that there is no ‘answer’ — at least when we are seeking an answer that makes sense to our thinking minds. There is an answer, however, which is as tangible and obvious as the taste of tequila. I might try to describe this taste via endless words or thoughts, but you will never have the taste in this way. You will only have it when you tip back your glass.
The context of this entire site is important when looking at any of the posts herein. This post does is not an attempt to prove anything, or to tell us anything about how reality is or isn’t. It is a pointer — an attempt to distract our minds from their habitual thinking long enough so that we can taste the tequila instead of talking about it.
Cheers!
Kenton
May 16th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
A brilliant story. One that invites us to be a skeptic and suspend our belief in our current story. After all, that is the only way in which we can wake up from our illusions.
Well done,
Gary
May 18th, 2008 at 1:41 am
Hello Gary,
Precisely!
To Everyone,
It has been interesting to learn more about the roots of this story — as I follow incoming links I find forums saying that this idea was born of this-or-that sci-fi story, but of course it’s much, much, older. Above, I suggested that the Upanishads, in their description of Maya, might be the furthest back we can trace this idea, but Rebecca just reminded me that the Indigenous Australians may have come up with the idea tens of thousands of years earlier. Though I’m only beginning to learn more about their Dreamtime, it’s clear that there are some interesting similarities to the idea of Maya. You can learn more about Maya here, which is a more detailed account of the above.
Sweetwater,
Kenton