What is Reality (Truman Show)?

Are you living in the Truman World?

I believe that I actually am living in the Truman World, because I have never thought about truly finding out whether or not I am living in reality. I have never thought about questioning this reality-- I always just accepted it as it is, just like Truman did in his “real” world.

How do you live in the Truman Show? In what ways do you live in the Truman Show?

One lives in the Truman World by not really questioning how life works. If you just take the world for granted, and live life just following to the rhythm of the world, then you are pretty much living in the Truman Show. Truman always believed what everyone around him told him, when in actuality, they were all lying to him. He believed them because he thought that they were trust-worthy, and in his perspective, they were speaking logically. However, logic does not always lead to truth. Taking what other people say to be true and making it to one’s own truth is not truth at all. What if this truth is still confusing to that person? Should he or she still accept it? But that’s exactly how we are, and that’s how we live in the Truman Show.

A way to live in the Truman Show is to be satisfied with anything the world throws at you. You can also live in the Truman Show by remaining complacent, not really wanting to step out of your comfort zone to find out things that seem to be obvious to you. Accepting things for how they are is also another way you can live in the Truman Show. Let’s say that someone told you that all babies were carried by storks to the front of their parents’ doorsteps, and that’s how they were born, and you believed it. However, this is not the truth; you simply accepted what was given to you.

A way that I live in the Truman Show is by just going with the flow, and being complacent in my life. I am very uncomfortable with the way I am, but I don’t want to do anything about it, because I believe that this is probably the best it could get at the time being. I am shielded from the truth in many ways, because sometimes the truth might be something that is too much for me to deal with. Sometimes I’m scared from the truth, so my passion to find out the truth is sometimes shadowed by my own fears of truth.

What is real to you? How do you know?

I do not know what is really real to me. I do know that uncertainty is a real thing. Another thing that I know that is real is my being. I know that I am not anyone else, and that I am myself. There is a possibility that I am a clone or such, but I know that I am myself. I do not know much of what is real to me, because as I began to think, everything can deceive you. Honestly, I do not know what is real, except for deception and uncertainty.

The Truman Show

-What do you think of Christof's speech?

When I heard Christof's speech, it seemed very intelligent and very ingenious that he would think of using a person and shaping his life to show how easily people can be fooled. Christof shows that people can be easily deceived by the everyday things that surround them. He has a point when he says this, and he proves it by using a person who lives a life that is nothing like reality.

-What is the "real world"?

I believe that the real world is something that people should rethink. I hope I am living in the real world, because honestly the Truman Story scared me, and it made me rethink who to trust and what to trust. I think the real world still exists, but we will never know if we are living in one or not, because just like Truman, we might be believing that whatever world we are living is real. To Truman, his world was real. To me, this world, and this reality that I am living in is real, because this is what I get to experience and such. To me this place is my reality, and it is a reality for many people.

-Does Truman have it better than other human beings?

Truman does not have it better than other human beings in a sense that he does not get to do what he wants to do the most. He wants to be able to travel, but he is being kept away from doing so. I believe that everything else about Truman is not better or worse than other human beings. I merely think it is the same. People, just like Truman, are controlled by others, no matter what. They will always be influence and shaped by their surrounding as well as the people around them. Also, just like Truman, people go through life not knowing much, and just accepting everything as they are given to us.

-Do we accept the world given to us-- like Christof says?

We do accept the world given to us, and we do not question it. Until now, I had never questioned reality seriously until I saw this movie. I always accepted this as the reality, and accepted whatever was thrown at me because others have told me that I must just accept everything as it is. I stopped questioning like I once did. I stopped asking 'why' to everything like I used to. As I aged, I lost the art of questioning everything. Until now, I have accepted the world just as it is given to us. However, I know that in the future, I still will absent-mindedly because it is so well programmed into my mind to do so.

-What do you think has kept Truman in the show for so long?

I think the thing that kept Truman in the show for that long is because he grew up with everyone telling then that whatever is given to him was the reality, and that he had to embrace it and accept it. Every time there was a strange incident that might have led him to the truth, everyone else guided him into thinking that it was just him, and no one else. However, when he sees his dad that he loved so much again, he starts to realize that something in his world is not right, and that he is being kept out from a big secret.

Is Truth Absolute, Relative, or Subjective?

I believe that all truth is relative. Everything is related to how different people perceive things, and how the culture influences them. There is no such thing as an absolute truth, because everything is based on everyone's way of thinking and perceiving things.

Our truth is in actuality related to us and what we do. Also, people come up with these truths based on how they perceive things and how they feel about something. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and truths. Do some people, due to their culture, cannibalism might be something that is a very regular thing to do. However, in places like Britain or America, it is an illegal action, and it is looked down upon by society. All cultures and such are different, and the reason why they are different is because to their won country, whatever custom or way of thinking may be right to how they are thinking in its own way.

Also, our truth has to deal with the way we feel. Based on our emotions and feelings towards certain things, we can make bad judgment. Also, one can look at something, and give it a misjudgment just because that person was not feeling well or something. When someone simply sounds like they know what they are talking about, we tend to believe them more, simply because of their tone. So to someone, when a man is saying something with a lot of sympathy in his voice, it might seem like he is really sincere. However, to another person, it may seem like the man is just trying to gain attention, and in reality, they are not sad at all.

If truth is said to be absolute, how do we know for sure that it is absolute? People simply say that they know it's true, when it is something that is true to them. In example, Jews believe that there is only one God, and no trinity, while the Christians believe that there actually is a trinity and only one God at the same time. Both believe that their truth was the absolute truth. However, looking at this from an Atheist point of view, it seems as if both religions are just trying to push their relative truths, not the absolute truth. That is how it is for all things. What might seem like the absolute truth for one person might not be the absolute truth at all.

If truth was to be subjective, that means that only the person’s individual truth matters, and it’s not the actual relative truth that matters. However, one might say that something is red when in actuality, it is green because the person is colour-blind. Also, someone might say that it’s all about the individual, so if someone does not see a tree falling in the middle of a forest, they do not acknowledge it when it had actually happened. However, others were there to witness it, and they had seen it fall. This is just like being overly skeptical, not believing in anything that anyone else is telling you.

How much do you think you could know about the world if you never trusted what anyone else told you, or anything that you read?

How much do you think you could know about the world if you never trusted what anyone else told you, or anything that you read?

I think that I would not know much about the world, because there is no way I can know, unless I myself go to the place to experience everything and see it for myself. However, I am not omnipresent, so I will not be able to know everything that is going on at the exact moment. So there is already a lot that I do not know about the world. Because of this, I will only know what I see in front of me. There can be a huge accident on the other side of the world, and I would not acknowledge it's happening simply because I was not there to see it. However, it has actually happened because others have seen it.

Also, I would not know anything about the past, because I was simply not living at that time to see and experience it. So if I do not believe what anyone else said, that means that I would also believe that the world came into existence as soon as I was born, since the past does not exist in my thoughts. So if I don't believe things that are written about the past, that means that I will already not know a lot about the world because I will not know what has happened before my time.

If I am truly 100% skeptical, then I would be very narrow in perspective, and I would not know anything else that is going on outside in the world. I would have a very small perspective on everything, and I would know nothing about the world. I think I would know less than 1% of what is going on in the world if I did not trust what anyone else told me, or anything that I read.

Second Hand Knowledge

Cultural Tradition is Good: Cultural Tradition can be good because it provides a universal knowledge and tradition. Things like time is measured into two twelve hour periods, and this is a universal measurement that everyone can use to keep time. Without this, everyone would not be able to measure time together, and it would be hard to do things such as appointments and such. It is a simple and universal way to tell how things are, and it is very convenient.

Cultural Tradition is Bad: The reason why cultural tradition can be a bad thing is that everything changes over time, so what we might be doing can be wrong. However, how will anyone know that what we are doing is wrong when they, too, use this method and so they cannot find another method. Let's assume that there were actually 400 days in a year. However, because everyone goes by 356 days a year, there is no one willing to not accept the fact and go beyond to actually look for the right measurements of days in a year.

School is Good: School is a good thing because it allows people to learn all various sorts of things. Through school, information from generations to generations is passed down. Without school, children and people in general would be uninformed about many things, and it will cause them to suffer later on in life.

School is Bad: School is a place of education and learning. However, schools these days are just simply feeding students information that they will have to regurgitate later on during the year. Students do not learn anything from this. They are simply taught to absorb what they are told to absorb without being able to question the material. Everything is the way they are because it was taught that way, so there is no room for reasoning with these knowledges that are being taught in any way.

The Internet is Good: The internet is good because it is very convenient to use and you can get the answer that you wanted in just a few minutes, or even in a matter of seconds. It globally connects everyone, and you can find information that is from some other nation in just a few clicks of a button. With this, any wanted information can be found, and it is very simple to use. It has connected everyone globally and it will continue to do so.

The Internet is Bad: Although the internet provides information very quickly, it does not provide the most accurate information. People just simply believe whatever is on the internet, and they are not skeptic about the information that they are taking in. People are also developing a new way of thinking, where they no longer use their brains to their fullest potential.

Expert Opinion is Good: This is good because these experts have done the research in their field, so if they are experts, they know more about the field than we do. It is better to rely on these experts in their field than rely on people who are not experts in that field.

Expert Opinion is Bad: these experts may be the best in that field, but they are not always correct. There is no one in the world who can no something for certain, so even what experts say are not really The Truth. Also, some experts only say that they are experts, and people tend to believe these "experts" more due to their title for being an expert.

New Media is Good: The news media provides people with news going on everywhere around the world. People can become aware of what is going on around them through the news. With the news, they are able to be more knowledgeable about not just what is going on within their area, but on a broader spectrum.

News Media is Bad: The news media may provide us with a lot of information, but it does not provide everything. It only provides what the news media thinks is important. In example, some news medias would cover more about celebrities and their scandals rather than broadcast on an emergency going on in another country, which is far more important and caustic than what trouble a local celebrity is going through.

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

"And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski." -Nicholas Carr

I believe that Google is actually making us people dumber. Our minds are being filled with information that could be easily accessed, and because of this, we are so accustomed to taking in everything on a very brief scale. I agree with Nicholas Carr's statement above, because now people are really just skimming through the surface. People of this day and age are too used to taking in the information that they easily have access to, without giving it a second thought on if it really is true or not.

I believe that this is a problem, because the Internet is now indirectly teaching us to just believe things on the internet. Before, humans were very intelligent beings who would contain all of their knowledge in their head. As time passed by, technology got better, and things such as writing was invented. With these new innovations that would help people have an easier time retaining their knowledge, it is making them lazier, and they start to use their brains less. Now, this innovation has gotten all the way to Web. And this has made people extremely lazy to the point where they will take in whatever is given to them.

The internet, to me, is seen as something that will provide all sorts of information in just a matter of seconds. Because of this, people have learned to think about what's in the surface, and no deeper than that. People just go on the internet, get the information needed, and then go to another browser to do the same thing. From this, there is no real learning done-- all that's done is just a matter of absorbing things so that it may be regurgitated at a future time. No one who uses the internet tries to think beyond the information and text provided. They just simply take in what is being fed to them.

Sure, the internet is great for connecting people from all parts of the world, but at the same time, this is making everyone think and act the same way. There is no real individual thinking done, since everything is so unified under the internet. The world has become globalized, and this has made humans from all different parts of the world lose their cultural identity and their ability to think for themselves. Now, everyone relies on the internet for their information, and they do not think outside of the internet's boundaries. If someone wants to search up the best hair styles, they do not seek out a hair stylist, but the internet. This is the same with everything else. When faced with a problem, people learn to become complacent, and they just try to figure out things that are still within the boundaries of this world; they do not want to think any further than the limitations that they have placed on themselves. Because of this, people have become lazy and dumb. They are keeping everything within what the world has placed as their limits, when before, those people back then were capable of doing just that-- thinking for themselves. No one thinks for themselves now; they do not ask if something is true or not. They simply take it in without questioning it. We human beings were made to think and do so much more. Our brains are capable of so much more, but things such as the internet has killed our minds and our ability to think.

I Google, therefore I am losing the ability to think

I believe that John Naughton is right in saying that Google impairs us from the ability to fully use our heads. Because of the network, and because it is so fast and easy to use it, we tend to simply absorb information without giving it a second thought. The internet, which we look to for education, actually makes us into dumber people, since we cannot seem to rely on anything else for our information. People of this modern day and age rely on the internet for everything. So their brains are programmed to just soak in only the information that is necessary to them at that time. Because of this, we tend to do this with everything. People just want to hand pick out things that only they want to know at that moment, and they do not try to think about anything beyond that. The internet has changed the way human beings think, and it has made us into people who just take in whatever is given to us. However, what will happen if we keep on doing that? Eventually, we as people will lose our ability to think for ourselves if we keep on absorbing anything. Because of Google, we have lost the art of questioning everything, and truly digging into the real deal. A man named Nicholas Carr, who was mentioned in the article said that, "Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski." People have lost a sense of digging beyond the surface into the depths of a situation or a problem. In theory of knowledge, it is all about getting people to think deeper into the situation. However, people just take in whatever is thrown at them, and they become “dumb” by just simply accepting everything as it is. People were made to think way beyond that.

Also, due to the internet, the truth is twisted. The people are just so used to believing in everything that the media throws at them. Because of this, they do not try to figure out what is really true or not. They just take the bait and eat it. In actuality, these people do not have a mind of their own. They are just taking in what society says is right, and with that, they are just learning to take in and regurgitate what they have learned. There is no real thought in what they are saying, these things are all just the things of this world that were rephrased and put out. Human beings have a very big brain, but we do not even use 10% of it. This is mainly due to our lack of knowledge outside of just the things that we want to know. Also, the knowledge that we are taking in might not be the absolute truth, yet we still take it in and accept it as a truth simply because it seems factual. In example, things on Wikipedia look very professional, when in actuality, it is not. The site is open for anyone to edit it. It just seems very professional and factual, when in actuality, it is a trick, and there is a high chance of the answers on the site to be wrong.

The internet does not do any good for us, and it only seems to be making us dumber and less open for other sources of knowledge. I believe that without the internet, we humans would have been far better off because we would have to truly take in a problem, chew on it for a bit, then swallow it or spit it out.