Are Digital Things Real? Part 2 - Dereality
In Part 1 we saw how digital things are not in fact real, since we can only experience them as projections. In Part 2 we give this state a name - Dereality.
Read Part 1 for a questioning of if digital things are in fact real. Now in Part 2, we will explore the consequences of this “dereality,” and how it mirrors but also distorts and tears at our understanding of the world and real things.
“Dereality” combines prefixes the word “reality” with “de,” which signifies the state of something “apart, separated, removed,” and which is exactly what digital things are from the “real” world of lasting objects. Dereal objects are copied & removed from the physical world, stored on remote servers, projected to us through devices with sound and light, but which can vanish at a moment’s notice if a battery is empty, a device breaks, a network disturbance occurs, or a call or message interrupts the projection session. And then the object is effectively destroyed, worthless, vaporized into thin air, as if it never existed (which it in fact never did).
From Clay Tablets to Generative AI
Generative AI objects are even more dereal, since they are generated from digital data of the real world, so are an even more removed and distorted version of a mixture of some original copies of something. This is not to disparage generative AI - it is a fascinating tool that will continue to fundamentally change our perceptions and understanding of the world. It also helps us learn faster since it can tutor and distill the world into more concise and understandable pieces, which can be very useful. So copies can be useful, and have probably helped us scale learning & understanding throughout the centuries, from the first use of writing to preserve information, to today’s generative AI tutors & agent helpers. But it is still important to recognize that all arts of copying information, from early clay tablets to modern computers & algorithms, are exactly that - copies of some original event or object, and not as lasting or valued as the original objects being copied - from the bushels of hay or cattle signified in the first writing on tablets (which would you rather have at that time - the cattle or the tablet copy?), to today’s mass produced digital content mills producing information of varying quality and taste.
Spirits of the Mind
Dereality projections are inherently volatile, unstable, fundamentally removed from the world of true reality, where more stable experiences & interactions are possible. This makes them especially enticing & useful for merchants & sellers - dereal objects can be even more alluring than real objects to sell to consumers, since the dereal can mirror fantasies, wants & desires from consumers in real-time, building enticing products for hungry minds with every whim & desire baked in. It is truly a treasure trove for marketing & digital product sales to consumers, but where does it lead?
In fact, I can imagine a “dereality scale” for measuring how “real” things are, which can also bridge into physical objects. Since the word “real” refers to how lasting the value is of an object, the dereal scale would measure how long a thing can last providing value. A digital product that provides temporary entertainment would have a very high dereality value, since it is extremely volatile, temporary & fleeting. It’s projection could disappear in the next moment, leaving nothing but faint traces of excitement & entertainment, but little lasting value (reality). A more “real” object such as a ball or skateboard (just to name some simple examples for children) would have a low dereality value, or a high reality value, since it can be relied upon to provide value for a much longer period of time (days, months and years). Plastic objects tend to break and become valueless much more quickly than objects made of metal or wood, so again plastic things would have a high derality value and a low reality value, while metal and wooden things could potentially have a high reality value, if they are well made and of good quality.
This is not to say that dereal objects cannot be more or less real, and even provide a positive reality value - a digital book, game or any piece of digital content can potentially provide long-lasting high value to someone, through interesting & useful ideas that are communicated through it. However just like the clay tablets communicating the value of wheat and cattle in Mesopotamia, the actual objects that the dereal objects are copying & describing are probably of a much higher value still, and the ultimate purpose could be to help their owners learn about the higher value reality objects from the dereality objects, and ultimately serving as a bridge from the dereal (less value for less time) to the more real (more value for a longer period of time).
The Dereality Scale
Let’s take this exercise one step forward and define a scale for measuring reality, or the lasting value of a thing.
Dereal Neutral Real
-10 0 10
To calculate the Dereality Score for an object, let’s evaluate these criteria:
How valuable is the object, on a scale from -10 to 10? A -10 is providing very negative value, or actually harming someone, and is very undesirable. 0 is a very neutral object, such as a stone or twig. 10 is providing very high value experiences, such as a wonderful book, warm shelter or nourishing food.
How volatile or durable is the object, meaning how long can it be counted on to last, on the same scale of -10 to 10. -10 means the object cannot be trusted, and can vanish at a moment’s notice, either through an event such as a power outage, or various capabilities that exist to revoke or remove the object from existence (digital books can be remotely removed by providers, songs can be pulled from a digital streaming platform, etc..).
Add the value and the durability together and divide by 2 to get the Dereality Score of the item, from -10 to 10.
For example, a digital film delivers perhaps 8 on value as entertainment, but -7 on durability since it only lasts a few hours, and most digital products are not watched or consumed again, even if they are bought, so it is a fleeting and rather temporary value that is delivered. In this case 8 + -7 / 2 results in a reality score of 0.5, which means it is neutrally real - it is not harmful but also not delivering a lot of real value.
A good pair of hiking boots rather can also deliver +7 or more on value, and also +7 to +9 on durability if they last for 5-10 years, or even longer, resulting in a reality score of at least +7, if not more.
The same exercise can be done between different types of the same article, so for example between different types or brands of hiking boots, or anything else.
Conclusion
The exercise of evaluating value and durability of objects to judge their reality is quite interesting to me, since it combines two different perspectives on value - impact and time. The connection of these factors really does determine overall value or impact on our lives, there is nothing else in my view important to consider or add. Is it good and helpful? Does it work for a while, or a longer amount of time, since time is the most important yardstick of our lives? Then that determines how valuable it is, or how real it is, since the word real is based on value over time. So our reality itself is in fact determined by these factors!
So in conclusion, our reality is in fact directly dependent on the quality and durability of the objects & experiences around us. Less valuable and durable objects & experiences are in fact less real, with many of them in the digital realm being actually dereal (based on our Dereality Scale). Wow, that really does change my perspective on reality.