Of truth and lies

What is real and what is fake. 

This has been the basic and barest of all existential question since the beginning of time itself. Some call it Maaya. Scientists may term it hallucination. 

But what is real in the "real" sense? 

The movie Matrix was a classic example that literally shook the concept of reality, despite being a fiction. People were so smitten and taken by the concept that many still believe that we all live in a Matrix while the reality is something else! Considering the rampant advancement in AI tech and related tools, specifically on the media space, no one can be sure on the authenticity of any media - be it audio, video or images. The deepfake media content is so authentic that even the concerned individuals may get confused for a moment on the content. And proving them otherwise seems to be the most demanding task at present. So many celebrities take to the streets on proving their "innocence" or "ignorance" on potential controversial and at times even non-controversial content which is in circulation in their name. Imagine the plight of common people who are yet to come to terms with such tech and end up on the wrong side of decisions. Fact checking seems to be the key job opportunity in coming years and ensuring credibility has never been on so much demand! 

The entire arts industry is divided. While those who are traditionalists and still lean on natural instruments to compose music are fearing their already increasing displacement via mechanical instruments driven by software, the advent of AI and other rapidly advancing tech is eating up their reason for existence as a music director even quicker. For the tech savvy folks, who are contented with creating automated content, till the time the role of a human interface is required, they can survive for a while more than the originalists. Ditto goes for every industry where you either have to adapt to push your expiry date a bit longer by sailing a bit further or sink. 

All this while, honesty and being truthful were considered as valuable virtues. Right from the time of our puranas till this date, what is a worthy virtue and why is that person virtuous has always been a debatable topic. Going forward they are going to be even more chaotic with the very foundation of truth going to be questioned! There is a saying that before the truth wears its shoes and comes out, the lie will circle the world multiple times. Aided with AI and advanced tech, it is only going to travel quicker. Like the proverbial pandora's box which let out all the evils in the beginning and hope as the last item, in this case also it applies. Hope the instruments for chaos are also used for the purpose for which they were meant to be!

In one of the pattimandrams a speaker said, what I say is real truth for which the judge asked the meaning. The speaker said, what others say are mere truths, akin to saying earth is filled with 3/4 water and 1/4 land. But what he says is like real truth, which is earth is 100% land of which 3/4 is under water!!

Search for truth has never stopped and has always been ON..it has gotten only tougher at present!