I think something like Atlas Obscura will be the internet of the future, wonderful collections of weirdness, with no way to discern truth.
I think something like Atlas Obscura will be the internet of the future, wonderful collections of weirdness, with no way to discern truth.
So just like real life, then.
To be clear, I believe that objective truth exists. I also believe that people have a lot of stories. I'm from a small town, the size where you could learn a story about pretty much every family, and a lot of the stories would intertwine, or be very similar to each other, forming a shared reality among neighbors. I'm sure we could talk a good long time about the social implications of that sense of shared reality.
I think there's something deeply uncomfortable about having too many people available in your life to form a shared reality. I feel like that discomfort is a big driver of modern angst.