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Some mass shooters have apparently embraced the notion that their targets and maybe even themselves are not real human beings but merely the products of a simulation or other manipulated reality. Perhaps they are right.
(Spoiler alert) A recent episode of Doctor Who seemed to accept killing as a valid response to discovering that you are not real. In the 10th season episode “Extremis” of the Peter Capaldi cycle, people kill themselves after discovering they are computer simulations that are part of a preparation for an alien invasion. In one scene, scientists at CERN have gathered around tables armed with time bombs.
If we are living in a simulation, there is no such thing as murder, only disruption of data streams.
It all harks back to the Columbine massacre and The Matrix. As noted by ABC News:
When Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold attacked Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, killing 13 people and themselves, investigators said the killers evoked Neo, Keanu Reeves' character in The Matrix. The two teens were known for wearing long black trench coats similar to the one "Neo" wears in the film and for calling themselves the trench coat mafia.
Perhaps the Columbine killers decided that the predictable, petty pursuits of their fellow high school students was evidence that “reality” was “all a game” that is already rigged to produce the most frustration and conflict. The pattern was repeated on May 18, 2018 in a shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas, in which 10 people were killed and 10 others were wounded. The attacker, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, routinely work a black trench coat to class.
Not all mass killers are deep thinkers who think they are in a simulation but probably most believe that a large portion of human existence is manipulative or phony. Indeed, I bet many here have looked at the Trump election and presidency and said to themselves, “I can’t believe this is real.”
(Spoiler alert) A recent episode of Doctor Who seemed to accept killing as a valid response to discovering that you are not real. In the 10th season episode “Extremis” of the Peter Capaldi cycle, people kill themselves after discovering they are computer simulations that are part of a preparation for an alien invasion. In one scene, scientists at CERN have gathered around tables armed with time bombs.
If we are living in a simulation, there is no such thing as murder, only disruption of data streams.
It all harks back to the Columbine massacre and The Matrix. As noted by ABC News:
When Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold attacked Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, killing 13 people and themselves, investigators said the killers evoked Neo, Keanu Reeves' character in The Matrix. The two teens were known for wearing long black trench coats similar to the one "Neo" wears in the film and for calling themselves the trench coat mafia.
Perhaps the Columbine killers decided that the predictable, petty pursuits of their fellow high school students was evidence that “reality” was “all a game” that is already rigged to produce the most frustration and conflict. The pattern was repeated on May 18, 2018 in a shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas, in which 10 people were killed and 10 others were wounded. The attacker, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, routinely work a black trench coat to class.
Not all mass killers are deep thinkers who think they are in a simulation but probably most believe that a large portion of human existence is manipulative or phony. Indeed, I bet many here have looked at the Trump election and presidency and said to themselves, “I can’t believe this is real.”