Reality (Or a Blissful Ignorance)

By Mohit Garg

“So, when are you two meeting?” Preeti asked curiously. 

“Well—tomorrow, at the Round Cafe,” Somya replied. Somya, who was pursuing PhD in psychology, lived with her roommate — Preeti, in a one-room apartment. 

“Does he know the meeting is mostly about your PhD thesis?” Preeti asked with a playful grin.

“I’m not meeting him for that,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “Anyway, I didn’t know he had schizophrenia when I agreed to meet him. He said he used to experience visual and auditory hallucinations, but that doesn’t happen to him anymore.” 

Somya went to her bed and opened her laptop, hoping she would be able to continue her thesis this time. She had been struggling for weeks to complete her thesis, and the same thing also happened that night. She couldn’t concentrate, even though there were thoughts floating around her synapses — she wasn’t able to catch them — untamed thoughts flow faster than photons of light. 

The next afternoon, she was sitting at Round Cafe when she saw him coming towards her. He looked a little different from the first and last time she had seen him. 

“Sorry, I got stuck in traffic,” he said in a deep voice. “No matter how much you plan, it never works in reality,” he continued, sitting down. “And I don’t think we could ever truly understand what reality is.”

“Uhhh, what do you…” Soumya wanted to ask, but they were interrupted by the waitress. She ordered two cappuccinos without even asking him. When she looked at him — he was staring at the side table.

“Do you want to move there?” she asked, but he shook his head. “So, what do you mean by saying we can’t understand reality?”

He said, “See, how do we even know that everything around us is real? Have you heard of simulation theory — the idea that we might be living in a computer and existing as only data?” 

“Yes, I’ve read about it. Do you think it’s possible we’re really living in one?” She asked. 

“I don’t know, but it’s a possibility,” he replied and started pondering and then continued, “look how far we’ve come. We’ve already mastered creating digital images and videos that can’t even be called fake anymore. Suppose it gets better, and we’re able to create a perfect digital world where the characters start thinking for themselves and become conscious. When that happens, we’ll have created a universe of our own. And one day, they’ll sit in a coffee shop and discuss whether they’re real or living in a simulation.” He ended with a smile. 

She smiled too and said, “So, you’re saying someone has built all this—in their computer, and nothing is real—neither you nor I, nor the waitress who just put these coffee cups on our table, and not even this coffee.”

“No, I’m just saying that even if we were living in one, we’d never know; there are no experiments that could prove or disprove it,” he said. 

She wasn’t expecting a philosophical talk on their first date. It was something unexpected, something different than any of her previous first encounters. No small talks yet — no weather, no asking about hobbies.

Curious, she sipped her coffee and asked, “Are you scared of A.I.? It has become very advanced in recent times; do you think it will take over the world?”

But then she saw something strange. He brought his hand near the cup, slid it toward the edge of the table, and it fell. Suddenly, he looked toward the door and exclaimed, “Now come here! Where are you running, kid?” He looked at Somya, shook his head in disappointment, and said, “I don’t know why children are like this these days.”

She knew what had happened. Even for someone who had studied and worked with patients with schizophrenia, this was strange. She remembered him telling her that he used to have episodes of hallucinations, but they had vanished with time. But clearly, it hadn’t gone. What was going on in his mind when he slid that cup? He had clearly seen a kid throw that cup, but what triggered that imagination? Did he not feel anything at all when he touched the cup? The cup had definitely been warm to the touch. She kept wondering about it all.     

All eyes were on them, but she decided not to react, and ignored the stares. “So, AI, what do you think about its future?” she asked, continuing the conversation. “Do you think it will turn rogue?”

“It’s not something impossible; we don’t know how far current technological innovation will take AI. One day it might become conscious,” he replied.

“So, one day AI will become conscious, decide that it will take over the world, and eliminate anyone who stands in its way,” she said, as if it were meant to happen. 

She noticed him staring at another table, as if he were looking at someone and wondering, but only the table was empty. She waved her hand in front of his face to get his attention and asked, “But it also amuses me—why would AI even do that? I mean, don’t you think there must be some motive for anyone to do anything — even if it’s just some computer chips doing computations? Why would it suddenly turn evil?”

“No, not necessarily. It doesn’t need to become evil to take over the world. Suppose an AI is programmed to perform a noble task, like making this world pollution-free — but at any cost. It would start to think of all the possible ways in which pollution can be eliminated and gradually come up with a plan to eradicate the root cause of pollution.” 

“Human beings!” she interrupted in a serious tone. “It would start devising a plan to wipe out the human race, because, from its point of view — as per its calculations — pollution is nothing but a by-product of human existence. It’s just a machine so it doesn’t know killing is bad; it’s only programmed to solve the pollution problem.”

“Totally. And if it ever becomes truly intelligent, it would be very difficult to defeat,” he said. 

“But we’re also an intelligent species that has faced and overcome all the challenges nature has thrown at us,” Somya said. “Ultimately, the key is in our hands; we can switch off the system anytime and stop it. Right?”

He said, “Uhh… but here’s the problem. If AI becomes extremely intelligent, it could also predict this and know that if its intention were revealed, it can be switched off. So, it would act friendly and behave like a true well-wisher.”   

The conversation went on. 

When she got home, she thought about him and their conversations. She also thought about his condition — was it her duty to tell him about it? Should she take him to a renowned psychiatrist? Later, she went to her friend Preeti and told her everything about the day.

“Obviously, you should tell him. You’re a psychology student — you know how it should be done. He should be informed about his condition; otherwise, he might harm himself or others,” said Preeti.

“But…” Somya tried to explain.

“But you’ve finally found the perfect specimen to help you to complete your PhD thesis,” Preeti said, a note of disappointment in her voice.

“What? No! It’s not about that—it’s just—I mean—I’m not sure I should tell him, and I don’t even know why,” she said, sounding as if she really didn’t know the reason. 

“Oh, I know,” Preeti said, with a little hint of sarcasm.

“Anyway, he’s coming tomorrow around three in the afternoon; you can meet him then and tell him yourself,” said Somya, sounding dissatisfied. 

She gathered her books on bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and Parkinson’s disease and, started searching for answers. She couldn’t stop replaying the moment when he slid the coffee cup by himself, completely unaware that he had done it. She opened her laptop and concentrated hard, trying to tame her thoughts. Finally, she was able to find the flow of her words and started writing. 

The next day, they sat on the sofa, talking and waiting for Preeti to come home to meet him. She said, “Don’t you think it’s strange that everyone believes they’re victims in this world —that the whole world conspires against them, and somehow, they all are fighting some invisible enemies?” 

He nodded in agreement and said, “True. I hate it when people post quotes on social media—like they’re the only ones life’s been unfair to, — ‘People will use you and throw you,’ ‘You’re alone in this world; nobody comes for you,’ ‘No one cares about honesty and hard work.’ But if everyone were a victim and unfortunate, then who’s causing the harm? You can take almost any famous quote, and it’ll fit into anyone’s life. It’s as if everyone lives in the same reality but refuses to believe their stories are the same.”

Preeti parked her scooter and went to unlock the door, eager to finally meet her best friend’s mystery man. When she entered, she was perplexed and stunned. She didn’t know what to say; her eyes were fixed on the sofa. The ground fell away beneath her feet. She saw Somya sitting alone on the chair, talking to empty space.    

By Mohit Garg