The other day, I spent ten minutes studying a picture of the British royal family’s second and third generations — William, Katherine, George, Charlotte and Louis (with an unidentified fourth child) — trying to determine whether they’re really that beautiful, or if the picture was the product of artificial intelligence. (Hint: Always look carefully at the hands.)

Well, there went ten minutes of my life I’ll never get back. But that’s nothing compared to the panic that might ensue if some idiot were to post a fake story — complete with AI “photos” — of, say, a mass shooting in a neighborhood near you, or a “War of the Worlds” alien invasion in Outer Mongolia.

And that started me thinking about the daily barrage of unreality to which we are all exposed as we go about the routine of checking our social media accounts and our email Inboxes and trying to sort the real news items from the fake, the legitimate advertisements from the come-ons, and — worst of all — the genuine public service announcements from the potential viruses . . . like the one I’ve been receiving daily for weeks, telling me that I’ll lose all my data if I don’t make an immediate online payment on my iCloud account — an account that is paid to Apple monthly by automatic withdrawal.

Most of us develop an instinct over time that allows us to detect and avoid the bad stuff. But in clearing out my email Junk box the other day, I was reminded of some of the more amusing attempts to gain access to my personal information. And I have to wonder how stupid these people must be in order to think that I, or anyone, would actually respond to:

— “Payment-Declined” — Telling me, without identifying themselves, that this is my “LAST REMINDER” (in all caps) that my payment method has expired and I need to update my payment information. But who are they? Do they think I don’t know when my credit cards have expired and been renewed? Seriously?

— And I really love the messages purporting to be from actual friends of mine . . . friends who have long since passed away. There’s one with pictures attached, that I would have to click on to open. I assume those would be photos of my deceased friend living her best life in Heaven, right?

— This is one of my favorites: “DOGE Alerts VDB” — teasing me with an opening line that says “DOGE GIVING $5,000 REFUNDS?” (Note the question mark — a dead give-away that this is not real.) But I’m supposed to believe that the pernicious organization that is slashing the federal budget to bits is now giving back money? Do people really buy into this crap?

— I’ve also seen ads purporting to be from Ukrainian women seeking companionship, presumably anywhere outside of Ukraine. That has to be illegal, doesn’t it?

— And all the ones that tell you you’ve won something, or start out with “Congratulations,” “Last chance to claim,” “You’ve been chosen,” etc. Get real, people . . . Surely you’ve lived long enough to know that no one is giving away anything of value to total strangers. No one. End of story.

Sadly, though, there must be thousands of people who fall for these hoaxes each day, and by the time they realize it’s a scam, they’ve already clicked on a link that gives some low-life access to their personal information.

*. *. *

Inevitably, this train of thought — learning to distinguish the real from the unreal — led me to the more existential question of how we humans, on this tiny planet floating around in the midst of an immeasurable vastness, can be sure that anything is really real?

In a world in which Artificial Intelligence has become commonplace, how do we know, for example, that the events of the past three months have actually happened as we think they have? Or are they, in fact, the creation of some Machiavellian 13-year-old, hunkered down in his basement with an iMAC and a lifetime supply of junk food, gleefully creating artificial people with names like Donald Trump, JD Vance, Elon Musk, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong Un?

Is that brilliant and twisted 13-year-old the one who is really in control, guiding his creations to take the most outrageous actions, making choices that no sane human being would ever make? And if so, when is he going to confess, un-create his monsters, and let us get back to our real lives, when everything was — if not perfect — at least manageable, and sometimes even joyful? Wouldn’t that be the best possible outcome of all?

Or is that, too, just a dream?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
5/3/25