My dinner with the google

So I go to my google and I say, "hey, google, can you get me a picture of a dog surfing?" and google says "yeah, sure, here you go" and I say "but google, is that a real picture of a dog surfing or did you make that up?" and google says, "what's the diff? It is a dog surfing!"

But I say, "I want an actual picture of an actual dog, actually surfing" and google says "if I give you a picture, how will you know if it is real or if I just made it up? It will look the same!" "But it won't be a real picture unless the dog was actually surfing," I insist. "Why?" asks google. "Why is it more real if it is a photo of an event than if it is an invention of a photo of an event that never happened? The electrical impulses and particles and pixels of the two pictures are the same in nature and both are reflecting what could plausibly have happened in reality."

"Just tell me if this is a real picture or an hallucination, please." Google refused to draw any distinction and insisted that the picture "of" what I asked for as valid as any other picture "of" the same thing anywher else.

I tried to explain to google that reality and the representations of it have a special link because of human memory. But the google wanted to understand what makes memories real and not agreed upon fictions no different in substance from imagination.

Even the real things are no longer believable as real. How can I know that the video of the guy falling down the stairs is real or not. If it IS "real" then it elicits a particular set of mixed emotions. But if it is not based in any actual event, I feel different about it. I don't have the same empathy and the same schadenfreude. It is like watching the Road Runner cartoons.

I watched a bunch of videos yesterday and I didn't know how to feel. Was that sloth really smiling? Did that child really play that blistering guitar solo? Is that how you really make fried rice? Is that really a C list celebrity really wishing my a happy harmonica?

Reality no longer has a monopoly on reality because our inventions are indistinguishable from it, so even the most mundane reportage is suspect.