So, most people most of the time (and, apparently, some people all of the time) inhabit the virtual-world - virtuality as contrasted with what used to be called reality.
People nowadays inhabit virtuality - especially wrt Litmus Test issues: the themes that most obsess and motivate nice people and leaders, the great moral "issues" of our time: antiracism, inequality, climate, the birdemic, wars and disasters in remote places and among strangers...
All share the characteristic that they are virtual concerns, rooted in inculcating theoretical frameworks that take-up any and all possible facts as confirming evidence for the theories.
Consequently; old-style reality is (as of 2025) simply not an option, because not available to choose - because that is not how our minds work.
Our reality depends on our fundamental assumptions about reality - i.e. metaphysics; so the answer to controlled-virtuality does not lie in more or different facts; but in disengaging from the nigh-infinite deluge of facts; and instead re-examining ultimate assumptions directly.
Most people inhabit this world via perceptions, facts, common sense, evidence etc; but are typically unaware that the meanings of their world comes wholly from their assumptions, preconceptions etc -- which they are fed by the mass/ social media, bureaucracy, officialdom, teaching etc.
So - as is well known in theory, but seldom experientially - people inhabit a virtual world.
A world where people are unconsciously and pervasively fed assumptions and theories, interpretations - which they are told are rooted-in-facts and objectively true. And from these assumptions and theories they infer the meaning of old and new facts, past and future experiences.
Which circular process confirms the assumptions and theories they have been fed.
...e.g. They are fed that science is objectively the only valid form of knowledge - and that this is factually proved; they then interpret the facts of the world on that basis; and these facts (which are the only facts they recognise as facts) tell them that science is indeed the only valid form of knowledge.
At which point; those who control the feeding, can decide that science is... whatever they want it to be.
This is exactly where we are, almost completely; and have been for some decades, increasingly.
A world where everything is based on "evidence"; but what counts as evidence, and what that evidence is allowed to mean - is wholly a product of whatever officially -true theories have been fed into the cycle from the beginning.
The interlinked "system" of media propaganda, officialdom, education, research etc is all about the theories - all about the deep assumptions and derived interpretative schemes by-which facts are understood.
Once in place, the theories determine the facts, and the facts sustain the theories.
So long as we stay at this level, there is no way out from virtuality; all labelled "escape routes" lead back inside...
The conclusion ought to be that we need to make our fundamental assumptions about reality without regard to perceptions, facts, common sense, evidence.
Indeed, we must rigorously eschew any external, material, sense-mediated influence on our fundamental beliefs concerning the nature of reality.
This exclusion encompasses nearly-all of what is traditionally regarded as religion; because churches, traditions, scriptures, theologies - all of these are aspects of those externally-fed interpretative schemes by which virtuality exists.
And this means that at some point, sooner or later - unless content to remain in the virtual world; each person needs to step-back and to stop taking notice of external inputs and inculcated theories...
Instead to consider directly - for himself and from himself - the nature of ultimate reality and the fundamental questions: answers to which determine... everything else.
This activity is called metaphysics.
(If you don't understand - then just do it. Do it ASAP. Once you've done it, you will understand what metaphysics is, and how things work at that level.)
As we now are; our actual and inhabited reality does not - it just doesn't! - depend on external inputs - perceptions, facts, common sense or any other such.
It depends on our virtual-world metaphysics, which we have been fed under the disguise that it is objective fact.
As of 2025; we should not seek reality from outside us - because only virtuality lies outside .
We should, indeed, shun the external, and exclude the external from consideration; as a first and essential step.
It's either metaphysics; or we shall continue to live inside virtual world - under control of its masters, and not even wanting to escape... Indeed, not even aware that there is anywhere else that we might escape to.
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