Mark Danger Chen » pkd http://markdangerchen.net sporadic ramblings of a gamer in academia Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:56:32 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Assassin’s Creed and Philip K. Dick http://markdangerchen.net/2008/09/15/assassins-creed-and-philip-k-dick/ http://markdangerchen.net/2008/09/15/assassins-creed-and-philip-k-dick/#comments Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:01:29 +0000 markdangerchen http://markdangerchen.net/?p=718 PKD included moments of time when people in his books start seeing a reality behind their existence. Namely, that what we see is not reality, that there is something behind the surface. In Valis (I think)… it’s some Roman-era Christian world that exists in a parallel, real dimension. And in Man in the High Castle, there is a brief moment when the protagonist is staring at an object and suddenly can see our reality as opposed to the alternate history portrayed in the book.

Anyway, I got that same feeling after playing Assassin’s Creed for a while and then walking around the UW campus last spring. Like it was totally surreal to be surrounded by a bunch of students and other people I don’t know. Who I will never know. Yet we all share the same space and the same buildings and the same campus. But we’re all walking around in a fake world and not seeing the reality that has escaped us.

I suppose it’s the feeling that whatever we’re doing in our daily routines is meaningless and pointless. That there’s a reality we are ignoring. And I take this to be a metaphor for us not paying attention to the shitty state of affairs that the world is in.

But then at the same time, sometimes I feel the complete opposite. Life is great. The Tick season 2 is out. Ceiling Cat is watching me. Etc.

Maybe I hate mass consumption and prefer edgy, on the fringe consumption. The mass stuff is diluted somehow. The fringe stuff is more subculture, underculture. Is this why I hate it when something I like becomes popular?

Okay, that was steam of consciousness… but really… Assassin’s Creed and Philp K. Dick.

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