“If you don’t like it – it’s fake. If you do like it, it’s faux.” The subtle and hilarious distinction was made by the author Joseph Pine in a famous TED Talk in 2009. Back then, authenticity was already a hot topic in debates about consumer choices, brand value, and “mass customization”.
Being real, in these streets and on these screens, continues to be a valuable asset in the age of personal supercomputers and over-the-counter deepfake production software. The ability to distinguish the genuine from the counterfeit will be beyond any pair of human eyes in practically no time – we will rely on more software to determine, just like with computer viruses, what kind of media is safe for our minds.
We will then learn to appreciate, and maybe indulge, in the fraudulent works of advanced programming – surrounded by irresistible images and everlasting scandals.