For Real    
by Anders K.

The choice
Millenia of metaphysic inquiry
Unveils "I am" as the exclusive certainty
Consequently, we have a crucial choice to make:
Is the rest of "reality" real or fake?

The red pill
Possibly, it is a deceitfully veiled scam
Consciousness is a screen, its contents: utter spam
There is no self, no universe, no other minds
Just an absurd Truman Show that betrays and blinds

Enlightenment is adopting this conclusion
and detaching oneself from the grand delusion
This promises to end suffering, instill calm
To sit serenely amidst the synthetic storm

This worldview respawns in endless variations
Maya, demons, or computer simulations?
Yet, these concepts are nothing but speculation
Empiricism based on too much meditation

A viable choice, yes, but what if it is false?
What if its real humans answering your calls?
If your actions can cause delight or misery
And you can, in fact, sway the arc of history?

This prospect alone should rule out this paradigm
Yet, don’t just dump it, it holds hints of the sublime:
It teaches us to live forever; live right now
and beware of attachments, kill the sacred cow

The blue pill
You could also choose to rely on your senses
What’s real is real, do not fear pretenses
Believe in experts, media, trust "the science"
Be a good citizen with total compliance

History has ended, we have found the right shelf
Two percent annual growth happens by itself
Drown all your wonder in prosaic consumption
Maximize a barren utility function

This orbit leads to the outsourcing of your mind
Live accordingly and you are bound to go blind
And suspect to be fooled and conspired against
You must leave your critical faculty unfenced

No pill
Or you may opt to journey the least travelled road
Reality exists, but it’s hard to decode
It’s still so early, but we’ve made dazzling progress
Vast prospects ahead; our ignorance is boundless

In our ceaseless pursuit of universal laws
We will find our existing knowledge to be false
Imperfect should not be confused with unfruitful
Our knowledge has proven cosmically useful

Understand, explore, and cherish that we are free
to savor our enchanting, knowable mystery
We are the absolute agents, not a tame herd
The only possible state that is not absurd


Inspiration:
Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch