"So, we, as human beings, live in a very imprecise world. A world where our perceptions of reality are far more important than actual reality"
About this Quote
Moran’s line is science fiction doing what it does best: smuggling a warning label onto everyday life. The opening move - “we, as human beings” - sounds inclusive and almost gentle, but it’s a setup for a colder claim: our operating system isn’t truth, it’s usability. Calling the world “imprecise” isn’t just metaphysical hand-wringing; it’s an indictment of how cognition works under pressure. We don’t navigate “actual reality” so much as a compressed, lossy file of it.
The pivot, “far more important,” is the cynical masterstroke. It doesn’t argue that perception is more vivid or meaningful; it argues that perception has more power. Social consequences, political outcomes, personal relationships - these are governed by what people think is happening, not what a forensic report might later prove. Moran is pointing at a structural vulnerability: if perception outranks reality in practice, then whoever can shape perception can effectively rewrite the world’s rulebook.
In a writer’s mouth, especially one steeped in speculative traditions, the subtext is also a craft note. Fiction itself is a technology for manufacturing shared perceptions. Moran is implicitly confessing the medium’s leverage: narratives don’t merely reflect reality; they compete with it. That’s why the quote lands now, in an era of algorithmic feeds and memetic politics. “Imprecise” becomes less a cosmic condition than an exploitable gap - the space where persuasion, propaganda, and self-deception quietly do their work.
The pivot, “far more important,” is the cynical masterstroke. It doesn’t argue that perception is more vivid or meaningful; it argues that perception has more power. Social consequences, political outcomes, personal relationships - these are governed by what people think is happening, not what a forensic report might later prove. Moran is pointing at a structural vulnerability: if perception outranks reality in practice, then whoever can shape perception can effectively rewrite the world’s rulebook.
In a writer’s mouth, especially one steeped in speculative traditions, the subtext is also a craft note. Fiction itself is a technology for manufacturing shared perceptions. Moran is implicitly confessing the medium’s leverage: narratives don’t merely reflect reality; they compete with it. That’s why the quote lands now, in an era of algorithmic feeds and memetic politics. “Imprecise” becomes less a cosmic condition than an exploitable gap - the space where persuasion, propaganda, and self-deception quietly do their work.
Quote Details
| Topic | Truth |
|---|
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