Encouraged by UC Berkeley’s Synthetic Biology Institute’s success in speeding breakthroughs of biologically engineered solutions to pressing global problems related to health, materials, energy, and the environment, a new collaborative has been formed in the social sciences. The collaborative combines scholars in psychology, sociology, political science and anthropology to create the Synthetic Reality Institute. With a center of excellence grant from the National Science Foundation, the Institute aims to leverage synthetic reality for positive social change.
SRI will apply state of the art ethnographic and action research in the social construction of synthetic realities with an overall goal of bolstering objective reality. The institute’s director Mrs. Information noted, “in 2020 we have seen the culmination of years of bogus claims at the highest level of government. A vast majority of the public can no longer discern fact from malfeasant fabrication. Our aim is to leverage this susceptibility in the interest of reaffirming objective reality.”
NSF reviewers were particularly impressed with the Golf-Hypothesis whereby SRI will disseminate a story suggesting Donald Trump believes he won the election 74 (million) to Biden’s 81 (million) because he thought the rules of golf applied where the lowest score wins. Mrs. Information suggested, “It’s all about giving them a plausible narrative to explain Trump’s petulance and time spent at his Virginia golf club. Look, at the end of the day, we create a synthetic reality that allows a lot of angry gun-owners to walk away saying “”oh, I can see that.”” The result is a victory for objective reality.
While some reviewers questioned the ethics of using these misleading claims, others suggested it was for a greater good. The NSF president stated, “Look when objective reality is on the verge of extinction, the ends justify the means.”
