A few days ago I read a BBC article about the casting process for Love Island USA, The Real Housewives of Dubai and The Millionaire Matchmaker.

Some of the finest TV the 21^st Century has to offer!

According to the article, applicants are increasingly using AI on their social media profiles. 

Which means when the casting directors join zoom calls with these applicants, the applicants look nothing like their own photos.

Not because the photos have been taken at a flattering angle or have sparkling & beautiful filters applied.

But because AI has generated social media photos which completely alter the appearance of these wannabe-celebrities.

In some cases, the AI photos don’t even look human.

Of course, a few years ago the idea of a photo being faked wouldn’t even be a thing.

But as AI-generated deepfakes become more common, photos now have a question mark hanging over them.

And when it comes to photos of celebrities, politicians, reality stars, influencers, models, actors, streamers, fashion icons, musicians and various other public figures, the question being asked more and more is…

Is that photo real?

Funnily enough, there are many parallels with the way I see thought.

Three or four years ago, the idea that one of my thoughts could be fake wouldn't have crossed my mind.

To me, a thought was a real, authentic, genuine truth.

So it wasn’t a question of “do I believe this thought?”.  It was a question of “given this thought is true, what should I do next?”.

A lot of the time this involved thinking more about the thought and judging it, analysing it, acting on it, or trying to fix it, change it or remove it.

Which led to a lot of time in my head instead of living my life.

But thoughts look different to me now.  They look more like a Dimstagram photo of an up-and-coming reality TV star.  

i.e. there's a question mark hanging over my thoughts.  I’m wary of them.  I know a lot of my thoughts are fake and not to be trusted.

And when I don’t fall for a thought in the first place, I don’t need to spend time analysing that thought.

A fake thought has no meaning.  So I can just ignore it and get on with my life.

As the years tick by, I believe the collective consciousness around fake thoughts will rise just like it has done for fake photos.

And I say:

Bring it on.

The world is in an unholy mess today.  And I see a direct link between that mess and the despots with power who believe, then act on, their own thoughts.

The quicker that changes, the better for all of us.

Even at a personal level, the more we all start to treat our thoughts with a healthy dose of scepticism, the more connection, clarity & freedom there’ll be for everyone.

If you’d like to get a head start on this, here's where to go next:

https://waitinglist.followingfulfilment.com

That’s all for today.

Have a great weekend.

 - Tom