This concept is very entertaining. The PS3 game Haze and Black Mirror episode Men Against Fire have similar premises. Are there any other works of media exploring this?
One of the more famous ones was the classic game (now, series) Syndicate. The core premise was exactly as described above - a chip that would get wired into the brain to alter all sensory perception. The idea was that the world in the setting had become awful enough that this level of personal surrender was no longer outrageous - people were primarily just altering the perception to be "nicer".
The core plot of the game then assumed that once a critical percentage of people had these, it was a viable tool for criminal organizations to engage in massive campaigns of thought control and overthrow the governments of countries all over the world, essentially replacing states entirely.
Jack Vance's scifi/fantasy classic "The Eyes of the Overworld" starts with a quest which has the protagonist steal magical eye glasses which make the denizens of a village who literally live drenched in shit and mud and eat garbage believe they are lords and ladies living in palaces and eating the most delicious foods.
They know it's not the truth, but for all intents and purposes, while wearing the magical eyeglasses it becomes the truth.
The rest of the book is hilarious and I fully recommend it.
Comments
This concept is very entertaining. The PS3 game Haze and Black Mirror episode Men Against Fire have similar premises. Are there any other works of media exploring this?
One of the more famous ones was the classic game (now, series) Syndicate. The core premise was exactly as described above - a chip that would get wired into the brain to alter all sensory perception. The idea was that the world in the setting had become awful enough that this level of personal surrender was no longer outrageous - people were primarily just altering the perception to be "nicer".
The core plot of the game then assumed that once a critical percentage of people had these, it was a viable tool for criminal organizations to engage in massive campaigns of thought control and overthrow the governments of countries all over the world, essentially replacing states entirely.
Illustrated in the Syndicate Wars intro: https://youtu.be/CrruSboN1bQ
Jack Vance's scifi/fantasy classic "The Eyes of the Overworld" starts with a quest which has the protagonist steal magical eye glasses which make the denizens of a village who literally live drenched in shit and mud and eat garbage believe they are lords and ladies living in palaces and eating the most delicious foods.
They know it's not the truth, but for all intents and purposes, while wearing the magical eyeglasses it becomes the truth.
The rest of the book is hilarious and I fully recommend it.
Dennō Coil[1] is a wonderful and innocent take on this.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denn%C5%8D_Coil
The book "The Golden Age" by John C Wright has this in a fairly major way (as in it's presence is an important part of the plot).