> Through history, Capgras syndrome has been a cultural mirror of a dissociative mind, where thoughts of recognition and feelings of intimacy have been sundered. It is still that mirror. Today we think that what is false and artificial in the world around us is substantive and meaningful. Itβs not that loved ones and friends are mistaken for simulations, but that simulations are mistaken for them.
The second last para is more pertinent. He's saying Facebook et al contribute to the reverse of Capgras; we trust people we probably shouldn't:
> This withering of primate familiarity in the face of technology prompts us to mistake an acquaintance for a friend, just because the two of you have a Snapchat streak for the last umpteen days, or because you both like all the same Facebook pages. It allows us to become intimate with people whose familiarity then proves false. After all, we can now fall in love with people online whose hair we have never smelled.
It's the same thing that happens to actors when people are fans of the characters they play. They forget that the actor in real life isn't the person they know everything about from watching them on TV or whatever.
> Through history, Capgras syndrome has been a cultural mirror of a dissociative mind, where thoughts of recognition and feelings of intimacy have been sundered. It is still that mirror. Today we think that what is false and artificial in the world around us is substantive and meaningful. Itβs not that loved ones and friends are mistaken for simulations, but that simulations are mistaken for them.