Dustin Kraus

United States

"Bishop Berkely believed that the world doesn't exist, that God directly impinges on our minds the sensation that the world exists. The Russian science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem poses that if there was a brain being fed a simulated world, is there any way the brain could tell it was a simulated world? The answer, of course, is no. Not unless there was a technological foul-up.

Imagine a brain floating in a tank with millions and millions of electrodes attached to specific nerve centers. Now imagine these electrodes being selectively stimulated by a computer to cause the brain to believe that it was walking down Hollywood Boulevard chomping on a hamburger and checking out the chicks.

Now, if there was a technological foul-up, or if the tapes got jumbled, the brain would suddenly see Jesus Christ pass by down Hollywood Boulevard on his way to Golgotha, pursued by a crowd of angry people, being whipped along by seven Roman Centurions.

The brain would say, "Now hold on there!" And suddenly the entire image would go "pop" and disappear.

I've always had this funny feeling about reality. It just seems very feeble to me sometimes. It doesn't seem to have the substantiality that it's suppose to have.

I look at reality the way a rustic looks at a shell game when he comes into town to visit the fair. A little voice inside me says, 'now wait just a second there...'"

-an interview with Phillip K. Dick

Current Residence: Phobos IV
deviantWEAR sizing preference: Large.
Favourite genre of music: industrial, electronic-influenced, rock, ambient,
Favourite style of art: Figure drawings, people, characters, cartooning, robotics, concepts
Operating System: Nexus Ver. 4.64
Favourite cartoon character: Spike Spiegel
Personal Quote: "You are only as good as your last gig"