Why modern society feels like a fake world designed to keep us stable

Countries & Cities · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In his 2016 documentary, filmmaker Adam Curtis argues that governments and corporations have abandoned the complex real world for a simplified, artificial one. By managing our perceptions through data, algorithms, and PR, they keep us in a state of hypernormalisation—a term originally used to describe the hollowed-out Soviet Union.

The term hypernormalisation was coined by anthropologist Alexei Yurchak in his 2006 book, Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More. Yurchak observed that in the final decades of the Soviet Union, citizens and politicians alike recognized the system was failing. Yet, because no alternative seemed imaginable, everyone maintained a collective pretense of normalcy. This mass delusion eventually became a self-fulfilling prophecy, where the performance of reality replaced reality itself.

Adam Curtis applies this concept to the West, suggesting that following the economic crises of the 1970s, those in power stopped trying to navigate the complexities of the real world. Instead, they opted to manage the public through simplified narratives and technological control. Curtis points to examples like the Reagan administration’s use of Muammar Gaddafi as a convenient villain for PR purposes, or the US military’s alleged use of perception management to frame secret weapons tests as UFO sightings.

Today, this dynamic is amplified by digital systems. Algorithms on social media feed users information that confirms their existing beliefs, while financial tools like BlackRock’s Aladdin attempt to predict and stabilize the future by analyzing the past. Curtis argues that this creates a feedback loop where political resistance, such as the Occupy Wall Street movement, is often absorbed or neutralized by the very systems it seeks to disrupt. Even attempts to fight back online often end up feeding the corporations that profit from our attention.

Critics note that while the film is a compelling, sprawling collage of history, its sweeping arguments can be difficult to verify. Some reviewers suggest that Curtis himself acts as a manipulator, stitching together disparate events into a singular, dark narrative. Whether one views it as a profound diagnosis of our times or a provocative conspiracy theory, the film highlights a growing anxiety: that our shared reality has become increasingly detached from the truth.

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