Here is an interesting thing to close out 2025. Hear the amazing physicist Richard Feynman share the field concept and virtual particles. The physics content is accurate, told in his distinctive manner…but it isn’t Feynman talking.

If you want the real guy, he is here.

But how do I know that? Because I first saw that second clip decades ago, when he was still alive, before his voice could be faked. Before his image and video of him could be faked. However, now all that can be readily simulated, and the creators of the newer clip admit in the fine print that the narration is fake.

These days we must approach anything unfamiliar with skepticism — ANYTHING and ANYONE. Not just Feynman, but every person for whom there are sufficient audio recordings and photographic imagery…and that includes quite obscure figures like myself.

Years ago I demonstrated on Facebook how my voice could be simulated. Now a single image of me can be manipulated into infinite forms that continue to become more and more realistic. That is one reason that when a meme circulated of women creating a Christmas photo using an AI prompt on a single uploaded self-portrait, I chose to create and share a couple of silly AI Christmas photos that hundreds of my Facebook friends laughed at with me.

But our laughter echoes in a shared world where typical evidence is becoming as uncertain, as misleading, as the typical false conceptions of matter and space. Skepticism is now required, but that brings with it the erosion of trust.

For decades we have stressed the importance of critical thinking skills, but social media continually reveals how uncritical and unintelligent many of us must inevitably remain, splayed out across the statistical bell curves of ability. The suckers continue to be born every minute.

Young and old fail to distinguish artificial intelligence hallucinations from established truths. Scientific evidence and rigorous research are discounted, misinterpreted, defunded, and demeaned by influential media and government figures, motivated by their personal politics and biases, who lack earned credentials or credibility. But to many that will not matter, for their trust in institutions and expertise has been steadily eaten away, replaced with blind beliefs built by partisanship, culture wars, and demagoguery.

We live in an age that is both wondrous and tragic. It will require time, effort, and patient perseverance for our cultural norms and institutions to adjust to our new capabilities, with no guarantees of success, only continued challenges.

I do not despair, for there is much utility in the new technologies, much potential to better inform and perform. Our quality of life need not collapse amidst wrenching change if enough of us heed the call to help each other cope. However, we must recognize that our shared reality, already misunderstood by most, continues to shatter. It is up to us to decide if we are to act as hammer or glue.