The Future Big Bang of Truth

 The Big Bang Theory is a TV show I watch somewhat regularly. I used those words to describe the frequency because due to the amount of work I have throughout the working days of the week and the availability of the show solely online, I simply download few episodes at a time (when I find some) and watch them here and there during lunch or dinner.

I have noticed a long time ago that at the end of each episode there is a small font text on a white background, and every time I ignored it as a part of the credits or data regarding the episode.

It wasn’t until recently that I accidentally paused instead of closing the window, and was surprised to notice that the text wasn’t plain data. Apparently, the producer makes half page comments on issues unrelated to the episode, but rather on religious beliefs and science, social dilemmas and abstract questions, hot topics and esoteric concepts.

Intrigued and amused, I started looking for many of the video files, rushing to the end of each to read the entry. Here’s one that I found particularly interesting, especially after reading Jacques Ellul’s “Is It a Dream or a Nightmare” in AP Lang class.

In the near future, we will see brain scan technology that can determine, without fail, if someone is telling the truth. Shortly thereafter, we will be able to buy mobile devices that perform the same task on the fly. In other words, we are on the verge of having all of our conversations constantly and instantly monitored for veracity. This would then spawn a counter-technology comprised of personal mind shields that keep one from being scanned (the use of which would, of course, imply that one is keeping secrets). The end result? Universal honesty, initially as a result of the duress of surveillance, will become the norm. Then, over time, this mode of thinking, communicating and behaving will become second nature. This will usher in the dawn of a new civilization. After thousands of years of human suffering, world peace and the long-fabled “good will towards all men” will have finally arrived. The end of lying and cheating will also mark the end of scripted entertainment. So, you know, there will be a downside. (Chuck Lorre Productions #326)

This passage is obviously making the statements sound definite, as if they are inevitable and are going to happen for sure. Since this is all the product of somebody’s imagination, No certainty can be expressed when considering the issue. Chuck Lorre is simply stating hypothesis or predictions here. However, the style with which he has written this not only adds to the way in which the reader perceives the premise, but it presents it in a matter-of-fact way which puts it as taken for granted and not to be questioned. If one was to name the actual technique the author uses, one wouldn’t be wrong to declare exaggeration guilty of charge.

As a short clarification, the hyperbole is seen because the writer takes the small possibility and blows it out of proportion, trying to persuade the reader of the likeliness of the events described to occur. With little sureness can one say either that such apparatus will be invented, or that it will influence and shape society in such a manner. The conversion of the habit of being truthful into second nature is overstated, and so is the generalization regarding the new civilization and the world peace.

Overall, the impression the passage leaves is due to the use of hyperbole and overstatement, the determination and confidence with which the author states his theories and the level of straightforwardness and doubtlessness of the text itself.