Welcome to a deep dive into the fundamental questions of existence, truth, and our place in a rapidly changing world. In this episode, we explore a radical philosophical perspective that posits reality itself is traversed by a parallax gap – a fundamental split between how we experience the world (the transcendental) and what it might be in itself (the realist). This isn't just abstract theory; this gap impacts everything from our understanding of truth in the age of fake news to the very nature of subjectivity and desire in our increasingly digital lives.We trace the lineage of these ideas through giants of philosophy like Kant and Hegel, examining their struggles to move beyond subjective limitations without falling back into simple realism. We'll see how Hegel's concept of Absolute Knowing can be glimpsed even in everyday moments of profound, unspoken understanding, illustrated by the poignant story of 'The Waistcoat'. Yet, the transcendental approach faces challenges, particularly when confronted with the radical contingency proposed by thinkers like Quentin Meillassoux, pushing the limits of correlationism.

The rise of fake news isn't just about invented facts, but about lies told with facts, strategically selected and arranged to serve ideological interests. The example of anti-Semitism shows how a narrative can be factually accurate in details yet fundamentally false in its overall function within the social totality. We consider how some perspectives are more "truthful" because they better capture the dynamics of that totality.A crucial lens for understanding these dynamics comes from Lacanian psychoanalysis. We delve into the paradoxical relationship between Kant and Sade, exploring how following one's desire, when stripped of pathological motivations, can align with ethical duty. The Freudian subject of the unconscious is presented not as a fount of inner depth, but rather as an empty subject, like Kierkegaard's apostle, bearing witness to an impersonal truth.

Perhaps the most pressing contemporary challenge is the rise of the digital universe and its impact on our desires and our sense of the Big Other. The concept of "there is no big Other" suggests a lack of ultimate ontological guarantee for our actions or desires, leaving the subject in an abyss of freedom, deeply connected to ethical responsibility. However, global digitalization seems to flip this on its head, creating a situation where we are, in fact, controlled by external machinery – a digital Big Other. Yet, we argue this digital Other, while real, is "immanently stupid," overwhelmed by data and incapable of truly understanding us, unlike the persecutory Other of paranoia.We explore cyberspace itself as operating through a symbolic, albeit mediated, structure, retaining elements of the Oedipal dynamic. Our online interactions, mediated by interfaces, are never truly "face-to-face," creating a gap between the 'subject of enunciation' and the 'screen persona'. This digital realm requires accepting a fundamental prohibition or alienation to navigate freely, highlighting a core impossibility at the heart of virtual possibility.Beyond the digital, we touch upon the nature of sexuality as a formal phenomenon tied to distorted, circular temporality and the death drive, examining Sade's paradoxical de-eroticization of pleasure-seeking. We also consider the ethical implications of dialectical materialism, proposing a shift from "Hic Rhodus, hic saltus" (here is the place, jump here) to "Ibi Rhodus, ibi saltus" (there is the place, jump there) – acting without needing external validation from a big Other.

Through examples ranging from classic films like Terry Gilliam's Brazil (illustrating how fantasy shapes our experience of reality) and Hitchcock's Vertigo, to recent sci-fi like The Discovery and Arrival (exploring circular time and encounters with the inhuman Other), we see these complex philosophical ideas played out in cultural narratives