Psychology Today:

The sad reality is that believability has replaced truth as the new currency of cognition. We prize, even affirm what seems plausible, not what is proven. The fake isn’t only tolerated. It is functional and smooths the edges of uncertainty, offering just enough reality to let us keep scrolling. Just enough. […]

We once said “seeing is believing,” but that perspective has flipped. Now, believing comes first. Algorithms and filters shape our perception long before our eyes do. A fake image that aligns with our worldview feels more real than a genuine one that contradicts it.

In that sense, maybe fakery is less an act of deception than of collaboration. We participate in it, polishing the world until it reflects back a version we can live with. The fake doesn’t impose itself on us, we invite it in. Perhaps we have even become (willing or unwilling) co-authors of our illusions.