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Hello, I am Joshua P. Warren and this is Joshua P. Warren Daly. Well I saw Ready Player One. That is the new movie directed by Steven Spielberg. And generally when Spielberg has a new movie, I will go to the theater to see it. And that is because obviously Steven Spielberg is one of the greatest filmmakers in history. You know, the list of his classic movies just goes on and on, especially those that really defined his career in the 70s and 80s, like Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. I mean, you know, these are films that made his name synonymous with pioneering special effects and film techniques and storytelling. So uh talk about a guy who has been able to manifest things because he knew when he was just a kid that this was what he was going to do, and he didn't let anything hold him back. I mean he used to sneak onto the the lot, they say, at uh I think it was universal or whatever, and um and he would just sort of act like he belonged there, and people didn't question it, and the next thing you knew, I mean, he was making movies, he was working on film crews, and nobody realized that nobody'd exactly hired this guy. So um when Spielberg comes out with a movie, okay, uh one of the reasons he has been so successful is because um his storylines are usually pretty safe. So you know when you go see a Spielberg movie that it's it's not going to be as surprising as other filmmakers' movies, and that's because he's got a formula that you works 90% of the time for something that is more or less family friendly. You know, he tries to hit a mark there where it's going to um it's going to be sort of an uplifting tale, you're gonna have a little romance in there, you're gonna have the typical story arc, and in the end, you know, everybody's gonna be cheering. Um so you know when you go see one of his movies that there is going to be often that kind of little, you know, we'll we'll call it a little cheesy, you know, populism in there. So but but that given um he does usually continue to choose stories that really have some pretty deep layers beneath if you think about them um on that level. Uh I'm sure a lot of people will just go and watch one of these movies uh and judge it just at face value on what's the surface. But um but Ready Player One uh I I found uh fascinating not because that the story itself surprised me, but because that it did address something about the way reality itself seems to function that applies to things that I have talked about on this podcast a number of times, and applies to all of these mysterious things that you are interested in. And that's because, hey, you know, whether you look at these odd things in life from the perspective of ghosts or UFOs or cryptids or psychic phenomena or manifesting, I mean, however you you view all of these enigmas, what we're really ultimately talking about here are the variables and how reality works and what the boundaries and limits are and how flexible all this is and how misleading it can all be. And so um Ready Player One did a good job, I thought, of um touching on all of this while while still keeping it you know fairly light and entertaining. So I'm not going to spoil anything for you in this podcast about the movie, so don't worry about that. But uh what I do want to do is explain to you what I mean. So this movie um it's about a time in the not too distant future around the year 2045, when life on this planet, particularly in America, sucks so badly that most of the people spend most of their day in a virtual reality world. So that is to say, in this world, the real world that we'll call base reality, you know, you might be living in some kind of trailer that's stacked on top of uh ten other trailers because we're overpopulated and everything's dirty and run down and people are stressed out. And instead of being in this base reality, well, you can go into your bedroom and you put on this virtual reality headset and you step onto a platform that allows you to move and uh and walk around. And if you're wealthy enough, you might even buy a suit you can wear that will give you physical sensations. But regardless of how elaborate your setup is, when you go into this virtual world, it's called the Oasis. And so when you enter the Oasis, then you get to pick whatever character you want to be. And everything looks real to you. You know, when you're there, again, this is all virtual reality, everything's 3D. Um you really uh wouldn't know the difference between that world and this world that we're in, we call base reality, other than the fact that that world, the oasis, is full of all kinds of fanciful stuff. So when you go there, you can pick whatever kind of character that you want to be, called, of course, an avatar, that represents you. And um, I don't know if you're familiar with some of these um these programs that have been produced before, like Second Life, where you pretty much do the same thing, like you go in and you can just build a character for yourself, and then your character interacts with other characters. It's no different than that, except it's just on a much grander, more sophisticated scale because everything seems much more realistic. So you can go in there, uh, you can be whatever sex or gender you want to be, you can even be a non-human creature, you can be a cartoon character, uh, you come up with your whole new profile, your whole new name, your abilities, your strengths, your weaknesses, all this stuff. So you can be a completely new identity in there. Nobody knows who you really are, so to speak. There also is um it has its own form of currency, which is pretty cool. Uh, and that's a whole different discussion about getting into you know the meaning of currency and how really it's just symbolic. Um it's like when I was in Puerto Rico recently, uh they were some of the people who'd gone through the hurricane said, look, when the hurricane hit, the banks closed and were inaccessible for months, and all you had was the cash that you had in your pockets when the hurricane hit. And uh nobody had any money, and the only way to survive was just to help each other out. You know, to just if some if some guy's got some food and he needs some water and you have some water and he needs some food, you know, you get together and you you uh support each other. You could be a multimillionaire, it didn't matter. You couldn't access it. When they finally did let people start accessing money, they would only let them have $100 per week, and you'd stand in line over four hours to get that hundred dollars. So anyway, um again that's a whole separate conversation. But getting back to the Oasis, this virtual world that is so uh advanced that people are spending most of their time there, it it really is becoming more of the the real world to them than this other world that we are in right now, this base world. So the plot is about the fact that this genius who created this thing in the future called the Oasis, um, upon his death, he decided to create a contest that would determine who got to be the next owner or ruler, if you will, of the Oasis. And um it reminds you of the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and I will spoil that one for you if you haven't seen it already, where you know he puts out the contest for the golden ticket, and then once you get a golden ticket, you get to come to the factory, and it turns out that these kids are being subjected to a series of challenges. What they don't know is that whoever makes it to the end gets to inherit the entire operation, so it's the same thing. So this guy he dies and he's left these clues, and so all these different people are in the oasis trying to overcome these challenges and win these different contests to obtain the ultimate key to control the entire Oasis, and at that point, you know, you're world famous and you're rich, etc. So it's got a lot of action that happens both in the Oasis as well as here in the the base reality. So, um, and people fighting back and forth. So if you go see it, then I definitely recommend that you um you watch it in 3D and go for the best experience. I mean, if there's a theater near you that has like an RPX and 3D combo, you know, do that. Because some of these RPX seats they they rumble and vibrate and all that. And it's a you know, it's the kind of movie that you want to try to immerse yourself into because it's got the it's got that Spielberg touch. But here it here are the things that I want to uh to bring up to you about this film. Okay, so as I mentioned, when you're in this world, you are um r expected to remain anonymous. That the only thing that people are supposed to know about you is what you decide to present as yourself in the oasis. So, of course, you know, there's a love story where our our main protagonist, this this, you know, young man inside the oasis, his character starts falling in love with this young woman. Okay, this is the romance. So they're they're they're falling in love in the oasis with each other's characters. And so um at one point, the female says to to the guy here, You don't know anything about me. You know, you don't even know if I'm a girl, you know. It's like you you don't know who I am. And so she's telling him that she he's being silly when he's saying or when he is uh suggesting that he's having serious feelings. But he says, no, no, you know, I'm serious. That doesn't matter. I I'm I'm into who you you are, you know, whatever you are, I'm into what you are. And so he says, My real name is blank, okay? And she's like, No, no, no, don't tell me that. Don't tell me, I don't want to hear this. And it's like a big shocker, you know, that he has he has done this thing, which is not uh not usually done, that he has stepped outside his avatar, so to speak, and given his real actual base name, and he's this kid who lives in like Columbus, Ohio, in this crappy apartment, you know. So let's just take that moment for a second, and let's think about that. You probably remember one of my podcasts that I did a while back about what is called true name, and it's about the concept that when you encounter some type of, let's just say a demon, the demon doesn't want you to know his name. And people are trying like crazy to get the demon's name. Because the idea is that once you have the thing's name, well then you can control it. So we and and that doesn't make a lot of sense uh unless you think of how that applies to a larger view of reality. So in the movie Ready Player One, the guy gives his name out, and other people overhear this, and because that this guy is having success w winning the contests, his competitors, they are like, okay, now we know who this guy is, and they go to his house in Columbus, Ohio, and they destroy it. You know, they're trying to kill him. Now, they could not have done that unless they knew who he was. So if he had not revealed his true name in that world, then they probably would not have been able to track this guy down and control him. And so you can see how the in the movie you're bouncing back and forth between the simulated reality and the base reality. So that may sound like a really cool way of comparing some kind of new technology to some kind of ancient idea about learning the name of something to control it, but it's really pretty basic. Look at these, let's say you have like some gunslinger, you know, some criminal, some villain in the old West running around robbing banks or whatever, and he doesn't say, Hi, I'm Joshua P. Warren, this is a holdup, you know. He says, I'm Black Bart, you know. They make up some kind of name. And then when the authorities come in, they say, Well, you know, who was this person? How do we track this person down? Well, he said his name was Black Bart. Oh, well, that's that's not, you know, that's not going to do much help because you know that's not his real name. But once you get somebody's real name, well then the government's set up so that you ought to be able to track that person down one way or another, through that person's relatives, through birth certificates, through census records, through you know, any type of legal contracts for rentals or medical procedures, you know, marriages, divorces, whatever. I mean, your real name is on all kinds of documents. Again, the government is set up for this purpose so you can be tracked down if needed. And so the idea of having a false name or just being anonymous altogether is a vast layer of protection against you having to pay any consequences for your actions. And so, let's say that just as the people in the movie Ready Player One were in their the the base reality, and they would try to protect their identities when they would go into the oasis. Well, what if, and this is the other big point I want to make, what if right now this life that you and I are calling the base reality is actually a simulation. This is like the oasis, except you and I don't usually realize that we're in a simulation. We actually think this is real, because we've been here our whole lives, and nobody has really made done a good job of of helping us understand any different. So if this world that you and I are living in right now is a simulation, it's just like the oasis, then there may be a base reality that is deeper than this thing that you think is reality. And so when some being pops uh out of that real base reality, into this simulation that you and I are in to do bad things, that that being will say uh will will not want to be identified in the base in its base reality, right? So it's it doesn't want you to know its name. So that's why you have some demon, maybe, that comes through and is raising hell and nobody knows what to do about it, and then you get some exorcist in there or whatever, and they're like, What is your name, you know? And they're frustrated. It's like Rumpel Stiltskin, you know. You you can't do anything about him unless you get to know his name, and that's the big challenge. And so if you go see the movie Ready Player One, I want you to watch it, bearing in mind the analogy that I have just given you. That the movie is set up as though this reality that you and I are in right now is the base reality, and people in the future are spending most of their time in the simulated reality called the oasis. But let's take this one step backward to say that right now you and I are actually in a simulation, and that there is a base reality behind this one that we actually do not know that much about. And even though we don't know that much about the base reality that's behind us, um that doesn't have to affect your ability to apply this comparison to the experiences the characters have in the movie. So I'm doing my best to take something that I find to be quite simple and explain it in a way that doesn't make it seem more complex than it really is. Um I'm not sure how much more of a nutshell I can put this in, other than just saying, uh imagine as you watch Ready Player One that right now you are living in the Oasis and you don't know it, and occasionally these beings, these weird beings that pop in and out are like avatars that pop in and out of the Oasis, and they try to keep their identity a secret because otherwise it makes it easier for somebody out there, some authority out there, and we don't know exactly who, some authority out there to track them down and correct them and bring them to justice. So I don't know how many people watch this movie and uh think of the things that I have just explained to you. Maybe nobody. I mean, I'm surely surely somebody does. I don't know if you'll find this in any kind of a movie review, but that's what I liked about this film. I think it's it's it's right up there uh with you know the the Matrix and the Adjustment Bureau and some of those types of movies in terms of the implications it it brings to mind regarding what reality is and what your perception of reality is uh truly all about. But it certainly does it in the most uh family-friendly kind of, you know, fun Spielberg populist way that that you can imagine. Because there's other films, you know, like The Matrix and Adjustment Bureau and the movie being there. I mean, these are pretty deep movies from the very beginning. You can get lost very even as an adult, you can watch these movies, and you can get lost very quickly. When you uh like the very first time I saw The Matrix, I was like, huh? I didn't I didn't quite get it the first time. Um so and I'll and by the way, again, that list of movies I just gave, uh The Matrix, the first one, The Adjustment Bureau, that's based on a novel by uh Philip K. Dick. And um then, of course, the movie Being There, that's a pretty slow paced movie, but it was shot in the 70s, uh, I guess it was late 70s, in Asheville, North Carolina at the Biltmore estate, and it was the last film starring um Peter Sellers. So uh it belongs as one of those movies that. helps you sort of like think a little bit differently about how reality is constructed and layered and what it takes for a human to open uh one's mind and tap into how you can alter reality in ways that you might not otherwise realize are possible. We're all just being mind controlled in some way, and I don't mean with some kind of magical beam that's being fired into your brain. I mean it's about just being told over and over here's what you can and can't do and just believing it without trying out new things and thinking about things from a different point of view. So um you know I don't usually talk about movies and if I do I usually just you know because I do watch a lot of movies but I usually will just give a quick opinion here or there. This movie however warranted an entire podcast so um I'm not gonna tell you that it's you know one of the best movies I've ever seen or anything like that. It is a visual spectacle it kept me engaged and I was always interested in um how they were going to illustrate these deeper issues about uh reality and true name and our identity and simulations and all that kind of stuff to um to the topics that we discuss. And don't forget you know Elon Musk uh he has famously said on a number of occasions that he is pretty much convinced that this reality that we are in is in fact a simulation. And there may be times when you get to see that even more obviously it's like one time Lauren told me she woke up in the middle of the night and she rolled over and she saw what looked like the arrow of a mouse cursor just floating there in the middle of the air like that she'd woken up in the middle of the Matrix. Other people have told me about kind of weird electronic sort of experiences that they've had here you know of course in the Matrix movie they talk about deja vu being a glitch in the program where something stutters and and has to buffer a little bit and readjust. I've always thought it was weird how like you look at some of the camouflage the military produces and they use these big sort of digital looking pixels instead of these smooth organic shapes that we think of. Why do pixels work so well at blending in unless this world is actually composed of pixels more so than we think. Look at gemstones and crystals and how shaped and organized they seem to be by some kind of completely non-random process may actually be some kind of a big program that we're all walking around in and experiencing in our own way every single day. You know this is part of what I call the approach to hacking reality because if all this is a program then that means there ought to be a way to hack it and what I mean by that is for you to break in and change some things about it to your benefit. That's why my big event coming up next month in Las Vegas is called Finding Your Magic How to Hack Reality because we are going to dig into very practical information about reality and then I'm going to give you hands-on information and exercises on how to tap into it and how to change it and how to start doing things in your life that will truly seem magical so um that's May 16th 17th and 18th at the Excalibur hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. And I mentioned this before I'll repeat it if we do have any spaces left all of the rooms that are reserved in the room block for this event are going to be released on April 15th. So basically this weekend so this is the last week if you want to attend the event and get the special rate on the room block for our special group and I would love to spend a few days with you exploring all this and having a lot of fun in Vegas all coming up next month. The details are at youwillmanifest dot com youwillmanifest dot com and there's also information of course on my personal website joshuapwarren.com there is no period after the pea at joshuapwarrencom I'm going to be giving away some more money within the next twenty four hours to subscribers of my free e newsletter if you go to joshuapewarren.com and you sign up for my free e newsletter then you are eligible for my own little contest and uh I'm gonna send an ewsletter within the next twenty four hours and it will have a link and if you click that link you have a chance at winning some free money you just have to be the first person to do it. Go to joshua.com to sign up there you'll also find a link to this podcast it's always short it's always free it's called Joshua P. Warren Daily and if you click the link there you can subscribe via various means or you can follow me on Twitter at Joshua PWarren and I will tweet when a new one is available. So that's it for today. Thank you for listening thank you for your support thank you for staying curious and I will talk to you again soon