Authentic Part 2

The last posting generated interesting discussion, and so I thought it to be worthwhile to explore the topic further. To do so, let me throw out three examples of situations in which choice needs to be made on whether to buy/experience something “authentic” or an imitation.

Think about a name brand purse…you know Gucci, Prada, or whatever (I am not an expert on the topic). The objective in purchasing is very clear; to tell the world that you are well-off and can afford such an insanely priced luxury. If an imitation is as good as the real thing---capturing all its characteristics---a rational person (a rational show-off) will prefer it above the real thing. Only a die-hard purist (an ultra show-off?) will insist on owning the authentic thing and perhaps figure out a way to indicate it is the real thing (“oh, you know, my husband is so silly, he bought me this…”) because most people will not appreciate that fact otherwise.

Now let us turn to a diamond necklace. The objective is probably two-folds…look good wearing it and show off your wealth. The current fake stuff achieves both these pretty well. Once, one of our relatives tried to figure out if my wife was wearing real or fake diamonds by coming uncomfortably close to examine them….if she could not tell, nor can mere mortals like you or me. So, why would a rational person purchase the real thing?

The third example is that of travel. People travel for multiple objectives---to see, hear, smell, meet, experience, and so on. You can’t achieve all these objectives by visiting a fake place or through virtual reality. But suppose, suppose, in the future one is able to do all that without going to the real place, will most people take the plunge? My hypothesis is yes. If I am able to achieve all my objectives for travel without traveling, I will not travel. As one of our friends (another travel addict) said---why would I suffer through air travel, and such if I don’t have to?

So, if you can achieve your objectives, even if it includes showing off, by purchasing a non-authentic thing, a rational person would do so. The implication…. authenticity will be come a thing of the past!

Authentic

Why do we value authenticity and what really is “authentic”? I really don’t have answers to these questions and the purpose of this posting is to see what others have to say about these interesting questions.

First---the value we put on authenticity. Let me cite an example.

The other day, I was looking at the images of a fake Piazza of San Marco (the central part of Venice) created in Macau. It was in a TV program, on one of the travel channels. It looked quite real, with buildings that resemble those in the real thing.

Now, most of us would much rather go to the real Piazza in Venice than the fake one in Macau—or for that matter the one in Las Vegas, even though they all look somewhat similar.

Why would we insist on going to the real thing, when it is much more expensive and time consuming, not to mention inconvenient, as compared to an imitation? Now if your answer is---because these imitations look fake and the experience is not all that realistic. OK, then would our behavior be the same when technology is able to provide completely realistic experience of such a visit without leaving our chair? Would we still prefer to go do the real thing?

Is our snobbery at work here or is there something else?

That brings me to the next question…that of what is authentic or real?

Is today’s Venice (the real one) really real? I don’t think today’s Venice, with its hoards of tourists and streets filled with expensive shops---no different than those found in most other large cities---resembles “real” Venice of our imagination. In that case, wouldn’t a virtual reality tour of real Venice be more real than visiting actual Venice?