Birds on the Brain

Fifty years ago, historian and future librarian of congress Daniel Boorstin wrote a book that he called The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America. In it, he foresaw that in modern times, simulations of things would be more important than the things themselves. A pseudo-event, he wrote, existed only to be covered by the press or recreated in advertising, and wouldn’t otherwise exist. Here today, in the middle of the day, we just witnessed an untelevised pseudo-event, which is actually a double negative. A black hole forms in Tampa. And somewhere in the eternal present, Daniel Boorstin just sat up and witnessed the first pseudo-pseudo event.