Pokemon Go freaks me the hell out . . . or well augmented reality and VR freak me out

Jean Baudrillard (1981)

Henceforth, it is the map that precedes the territory—precession of simulacra—it is the map that engenders the territory

If you've seen the Matrix you've been sensitized to these ideas.

This greatest sci-fi movie of all time (yes I said it Star Wars fans) is based on Baudrillard's work (in the first movie Neo hides a flash disk in a copy of Simulacra and Simulation) along with that of Plato (his allegory of the shadows in the cave) and Descarte (evil demon thought experiment).

If you don't know what these are check it out here

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulacra_and_Simulation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_demon

Plato, Descarte and the Matrix ask how we can know that our experiences are in fact reality and not shadows in a cave, the work of an evil demon or a false reality presented by Artificial Intelligence while our bodies are lying in vats.

"Baudrillard claims that our current society has replaced all reality and meaning with symbols and signs, and that human experience is of a simulation of reality."

Are we moving then towards a 'hyperreality' where we cannot distinguish simulation from reality?

The simulacrum conceals the truth, the simulacrum becomes the truth. We live no longer in the territory but rather in the map.