Angus Forrest

Personal Philosophy 2026

I’ve always loved theatre. The rehearsed lines, the props, the audience. You get to re-imagine yourself as another person. The performance being a simulacrum of life. What I find most interesting is that life sometimes feels hyper-real. Life itself has taken the attributes of a play. Much of the advice on how to succeed is about becoming hyper-real. You become more than real: the embodiment of an idea. The builder, the scientist, the parent, the student. A paragon for others’ symbolic recognition system. What is left then to be real?

I have come to realise that the actions taken between people are the answer.

I like to think about the idea of digital copies and simulacra. The copies of the world, the personal truth, the abstractions that each person carries around within themselves. The idea that these copies are entangled and referencing, almost pointing to other people’s conceptions is remarkable. I might not have a good concept in my world view for a particular topic, but my world view can easily adopt another person’s, without the dissonance of having to believe it, almost containerised ideas within flesh. I propose that no simulacrum exists unto itself, that to be perceived requires a shared adoption of societal simulacra. So what is the thrill of this model?

The thrill is learning, either from reality or another person, something you didn’t believe was possible. I think this philosophy can cause many people to become jaded. I however take the approach that being jaded doesn’t help find better philosophies. Maintain your whimsy and look for better truths.

context

I have had one heck of a year!

  • Finished my Master of Science in Astronomy
  • Moved to the UK
  • Struggled to find gainful employment
  • Humbled to the extreme
  • Started a company (as a result of not finding a job)
  • Re-discovered the fact that it’s the people not the job (which, I suppose, is the whole point)

Given this context, my personal philosophy may be heavily biased at the time of writing. But here is my attempt at putting pen to paper.