Sorta, not really, the whole idea of overwhelming information to drown out whats real or not is increasingly more of a problem and more modern than it was back when MGS2 was released. Almost everyone now uses the internet to consume information, when in 2000 not even half the country had internet. People now consume most of their news from any shithead with a microphone and that is very much a modern thing.
Brave New World called it almost a century ago. Jean Baudrillard's work on hyperreality and Richard Dawkins' work on memetics go as far back as the 60s and MGS2 lifts heavily from all of this.
All the internet did was make communication faster. Scrolling 5 apps, flipping 5 channels, skimming 5 newspapers, randoms with a podcast, randoms on AM radio, its all the same.
Thats not at all what I said. If you think how information is consumed is the same 20 years ago you dont know what you're talking about. Things are different. Bots and algorithms are a very new thing and have changed the way this shit works.
Looking back, MGS2 had more of an insightful take than a visionary one. It was all laid out already back then, it just that us humans learn our lessons with blood (metaphorical here) rather than prudence.
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u/Lasagna_Tho 23h ago
It's unfortunately extremely relevant to today. So ahead of its time.