I had a nap. And I dreamt.

In my dream, I was in a strange place, like a cross between the UT3 maps DM-Shangri-La and DM-Rising Sun, without the weapons or powerups. An old man walked up to me and smacked me in the face. I was angry and quickly retaliated. I tried to shove the old man but nothing happened to him. It was like whatever physical attacks I did to him had no effect. So I shouted at him: “What the hell is wrong with you!”

He pushed me down, and I was sitting on a chair (that apparently popped out of nowhere) then he asked me in a very calm tone: “What’s wrong with you?”

I said: “Nothing”

Then he said: “Let me tell you what’s wrong with you. You think prices are being set by supply and demand”

I said: “And?”

He said: “I’m the administrator of all the markets in the world. I run them. I’m the final boss. Let me show you who demands what and who supplies what”

He then proceeded to take a plastic cylinder of sorts which unrolled to be a screen.

“Look at the number of players and investors” he told me. I looked at the list. It wasn’t much of a list. There was only one name there. Mine.

“I don’t get it, I said”. And he quickly rolled up the screen and whacked my bald head again.

He paced around me, and asked: “If the demand of a good increases and the supply decreases, what happens?”

“The price goes up,” I replied.

“What about over a period of time?”

“Either the demand goes down, returning to equilibrium point, or the new price becomes a new equilibrium point” I replied.

“What does the equilibrium point signify?” he asked, still pacing in a circle around me, like a tiger waiting to pounce

“The willingness-of-pay of the consumer. How much they’re willing to pay, or valueing a good as an aggregate”
“What do you mean by an aggregate?”

“Many people’s decisions cumulated and consensused?”

“Look at the list again,” He thrusted the list at me.

“How many people are there in total?” he asked. Again, I saw… there was only my name.

“One”

“So, if prices in a market were set by an aggregate of consumers does that mean you’re the aggregate?” he sneered.

“What does this has anything to do with me?” I asked.

“You’ve been living a lie. Prices are not set by supply or demand. The stock market, the iPod you bought, that book you bought, or any goods at all, they’re not set by the market. There is no such thing as a supply and demand you fool. The market is made up of one person - you. You perceive supply and demand, but in reality there isn’t anyone else in the market! It’s only you!”

I felt a rumbling in my stomach, I felt sick.

“There is no supply and no demand; no equilibrium point. The numbers you see? The graphs you learnt? They’re all lies! Just out to get you! There is no supply or demand. They’re fake!”

He then pointed to a potted plant nearby.

“You see that potted plant? That’s fake! That’s actually a camera. They’re watching you all the time. And that!” - he pointed at the ceiling - “yet another monitoring tool!”

I was feeling really sick by then. He stamped on the floor

“Quick question: what force makes me stand on the floor and not make me sink through it?” he asked me. And as sick as I was, I replied him, “Reaction pair force of your weight”

He seemed impatient, and hurriedly asked me another question “Yea, but what kind of force is it?”

“Electrostatic”

“And the force pulling me down?”

“Gravity”

“HAHAAAA! You still believe in gravity and electrostatic forces?”

And then I sank through the floor, screaming. Then I woke up.

I don’t know… I’ve always had this irrational fear that things aren’t real and they are prone to breaking down. Also, another irrational fear of mine is that I’m living in some sort of Truman-show-esque situation. Everything I’ve been taught and exposed to is a lie. There is no gravity, no electrostatic force. No supply no demand. Just me. And I keep mentally preparing myself for such an eventuality.
I’ve always imagined a day where the laws of physics, economics etc broke down. And when that day comes, you suckers won’t be prepared. But I will. MUAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHA

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