I've noticed people in all parts of the political spectrum have a hard time understanding the term "social construct". It doesn't mean the same as "completely made up".
Nations are uncontroversially recognized as a social constructs. However I'm certain that AI could also detect images taken outdoors in Mexico vs those in Finland. Additionally I, a US citizen, cannot simply declare that I am now a citizen of France and expect to get a French passport.
However it also means that what a nation is, is not set in stone for eternity. It means that different people can debate about the precise definitions of about what defines a particular nation. It means that Czechoslovakia can become the Czech republic and Slovakia. It means that not everyone agrees if Transnistria is an independent nation. It means that the EU can decide that a German citizen can have the same passport as a French citizen.
As a more controversial example, this is also the case when people talk about gender being a "social construct". It doesn't mean that we can simply pretend like the ideas "men" and "women" doesn't exist (as people both declare and fear). But it does mean there is some flexibility in these terms and we as a society can choose how we want these ideas to evolve.
Society is a complex and powerful part of our reality, arguably more impactful on us from day to day than most of physics (after all we did survive for hundreds of thousands of years without even understanding the basics of physics). Therefore something being classified as a "social construct" doesn't mean it "isn't real". Even more important is that individuals cannot choose who social construct evolve. I cannot, for example, declare that since taxes are a social construct, I'm not paying them anymore. We can however, as a society, change what and how these constructs are interpreted.
Nations are uncontroversially recognized as a social constructs. However I'm certain that AI could also detect images taken outdoors in Mexico vs those in Finland. Additionally I, a US citizen, cannot simply declare that I am now a citizen of France and expect to get a French passport.
However it also means that what a nation is, is not set in stone for eternity. It means that different people can debate about the precise definitions of about what defines a particular nation. It means that Czechoslovakia can become the Czech republic and Slovakia. It means that not everyone agrees if Transnistria is an independent nation. It means that the EU can decide that a German citizen can have the same passport as a French citizen.
As a more controversial example, this is also the case when people talk about gender being a "social construct". It doesn't mean that we can simply pretend like the ideas "men" and "women" doesn't exist (as people both declare and fear). But it does mean there is some flexibility in these terms and we as a society can choose how we want these ideas to evolve.
Society is a complex and powerful part of our reality, arguably more impactful on us from day to day than most of physics (after all we did survive for hundreds of thousands of years without even understanding the basics of physics). Therefore something being classified as a "social construct" doesn't mean it "isn't real". Even more important is that individuals cannot choose who social construct evolve. I cannot, for example, declare that since taxes are a social construct, I'm not paying them anymore. We can however, as a society, change what and how these constructs are interpreted.