Virtuality as Representation

Significance: This topic is important to my audience because of the increasing number of people accessing the internet. Implementing virtualization

Think about the last time you sent a text in order to communicate with another person. You may have been under the impression that you were talking with someone, but in reality you were simply pressing down on your phone and watching the pixels on the screen move. According to Jean Baudrillard’s ideologies, you were the mere product of a simulation. In “Simulacra and Simulations” and “Simulacra and Science Fiction”, author and sociologist Jean Baudrillard explains this phenomenon by exploring the concept of simulacrum and simulations. Baudrillard argues that we live in a simulation that is more real than reality, and thus no longer even bears a resemblance to reality. In other words, the reality we think we know is really just an illusion. One movie with an exceptional amount of parallels to Baudrillard’s ideologies is The Matrix, directed by the Wachowskis. Many people believe that foundation of The Matrix’s plot is based off Baudrillard’s philosophies, however this has been met with numerous counterarguments. While The Matrix’s plot may correspond with many Baudrillard’s beliefs, it is my belief that The Matrix is not solely based on Baudrillard’s works but instead incorporates ideas from a variety of different sources.

Uncertainty of what seemed the clear distinction between the simulated and the real: No clear line between the artificial and the real

Within this essay there will be a clear understanding of the contrast and comparison between left and right realism, supported by accurate evidence that will support and differentiate the two wings of realism.

In his article, The Precession of Simulacra, Baudrillard establishes simulation as a copy of an original or otherwise reality. This concept is even apparent in the title, The Precession of Simulacra, since precession is something that precedes or comes first, and a simulacrum is an image or representation of something else; in that sense, the title literally states that an image precedes its original. Thus, Baudrillard argues that simulation adopts a reality effect in which the viewer’s view of the real world is skewed and this notion is easily seen throughout the CSI episode of “The Living Doll.”

Mind transferring requires an in-depth understanding of how the brain works, interactions between the original and the virtual counterpart, and a stimulated world for the virtual consciousness. Dvorsky doesn’t believe that mind transferring would be possible due to lack of knowledge about the consciousness, or how to map out a stimulation to understand complex thoughts that humans have. And if we tried to experiment with this, wouldn’t subjects be injured during the process? In SOMA, a game that focuses on this premise, there was a belief in those who went through the experiment would be able to rejoin with their immortal, stimulated selves after they died (McGill). However, this belief was seen as a false hope, there is no link between

The United States government’s primary priority is to protect its citizens, assets and resources from any form of external or internal terror threats and criminal acts. The 21st century’s most exciting innovation, the Internet and its one of mankind’s greatest technological achievements of all time. The Internet, unified international borders and connected the earth like never before from one corner to the other with just a click of a button. Cyberspace is the term that is used in the computer industry for “the notional environment in which communication over computer networks occurs”. The internet and information networks have changed the very fabric of our fundamental neural network processes in our brain, and which without it the modern

I chose the issue of differentiating simulation from reality because I am passionate about considering the effects of developing A.I. without thinking of the consequences of creating something that could harm us. Jon Kofas states in Artificial Intelligence: Socioeconomic, Political and Ethical Dimensions: “Cyberculture that has created virtual communities raises philosophical questions about identity, relationships, values, the withering of real community culture, and lifestyles that will largely be determined by the AI industry” (Kofas). Kofas’s concerns revolving around the growing cyberculture reflects similar concerns of my own. Cloudhive, the company that develops IMAGINE technology, creates a product so powerful that they violate the

In “Becoming Virtual” Levy defines “the real” “the actual” and “the possible” in terms of virtual reality. “The real” is what is true and fixed in reality, and what we experience in ‘real’ life. In the virtual world, however, we can live a combination of real and ‘actual’ lives- possibilities that lay beyond the fixed path. He explains how all types of life are made virtual, and the effects that this “collective intelligence” have on the world. Collective Intelligence is the idea that large groups of individuals, (in the case

The Implausibility of Reid’s Arguments for Direct Realism Thomas Reid offers his perspective on direct realism by contending that in the same manner that there are words whose meanings are generally acknowledged without contention among the vulgar and philosophers, so there are principles shared among them whose commonality cannot only be directly proved, but do not also need to be proved as well. Reid outlines this contention in Chapter 2 of No.1 of Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man, titled “Principles that I Take for Granted”. Reid expounds that any person who subscribes to any scientific branch of knowledge must reach a point of intellectual maturity, buoyed by his reasoning and the application of his intellectual powers in diverse

Both the simulation and the simulacrum form the basis of hyperreality. Baudrillard claims that the hyperreal becomes reality, and what was once deemed as real slowly erodes. Simulations alter our relationship with actuality, and in turn this creates hyperreality. He believes hyperreality occurs when we attribute signs and symbols as reality/the real world. Such as Disneyland, which makes us believe that we are able to make a distinction between the imaginary and the real.

To discuss Lanier’s keen views and anticipations regarding Virtual Reality back in the mid 1980s, it would be useful to first cover exactly how far Virtual Reality has progressed up until today. This essay will begin by discussing the history of Virtual Reality and the usage trends. That discussion will then be used to preface a discussion about Lanier’s views that were expressed in A Vintage Virtual Reality Interview. The essay will then finish off by looking at particularly interesting views held by some of today’s futurists and these views will be related back to Lanier’s original exuberant view of Virtual

“Cyberspace is not a physical place - it defies measurement in any physical dimension or time space continuum. It is a shorthand term that refers to the environment created by the confluence of cooperative networks of computers, information systems, and telecommunication infrastructure commonly referred to as the World Wide Web” (Wingfield 2007, 45).

Its pointless to look for the original blueprint of a digital representation, because it’s independent of the hardware it’s stored in, and meaningful only in the information it encodes. Hyperreality results from a loss of distinction between the representations and the things they’re intended to represent. In our culture, the separation between a song and the digital file of a song is becoming trivial. Computers allow information to be torn free of its original context, and reinterpreted upon retrieval. Representation engines are the ideal enablers of hyperreality, giving almost limitless power to reorder simulacra upon simulacra.

your living room. Our video visor design would allow this to be possible. It is a revolutionary