Hypereality and the Second Life

Perhaps the most obvious correlation between SL and any theory I can think of would be the one between SL and Baurdillard’s conception of the hyperreal and the simulacrum. To help those not familiar with Baudrillard’s philosophy, here is an extract from an essay I wrote last year. For those who wish to read further, I have also included the references from the quote in my reference list.

A culture of simulation, or a ‘simulacrum’, is a social state of mind where beliefs are placed upon simulations. To Jean Baudrillard, the western world has become to believe in simulations based upon simulations based upon simulations until we have forgone the original in lieu of the copy, projecting ourselves into the realm of the hyperreal (Introna 1997, p.20). “A common definition of the simulacrum is a copy of a copy whose relation to the model has become so attenuated that it can no longer properly be said to be a copy” (Massumi 1987). Simulation has gone beyond “the map, the double, the mirror or the concept” (Baudrillard 1983, p.2). The copy therefore stands in for the original, deceiving the recipient of its origins to such an extent that the original ceases to exist. To Baudrillard“the age of simulation… begins with a liquidation of all referential’s” (Baudrillard 1983, p.4, Massumi 1987, Sandoz 2003).

(Waterhouse 2008, p.2-3)

This ‘liquidation of referentials’ is quite apparent when one views the flourishing photography community within SL. If membership numbers is anything to go by, the Flickr group ‘Second Life’ and its 7700+ members is prime example of the popularity of this movement. With over 197,610 items, this is clearly not just a passing fad:

_{Examples of SL photography. All photos sourced from http://www.flickr.com/groups/secondlife/pool.}

Wired, an online publication, also has a SL presence. Blogs are continually being created to document Second Lives. A whole worldis being built around a world not does not actually exist at all. This is Baudrillard’s simulacrum realised.

However, when using SL I cannot shake the feeling that I am participating in some form of reality, that SL is just another spacerather than existing independently altogether. Baudrillard’s philosophy begins to break down when applied to actual experiences and people in general. SL does not exist in lieu of RL, rather, they exist in tandem.

Henry Jenkins, a prolific blogger and author on media and pop culture, has theorised extensively on the subject of SL and reality. I believe he sums up my argument nicely when he writes:

The last several decades of observation of the digital world teaches us that the digital world is never totally disconnected from the real world. Even when we go onto the digital world to “escape” reality, we end up engaging with symbolic representations which we read in relation to reality. We learn things about our first lives by stepping into a Second or parallel life which allows us to suspend certain rules, break out of certain roles, and see the world from a fresh perspective. More often, though, there are a complex set of social ties, economic practices, political debates, etc. which almost always connects what’s taking place online to what’s going on in our lives off line (Jenkins 2007).

This of course is a thought process still in development and one that I shall return to later during my (short) research period.

References:

Baudrillard 1983, Simulations, Foreign agents series, New York: Semiotext(e).

Introna, DL 1997, ‘On cyberspace and being: identity, self & hyperreality’ in Philosophy in the contemporary world, vol 4, Nos 1 & 2, Spring & Summer.

Jenkins, H 2007, ‘How Second Life impacts our first life…’, Confessions of an aca-fan: the official weblog of Henry Jenkins, http://www.henryjenkins.org/2007/03/my_main_question_to_jenkins.html, viewed 7th September 2008.

Massumi, B 1987, ‘Realer than real: the simulacrum according to Deleuze and Guattari’ in Copyright, no.1, rewritten on http://www.anu.edu.au/HRC/first_and_last/works/realer.htm, viewed April 26th 2008.

Sandoz, D 2003, Simulation, simulacrum, The University of Chicago Website, http://csmt.uchicago.edu/glossary2004/simulationsimulacrum.htm, viewed April 26th 2008.

Waterhouse, J 2008, True or false? Implications of simulation culture on traditional conceptions of reality, unpublished essay, Swinburne University, Australia.

~ by Jamie on October 7, 2008.