Hyperreality

Don DeLillo’s White Noise, is a quintessential postmodern novel. DeLillo’s novel focuses on a society that has become hyperreal. The real no longer exists in White Noise, it has just become an image that no longer has a true reality. Many of the themes are ones of images becoming something else entirely. Jean Baudrillard and Fredric Jameson theories relate to DeLillo’s postmodern consumer society and how signs create a hyperreality. Baudrillard’s post-humanist theory of the simulacra is showing in White Noise with “The Most Photographed Barn in America.” While Jameson’s postmodern theory of the consumer society relates with the simulacra of television, and consumer products. Jean Baudrillard’s posthumanism theory in his essay The Precession…

curvaceous Kim Kardashian, with a garish dress sense, who, although, at odds in shape and style with contemporary high fashion models, was featured on the cover of Vogue, in an acceptance by the latter, of Kardashian’s influence on contemporary society. Selfies have become a way for one to narrate their own existence, the appeal of selfies come not only from the ease of use but the extent of control that they give the photographer over how they are presented. The selfie essentially acts as a…

Something that I felt was very insightful was Jean Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation, which analysees how we experience reality through signs and symbols and that because we use signs and symbols so heavily, our experience in life can be viewed as a simulation of reality. [Baudrillard, 1981]. In the Oxford English Dictionary, simulation is defined as "the action or practice of simulating, with an intent to deceive." In comparison simulacrum is defined as "a material image, made as a…

A Skeptics Inception In Descartes Skepticism he excises the idea of doubt and the never ending allurement to some sort of doubt that is within life. Descartes says that everything you know no matter how probable or improbable it is has doubt. In Descartes meditation one and two he goes over his three main points of doubt. First, he wonders if he may be crazy, secondly if he is dreaming and thirdly if he is being tricked. In the movie Inception we see the main character Cobb in a twisted world…

P1. If pleasure is what we value most and we will experience more pleasure by doing x rather than doing y, then we should do x over y P2. We will experience more pleasure by plugging into the Experience Machine than not plugging into the Experience Machine C1: If all that matters to us is maximising pleasure then we should want to plug into the experience machine. (P1&P2) P3. We have reason to not want to plug into the Experience Machine C2. Therefore, experiencing as much pleasure as possible…

In his 1974 book ‘Anarchy, State, and Utopia’, Nozick proposes a famous thought experiment known as the ‘Experience Machine’. This hypothetical machine aims to argue against moral hedonism by proposing that there are more intrinsically important elements to one 's existence than pleasure, namely experience. This essay aims to firstly outline Nozick’s argument, illustrate how it can be seen as a counter-argument to hedonism and finally provide a critique of the conditions of the argument. Nozick…

The world today is very different then the industrial world that theorist like Marx and Durkheim studied. The major difference is that instead of producing products, individuals create and sell entertainments. This changes the way power and security is looked at, the how much knowledge individuals need to know and the worlds society create. The dilemmas that contemporary theorist explore so the dilemmas in post-modern society as security causes maintenance, lack of full knowledge systems, and…

Throughout the history of humans, we have asked questions of how we got here or where did we come from. But what if all we knew was a lie. A very popular theory to answer these questions is the simulation theory, which is similar to the Brain-in-Vat theory. The simulation theory argues that all of life is a computer simulation, which would mean the keyboard I’m typing on is fake, my parents fake, your children fake. The world we live in is reality for us, but is it actually real. If the world…

The simulation hypothesis is a popular topic of debate among many renowned scientists. Philosophers have questioned the legitimacy of our reality for centuries, now physicists are trying to prove our existence and the consciousness of those around us. Technology is constantly advancing and graphic capabilities have improved exponentially in the past few years. Over time, simulations will become indistinguishable from reality. The simulation theory is a non-falsifiable hypothesis because, no one…

“This is infinitely disappointing,” remarks a young man, in a bored tone, standing before one of the world’s most recognizable paintings. “Monsieur, surely you realize that is Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa you have slandered,” retorts a rather indignant Frenchman. The young tourist turns. “Oh, I know.” He shoots back flippantly. “I thought it would be more impressive, less boring.” He adds offhandedly. The Frenchman smiles to himself. “I believe Da Vinci’s Lady would say the same things about you.” He…