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HyperrealityandCyberspace
AndraKeay:ARIN6902:Internet&Governance
Intheintroductionto“TheGovernanceofCyberspace”,BrianLoadersummarisesthekeyconceptsofpostmodernism'toconsidertheideathatcyberspaceisinsomesenseamanifestationofthepost‐modernworld:adomainwherepost‐modernculturaltheoriesfusewiththepost‐industrialinformationsocietythesis'.(1997)JeanBaudrillard,1929‐2007,aFrenchsocialtheoristandphilosopher,saidthatrealitywaschangingasaresultofconsumercultureandchanginginformation&communicationtechnologies.Baudrillardcalledthisemergingculture‘hyperreality’,where‘theworldofface‐to‐facewasbecomingtheworldofthe‘interface’’(Poster,1998).Everythingisatoncerealandasimulationorcopyofreality,oracopyofacopyofacopy,untilreality,oratleastthesubject,isseducedintoitsimagesJorgeLuisBorges’fable(copiedfromLewisCarroll)tellsofthecartographerorderedtoproduceatrulyaccuratemap,whichneededtobesolargethatitcoveredtheentireempire.Asaresult,theempirefadedandcrumbledwhilethemapitselfrottedintothelandscape.Finally,thefragmentsofmapnolongerrepresenttheempirebutareallthatremainoftheempire.ThisillustratesBaudrillard’s‘precessionofsimulacra’,whichculminatesinhyperreality,where‘henceforthitisthemapwhichprecedestheterritory’(Baudrillard&Poster,1998).
Postmodernism,PoststructuralismandPoliticalEconomy
Postmodernismisabroadtermcoveringartandaesthetics,culturaltheory,philosophyandlife,withmanycontradictoryreadings.Itiswheretruthiscreatedratherthandiscovered.Baudrillard,a‘highpriestofpostmodernism’,marriedpoststructuralismwithpoliticaleconomyinhisworksonthesemiologicalanalysisofconsumersociety.Poststructuralismpositsthatsubjectivityisproducedbylanguage,socialinstitutionsandculturalformsandcannotbeindependentofitsconstruction.BaudrillardwasheavilyinfluencedbythesemiologicalapproachofBarthes,LefebvreandSaussure,andthecriticaltheoryoftheFrankfurtSchool.BaudrillardstartedwithaMarxianperspectivebutendeduparguingthatpostmodernismwasthebreakingawayfromcapitalismandthereforeMarxismaswell,which,heasserts,existsonlyinrelationtocapitalism.MarshallMcLuhanwastheothergreatinfluenceonBaudrillard.Fromhisearliestworks“TheSystemofObjects”and“TheConsumerSociety”,BaudrillardfocusedontheareasthatMcLuhanextolledin“UnderstandingMedia”andthattheFrankfurtSchoolhaddisdained,notablytheincreasingimportanceofmediainsociety.Inretrospect,allofBaudrillard’sworkhashadathemeoftechnologicaldeterminismwheretheobjectdominatesthesubjectandtheindividualinapostmodernworldbecomes‘merelyanentityinfluencedbymedia,technologicalexperience,andthehyperreal’(Kellner,2009).ForBaudrillardandtheFrankfurtSchoolthis‘reification’,orprocesswherebyhumanbeingsaredominatedbythingsandbecomemore‘thing‐like’themselves,controlssociallife.AndforBaudrillardandMcLuhan,themediaandcommunicationtechnologiesarethekeyshapersofthisreification.
HyperrealityandSimulacra
In hyperreality, technology has replaced capital and ‘semiurgy’, the production of signs, hasreplaced production. Simulations and the play of signs are the constituents of postmodern society,rather than capitalist production and Marxist class conflict. Everything is governed by the mode of simulation, by the use of codes and signs determining consumption, politics culture and life. For Baudrillard, hyperreality is the only possible outcome of capitalism, which created ‘exchange value’out of every ‘use value’, thus abstracting reality into a commodity, which could then be traded insigns, ‘accelerating the play of simulation’ (1994)Disneyland and Las Vegas are classic examples of hyperreality used by both Baudrillard andUmberto Eco. However, it is not simply the commodification of playful environments that simulatereality, Baudrillard also describes Watergate as, ‘Same scenario as Disneyland (an imaginary effectconcealing that reality no more exists outside than inside the bounds of the art)ficial perimeter).’(1994).For Baudrillard, the ‘precession of simulacra’ exemplifies the final stage of the transition from the premodern society based on symbolic exchange and need; through the modern or productivistsociety which commodifies need and in which everything has a use or exchange value (productionand consumption of commodities); to the postmodern society which exchanges sign-values, whereeverything can be sold and alienation is ubiquitous.Simulation is of a different order to dissimulation explains Baudrillard. One is lyingto conceal, it is a lack, whereas simulation is reproducing and therefore createssomething. A simulated illness reproduces the symptoms of illness and therefore isreal enough in some ways. Baudrillard saw the postmodern condition of hyperrealitywhere the difference between real and simulation has collapsed as a moebius strip of circular referentiality.“It is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal.”(Baudrillard, 1994)
M.C.Escher
TheGovernanceofCyberspace
Loader'sconcernishowthe'cyberspace',madepossiblebytheinternetandunderlyingadvancesininformationandcommunicationtechnology,haschangedourpreviouslymodernistgovernance,economically,politicallyandculturally.
Iscyberspacehyperreal?Certainlyitis,ifyoufollowBaudrillard’slogic.Hyperrealityisineveryexchangeofsignsorsimulacrathroughanymediainthebroadestofsenses,notjustthedazzlingtext/imagesofconsumption,mediaandadvertizing.MargaretMorsewrote“AnOntologyofEverydayDistraction”aboutthehyperrealityor‘nonspace’ofmalls,freewaysandtelevision.(1990)Loaderhasfailedtobeclearhere,justlikethecyberenthusiastshedecriesearlier.“Theverydiscourseofthoseproselytisingaboutcyberspacecanoftenbemistakenforakindofexhortationtoenteralternativerealityfreedfromtheencumbrancesofadecayingand
discreditedlatemodernistsociety(Rheingold,1991).Suchlinguisticreverberatingbetweenthefutureandpresentoftenmakesitdifficulttodistinguishbetweenwhatisbeingclaimedforcurrentbehavioralpracticeandwhatisprophesyforafutureasyetunrealized.”(Loader,1997)Loaderpositsthathyperrealitymeansinternetgovernance‘boundupwiththecreation,maintenanceandcontestabilityofthemetaphors,icons,symbolsandmoreswhichinfluencetheconductofcomputermediatedcommunication’.ThisshouldextendbeyondasuperficialreadingofWindowsicons,theconfusionofsignsandsymbols;farbeyondtheveneerofCMCintotheinfrastructureandownershipofthecyberspace,ashyperrealityandthedisappearingsubjectaffectsallgovernance.Theinternetdoesnotpipehyperrealityintoourlives.Itcannotbeswitchedoff,orexited.Baudrillard’s‘code’nowgovernsall.LoaderreferstoKevinRobinscritiqueofBaudrillard,thatvisionslikeBaudrillard’sarepsychotic,outoftouchwithindependentrealityandunabletorecognizethesocialrelationsofdependencyandresponsibility.IndeedintheEcstasyofCommunication,Baudrillardusesthetermecstasytomeantheliberationofeffectsfromcauses,similartoLyotard’s‘povertyofthepostmodernsublime’.In“EcstasyofCommunication”,Baudrillarddescribestheinteriorofacarorcomputerormallunfoldinglikeatelevisedscreen,asimulation.Nolongera‘Westernwindow’ontorealitybutthetelevisedinteriorofthehumanmind.Cyberspaceisineveryplace,notpsychoticbutschizophrenic.WhileDeleuze‐Guattaridirectlycorrelatesschizophreniawithcapitalism,forBaudrillardandJameson,postmodernityismoreabout‘theseepingthroughofschizophreniaintocapitalism’.(Fisher,n.d.)“Ifhysteriawasthepathologyoftheexacerbatedstagingofthesubject,apathologyofexpression,ofthebody’stheatricalandoperaticconversion;andifparanoiawasthepathologyoforganization,ofthestructurationofarigidandjealousworld,withcommunicationandinformation,withtheimmanentpromiscuityofallthesenetworks,withtheircontinualconnections,wearenowinanewformofschizophrenia.”(Baudrillard,1983)Baudrillardfindsanescapefromthecircularreferentialityofthelostsubject,andtheseparationofcauseandeffectheissooftencriticizedfor,weavinghiswaythroughallthecontradictionsin“ThePerfectCrime”,whereheadmitsthattracesoftherealandthesubjectarealwaysleftbehind.Baudrillardalsosaysthatnatureisobsceneandthatittakesthehighestlevelsofartificetorevealthingsastheyare.AsTemenugaTrifonovadescribesit,“Contrarytocommonsense,themorewemanipulatethings(throughartifice),themoretheybecomepureexpressionsratherthanrepresentations.Nature,insofarasitistheconstantengenderingofthesamebythesame‘thenaturalconfusionofthings’isalreadyvirtual.Artificeisouronlyresistanceagainstnature’sinherentobscenity.”(2003)WhilethismayexplainLoader’sdifficultyinapplyingpostmoderntheoriestogovernance,Baudrillarddoessuggeststrengthsandweaknessesincurrentpoliticalorsocialanalysis.MarkPoster,Baudrillard’seditor,saysinresponse,“TheconcurrentspreadofthehyperrealthroughthemediaandthecollapseofliberalandMarxistpoliticsasthemasternarratives,deprivestherationalsubjectofitsprivilegedaccesstotruth.Inanimportantsenseindividualsarenolongercitizens,eagertomaximisetheircivilrights,norproletarians,anticipatingtheonsetofcommunism.Theyareratherconsumers,andhencethepreyofobjectsasdefinedbythecode.”(1998)
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