What is simulation?
What is the relationship between the term representation and simulation?
Representation is defined as a “material image, made as a representation of some deity, person, or thing” as “something having merely the form or appearance of a certain thing, without possessing its substance or proper qualities.
Simulation/simulacra is defined first as the “action or practice of simulating with an intent to deceive / the technique of imitating the behaviour of some situation or process”.
What does the term simulacra refer too?
In the theoretical sense it is an empty or shallow image with no depth (floating icon). It has the potential to create meaning but doesn’t normally fool us. In more simple terms it is an image or representation of someone or something.
“a small-scale simulacrum of a skyscraper”
Is there a danger in entering the world of the simulacra and hyperreality?
Some of these simulation/simulacra can easily trick us into a hyperreality. One example is that of God. His image and ‘self’ could merely be a man created simulation repeated again and again throughout the ages by various ancestors until in modern times we see no difference between the real and the representation. The original has been replaced. In more modern times this is the same as a us falling for a commercial that leads you to believe if you wear a certain aftershave girls will fall in love with you. We fall for the sales trick even though we know it’s not essentially true, it is deceiving us.
Is there any way in which the concept of the simulacra be re-habilitated?
In some ways it can be seen as positive. For example we know have augmented vision, that allows human eyes to see way further and way clearer than we were ever biologically able to, allowing us to see the world in a completely different way. Doctors can simulate surgeries on simulated scans of patients they are about to treat, even artists can now produce works that are viewable in a way previously unattainable.
Simulation would be an actual fake pair of nikes
Simulacrum would be a drawing of a pair of nikes