Let's start with the fact that this book may be of interest to at least connoisseurs of pop culture, because at one time it inspired the creation of the cult “Matrix”. (True, Baudrillard's ideas are not interpreted quite correctly there, but nevertheless it is an interesting fact.) In the context of Russian literature, this book may be of interest to fans of Pelevin's work, whose ideas of the philosopher are presented in the most vivid light.
Now about the book itself. Just a warning – it's complicated. Very complex. Baudrillard is much harder to beat than Camus or Lyotard, but it's definitely worth the effort. If we try to briefly convey the main idea of the work, we can say that now hyperreality, consisting of a series of simulacra, has become much closer, simpler and more familiar to us than reality itself. The author confirms this thesis with a coherent string of examples from all spheres of our life: medicine, education, economics, media, and so on.
What is siimulacr? This word was first used by Baudrillard, and it is around this concept that all thoughts are built. A simulacrum is a copy that does not have the original, but it is not fiction. That is, it is an image that is fixed in the mass consciousness for a certain aspect of life/subject.
Let's try to consider the interesting examples that the author gives. Here, for example, is what he writes about the education system:
Power (or whatever takes its place) He doesn't believe in the University anymore. In fact, she knows that it is only a zone of placement and supervision for an entire age category, so she does not care about selection — she will find her elite in another place or in another way.
Diplomas mean nothing: why not refuse to issue them at all, but the authorities are ready to issue them to everyone; what would this provocative policy be for, if not to crystallize energy on a fictitious goal (selection, work, diplomas, etc.), on an already dead and decaying reference?
The same can be said about health care: the polyclinic is pretended to take care of health, because if someone cared about it, people would take care of their own health. The predominant part of professions is simulation, just to occupy the employee's time and energy, which he could direct in a destructive direction.
If you look at many areas of our daily life in this way, you can really understand that we do not live in reality, but in an artificially grown hyperreality. This is an interesting point, which is illustrated in detail by Baudrillard.
Finally, in order to describe the relationship between hyperreality and what it is based on in the simplest possible way, I will offer a simple example:
Here, there's an orange. It is the source element, origin.
I have orange juice. It simulates the color, taste, and smell of an orange. It is a simulation.
There is a fanta. It simulates the taste, color, and smell of orange juice, which simulates an orange. Fanta is a simulacrum, it does not simulate the original element.
And finally, there is a conditional drink in the spirit of Kool Aid or Terry's chocolate orange. The image of this drink was formed on the basis of media messages and advertising and collected manifestations of everything related to orange in general, but after several iterations of its simulation. That is, it is a pure simulacra – it has nothing to do with reality and the original element and is built essentially on the simulation of simulations. We could call this element already hyperreal.
Or here is an example:
There is real life. There are fairy tales that simulate the real world. There is Disney, whose cartoons simulate a fairy-tale world. And there is Disneyland, simulating the world of cartoons, simulating fairy tales, simulating reality. Disneyland – hyperreality.
And here in the book there are a lot of such inetresny aspects. It will definitely make you see the world differently. But be prepared for a lot of complex terms and inferences.
A philosophical treatise by Jean Baudrillard, written in 1981, on the study of the interaction between reality and society. Baudrillard argues that modern society has replaced reality and meaning with symbols, signs, and all human experience is a simulation of reality. That is, it is worth reading this work to take a philosophical look at your life and realize the reality and fiction, the struggle, the meaning in life, very informative, make you think.
Let's start with the fact that this book may be of interest to at least connoisseurs of pop culture, because at one time it inspired the creation of the cult “Matrix”. (True, Baudrillard's ideas are not interpreted quite correctly there, but nevertheless it is an interesting fact.) In the context of Russian literature, this book may be of interest to fans of Pelevin's work, whose ideas of the philosopher are presented in the most vivid light.
Now about the book itself. Just a warning – it's complicated. Very complex. Baudrillard is much harder to beat than Camus or Lyotard, but it's definitely worth the effort. If we try to briefly convey the main idea of the work, we can say that now hyperreality, consisting of a series of simulacra, has become much closer, simpler and more familiar to us than reality itself. The author confirms this thesis with a coherent string of examples from all spheres of our life: medicine, education, economics, media, and so on.
What is siimulacr? This word was first used by Baudrillard, and it is around this concept that all thoughts are built. A simulacrum is a copy that does not have the original, but it is not fiction. That is, it is an image that is fixed in the mass consciousness for a certain aspect of life/subject.
Let's try to consider the interesting examples that the author gives. Here, for example, is what he writes about the education system:
The same can be said about health care: the polyclinic is pretended to take care of health, because if someone cared about it, people would take care of their own health. The predominant part of professions is simulation, just to occupy the employee's time and energy, which he could direct in a destructive direction.
If you look at many areas of our daily life in this way, you can really understand that we do not live in reality, but in an artificially grown hyperreality. This is an interesting point, which is illustrated in detail by Baudrillard.
Finally, in order to describe the relationship between hyperreality and what it is based on in the simplest possible way, I will offer a simple example:
Or here is an example:
And here in the book there are a lot of such inetresny aspects. It will definitely make you see the world differently. But be prepared for a lot of complex terms and inferences.
A philosophical treatise by Jean Baudrillard, written in 1981, on the study of the interaction between reality and society. Baudrillard argues that modern society has replaced reality and meaning with symbols, signs, and all human experience is a simulation of reality. That is, it is worth reading this work to take a philosophical look at your life and realize the reality and fiction, the struggle, the meaning in life, very informative, make you think.