Hy

per
real
i
ty,
Simul
ati
on,
Simul
acr
a

Hy
per
real
i
ty,i
n semi
oti
cs 
and 
post
moder
nism, i
s an
i
nabil
ityof  consci ousness  todisti
nguish r
ealit
y fr
om asi mul ation
of r eality, especi ally i n t echnol
ogically adv anced
postmoder n societies.Hy perreali
tyisseenasacondi tioni nwhi ch
whatisr ealandwhati sf icti
onar eseaml esslyblendedt ogether
sothatther eisnocl eardi sti
ncti
onbet weenwher eoneendsand
the ot her begi ns.  
It al lows t he co- mingli
ng of
physi
cal 
real ity 
wi th vi
r t
ualreali
ty 
(VR)and human
i
ntell
i
gence  with artif
iciali ntel
li
gence (AI)
.I ndivi
duals may f ind
themselves,f ordi ff
er entr easons,mor eintuneori nv ol
v edwi th
thehyperr ealwor ldandl esswi ththephy sicalrealwor ld.Some
famous t heor ists of hy perr
ealit
y/hyperr
ealism i nclude Jean
Baudri
ll
ard,  Albert Borgmann,  Daniel J. Boorst i
n, 
Neil
Postman  and  Umber toEco

SimulacraandSimulati
on (
French:
 SimulacresetSi mulati
on)i sa
1981 phil
osophi
cal
 t
reati
se 
byt hesociologi
st JeanBaudr il
lard,i
n
whicht heauthorseekst oexami net her el
ationshipsbet ween
real
it
y,sy mbol
s,andsociety,i
npar ti
cularthesi gnif
icat
ionsand
symbolism of 
cul
ture 
and media i
nvolved i n constr
ucting 
an
understandi
ngofsharedexist
ence.
Si
mul
ati
oni
sapr
ocessi
nmot
ion,i
tisapr
ocessi
nwhi
cha
represent
ationofsomet hi
ngcomestoreplacethethi
ngwhichis
actuall
ybeingr epresent
edtosuchanextentthat,
thethi
ngwhich
i
sbei ngrepresentedbecomesmor er
ealthantherealt
hing.

Simulation i
sr epr
esented orchar act
erized by a blending of
'
reali
ty'andrepresentati
on,wher
et hereisnocl earindicati
onof
wheret heformerstopsandt hel
atterbegins."I
tist
hegener at
ion
bymodel sofar ealwi t
houtori
ginorr eali
ty:ahyperreal.
"Thus
thereist hepossibil
ityoftheexistenceofacopywi thoutan
origi
nal

Si
mul
acr
um
Thesi mulacr
um isof t
en defi
ned asa copywi th no ori
ginal.
AccordingtoBaudr il
lar
d,thesimul acrum copi
esei therhadno
ori
ginalornolongerhasanor igi
nal,sinceasimul acr
um signi
f i
es
somet hi
ngiti
snot ,andtheref
oreleav estheori
ginalunabletobe
l
ocated.

Thereisnowaytoaccesst
oanyr eal
i
tybeyondt hei
mageit
sel
f,
becausewearecaughtupi nthewor l
dofi mageandi ti
sof
copiesandt
hati
snolongerpossi
bletodist
ingui
shther
ealf
rom
thecopy.
 
   
  
  
   Simul acraandSi mulati
on 
ismostknownf orit
sdiscussion
ofsy mbol s,si gns,and how t hey rel
atet o cont
empor aneit
y
(si
mul t
aneous exi st
ences).
Baudr
il
lard cl ai
ms t hat our
current society has r epl
aced all r eal
i
ty and meani ng
with symbol s and signs, and that human exper i
ence i s a
simul ati
onofr eali
ty.