just a quick note before we begin uh I'm an American and I will be absolutely butchering this French philosopher's name for the entirety of this video I'm [Music] sorry sakra first of all if you're confused yes that is the correct response it's okay we can't all be Lana machowski sneaking cool philosophical Easter eggs into our films ojan bodard yeah I've read him have you tried because I tried and Bard's work is fruit cake dance and after trying to read him I am certain he was born a 45-year-old tenur Professor do you see what I mean like who talks like that H however I scraped together some of my most treasured brain cells and figured some stuff out simulacra and simulation is a 1981 Trea essay it's an essay by French philosopher Jean Bard that explores the relationship between reality symbols and Society a simulacra is a copy without an original huh same it's right we'll get to that so I had a difficult time understanding this idea of semac at first a copy without an original I kept hearing that over and over again a copy without an original how can you have have a copy if there's no original what are you copying so I went back to the example that bodard gave of the map say you have a territory and you make a map that is a one:1 scale of that territory that's a big ass map then we place the map over the territory so you're walking on the map living on the map getting into Twitter arguments on the map the map stays in place for years even decades and it begins to get worn out and threadbear and if eventually it's kind of hard to tell what's the map and what's the original territory poking through additionally all the people who were around when the map was originally made are dead and no one alive remembers a time without the map eventually the map becomes the territory to them at least the map is real and the territory has been forgotten this is simulacrum this is a copy without an original the word that's always missing from this definition is anymore a copy without an original anymore a copy whose original has been lost or forgotten through too many iterations doesn't that make more sense words matter people simulacra don't usually just appear they happen over a long period of time according to bdar there are four phases of simulacra that I will now explain using pumpkins phase one basic reflection of reality this is a pumpkin pumpkin is pumpkin technically this is an image of a pumpkin that you're watching on the internet but I couldn't get a real pumpkin because it's May so just pretend this is a real just pretend this image is real in this video about simulacra phase two perverting or masking reality pumpkin pie it has pumpkin in it but it's processed and changed to fit a different purpose phase three of simulacra masking the absence of basic reality pumpkin spice latte something I know quite a lot about it has literally zero pumpkin in it but the absence of the pumpkin in this pumpkin drink is hidden by the spices we associate with pumpkin pie we are reminded of pumpkin though no pumpkin exists and phase four pure simulacrum no relation to reality pumpkin pie coffee creamer not only is there no pumpkin it's not even meant to reference pumpkin anymore but a previous perversion the coffee version it's possible someone could live there entire life only drinking pumpkin pie flavored coffee and never having experienced a real pumpkin this is Detachment from reality where the image itself is entirely self-referential and only serves to reflect other images or simulacra reality as it was originally understood a pumpkin is no longer relevant or even considered real pumpkins have nothing to do with pumpkin pie coffee creamer so why simulate reality well because simulation is often Kinder than reality hell of a lot of Americans won't eat fish but we will eat fish sticks shaped like fish and is simulation good or bad most people watching this would assume that simulation is an example of our increasingly dystopian world and it is but the consequences of simulation are kind of individual if someone who is housebound finds a rich and rewarding community of friends in an online game is that bad I wouldn't say so reality is often disappointing who Among Us hasn't spent 20 hours on the Sims decorating a dream home you'll never own or painstakingly editing your character in a game to get you just right form will never achieve the house will never have it's easy to understand the appeal simulation is often reality with blunted edges but there is a dark side to all this simulating the real world so once phase four of simulacre is achieved we enter something bodard calls hyper reality I have to read this part sorry he describes hyper reality as a condition in which the distinction between reality and simulation has collapsed and where simulation or simulacra do not just represent reality but effectively replace it or become more real so let's take a look at some of the uh symptoms of hyper reality shall we symptom number one is a loss of meaning and authenticity if the real is overtaken by simulations it raises questions about the meaning and authenticity of our experiences When Everything feels fake it's hard hard to find truth or meaning in anything symptom two passivity and manipulation hyper reality thrives on passive consumption of its own simulacra people just passively take in all this fake stuff allowing powerful people and corporations to use these fakes to control what we want think and do and it encourages people to stop thinking for themselves symptom three fragmentation and alienation with reality fragmented into all these different perspectives it's hard to shap share experiences and social cohesion is kind of lost it's it's harder for people to share real experiences and feel connected to each other symptom number four erosion of identity if reality is constantly shifting and malleable it becomes difficult to maintain a stable sense of self identity in hyper reality becomes performative based on external simulations rather than your true self and this part really struck me as so poignant because this is exactly what goes on on Instagram and Tik Tok you see this performative version of this person leading an idilic life and you feel inadequate in attempt to replicate that in your own life but what you're replicating is fake replicating false inauthentic experiences in reality and then being devastated and taking it so personally when you fail at the thing that is not real I'm sorry I got off track symptom number five moral and ethical dilemmas so when the lines between real and simulated actions blur it gets tricky to know what is right from wrong and when you can't tell the fake actions from the real ones that actually matter Fox News throwing a hissy fit about transgender teens in sports comes to mind uh like this is the crisis of Our Generation it's not climate change or microplastics those damn teen Sports symptoms six potential for social unrest the frustration and illusionment arising from living in a hyper real world can lead to social unrest and even violence it's frustrating living in a world that seems made up and meaningless a lot of people would want to rebel against those creating the simulations but of course you'd have to know and be able to differentiate the real from the simulation in the first place honestly what's more likely is people will probably find a scapegoat because it's so hard to just even put into words and language why you feel so bad why why are you feeling so disillusioned and disconnected why does the world feel so made up and meaningless maybe it's teen Sports stupid language and the loss of meaning I feel like this shouldn't have to be said but like language is really important to civilizations sure there are words that are flexible like brother and sister but there are some words that are so important that having them lose their meaning is downright dangerous one of those which we've seen happen over the last 10 years is the word news now to a great portion of the United States news means absolutely nothing news is whatever stupid [ __ ] you find on Facebook and suddenly doctors and scientists are just people with strong opinions about viruses that loss of meaning caused the unnecessary death of thousands of people because they couldn't tell the difference between real things and fake things some words just have to maintain their authenticity for example the word hospital really needs to mean what it means and the breaking down sound of the word Hospital would just be disastrous sending people to random Apartments where people who call themselves doctors just operate on you like this so gross it reminds me of that scene in Minority Report let me introduce my gorgeous assistant miss van [Music] Ike she didn't even wash her hand I'm sorry the meaning of words collapse is when people stop thinking critically about their definitions and holding firm boundaries on what they mean when we passively accept the changing and manipulation of meaning it opens up the way for political entities and corporations to radically change the way we think and respond so we can see how hyper reality is actually quite dangerous and also just like America like I'm reading these definitions and I was like that's just us we are hyper reality and apparently Jean vard agrees because he wrote an entire book about us called America remember he's French so he's from France where they have real things still like bread how to avoid hyper reality oh I have no idea that's not entirely true I do have some thoughts first and foremost I think it's important to maintain a solid standard for critical thinking I mean it can't hurt worst case scenario you become just an insufferable contrarian and I think that's probably better than the total collapse of reality and push back when politicians and companies try to change language to suit their own purposes other than that I don't know try to eat more fish I guess thank you for watching my video about sakra I'm magdalin Rose and if you enjoyed this video please head over to patreon.com and you can pledge just $1 a month to support this Channel and I would really appreciate it uh good luck in the Cyber dystopia everyone and I will see you next time bye [Music] he