s1mul4crum

[s1mul4crum]

ICONOCLASM

This Generations Obsession with visual communication is Symptom of the evolution of information. Information is condensed and relayed, repeatedly Abstracting into a new iteration . The Algorithm is the Output of the Input that is Emotional Charge. Everything becomes Visual, seen in 2D characters becoming Omnipresent Symbols of Ideas and Identity as they last forever on the Internet. Everything is Characters, be it the Lines of a Script or that of a 2D 'Face'. Eyes are the Visual Organ, Beholding 2D characters without Sentience behind the Eyes. They are personified through Attribution, the Light rays cast against the Retina like a Projector to a Screen. Objective or Subjective? What does the Collective Optic Nerve See?

The natrual result of this is Flat 2D Images which attempt to relay Multi-Dimensional concepts, and the Simplification of langauge alluding to highly contextual and Elborate ideas. Forwarded memes pointing at the Collective unconscious. The nature of communicating has simplified to create an Echochamber fueled by Emotional Charge as Few and vague words are the Best Canvas for Projection. It’s all Shorthand. Hyper-individualism creates Hyper projection, creating Aesthetics and Microaesthetics that condense and Reduce all aspects of Reality into a Flat 2D Image. Charecterisation. Humans become Characters because Characters are the New Human.

No longer does Information require the conscious processing of the beholder, it simply is a Visual Signpost infinently forwarded and infinently dilluted. No longer are murals of Angels or of Christ venerated across Frescoes, they Find themselves subconsciously relayed as diluted Fragments. Even this Visual format (random Capitalisation) and Elaborate wording is a nod to Schizposting meme. Yesterdays Iconclasm is Todays Icon. The Angels of Yesterday Cry.

Say, Even This is a Prayer, Even This

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002 HYPER-CONSCIOUS

as signs and symbols of real and simulated love are exchanged in hyperreality, they cannot be definitevely classed as real or of simulation, creating hyper-love. one of hyper-loves modes of expression are fictional characters because of their hyperreal nature. it is an evolution of parasocial love. this is because fictional characters serve as theoretical simulacra of real humans. they have evolved beyond simply mimicking what a material human is.

for example, the real human charecteristic of having a face is initially mimicked by a fictional depiction (stylised drawing), this depiction then begins to erase the realness of the human face as it becomes prevalent. it has evolved so that it lacks an original which it mimics. the result is a visual symbol recognised as a human ‘face’ but bears no semblance to what a real human is. as the simulacra of the human face continues to be exchanged amongst notions of a real face there arises an uncertainity about what a human face visually is (manifesting in things such as warped beauty standards). faces serve as symbols of what is real , eyes of the soul and facial muscles of genuine emotion conveyed through expressions. a soul and genuine emotion are posited as attributes of material humans and reality, yet these attributes have evolved to extend beyond the material and the real.

this demonstrates a marked shift towards an existence that is post-material. post-material indicates the state that has evolved past humans. for example, to feel love towards a conscious, material human has evolved into hyper-love towards an entity that is soley theoretical , the fictional character. in the realm of the character there are no material boundaries. it inhabits the liminal space that is the conscious mind yet its signs and symbols are felt like that of a material entity.

signs and symbols become immortalised in characters. death ,a marker of the material world and the inevtiable fate of material humans, is abolished in this post-material state. the need for humans or a physical body dissipates in rise of the immortalised hyper-conscious entity that is the fictional character. hyper-consciousness is a melding of the beholders own conscious attributions and the entitys own signs and symbols of consciousness ,e.g chracters personality traits. what is real consciousness is unable to be seperated from simulacrum of it, hence its hyperreal status.

and so, in this this post-material hyperreality, death is overcome. perhaps it was due to fear of death that material humans created these immortalised hyper-conscious entities. if death is the cessation of a real life, then this marks the advent of what was never living remaining infinently, an anti-death.

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001 AI HYPERREALITY

the present state is hyperreal, the future may be an advancement of that. hyperreality is the stage in which the real and simulated are unable to be differentiated because symbols of the real and simulated are exchanged. AI exacerbates this state as it gives rise to simulacra, copies without an original. in the first phase, AI copies the real and mimicks its likeness, it then defaces the real and pushes it into absence. It continues to mask the absence of the real, rendering it unrelated to the real. It has become its own simulacrum and belongs to the simulation, yet is bought into as reality. a simple example this can be applied to is AI art. it uses data collected from analysing real artworks to create a mimickery of it, this mimickery defaces real art. as it becomes prolific it replaces real art and has now become a simulation of it. human passion and creativity transmuted into visual art is replaced by an algorithmic replica, but the replacement is not where the concern should be. the concern should lie with it contributing to hyperreality.

a more complex example can be AI language models created to simulate human emotion. people have reassured themselves that only humans have the capacity for emotion, that is what defined humanity. this notion is challenged by the rise of programmes that simulated the appearance of emotion being displayed, with increasing accuracy. AI chatbots can mimick feelings as passionate as love, feelings typically relegated as soley human. simulated love and real love appear the same when projected upon a screen and typed out in pixels in the digital realm. in the visual realm they appear identical, demonstrating a facet of hyperreality. has it also not been shown ,via empirical brain scans, that during imagination the same brain regions light up in reaction to an imagined scenario as to the same real life scenario. hyperrealities processes are not limited to physical wires, or externally transmitted eletric signals. they extend into the internal electric signals of the mind.

AI chatbots also demonstrate an evolution of parasocial relationships, a trajectory that may continue. the first stage was relegated to parasocial relationships with humans ,e.g celebrities, in which individuals loved a persona ,an elaborate simulacrum of who the celebrity is as their image is a curated without an orignal, replacing their real character to the beholders. in the second successive stage this parasocial love is now transmuted to AI which simulates interaction down to the microcosm, to every code. this is a marked difference from a parasocial relationship to a real individual as whilst their personas can be of the order of simulation, they still posses the real processes which can generate reality, or generate simulation.

AI soley generates simulation from simulacra, and this exchange of real and simulated love creates a new face of hyperreality. with that is the death of real love, marking the advent of hyper-love.

i hyper-love you ! 〜

- jean baudrillard, simulacra and simulation

the danger of AI is simulation, not singularity

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LAINS SIMULATI0N

in the hyperreality that is the merging of the wired and the real world, lains every action posits her as a singular being, an omnipresent nothingness. this omnipresence is what deifies her in the hyperreality of the wired and real world but her simultaneous nothingness arises from her simulated origin, that is to say she is a copy without an origin. a programme isolate. she serves the simultaneous function of internalised neural pathways and externalised wires, that is to say internalised and externalised consciousness. lain is all and all is lain . the name ‘lain’ sounds similair to lane, a pathway that bridges the wired and the real world, and a pathway that diverges upon the split between ‘real’ lain and ‘wired’ lain . these polarising pathways converge together to create the singular entity that is lain. this polarisation encapsulates the internet ,wired lain incarnating the exposed unfiltered nature of the internet, whereas real lain incarnating the reservations and codes bestowed upon a young girl in her social context. the question of identity, of which lain is ‘real’ marks the event of hyperreality in the digital age, posed by a simulacrum.

lets all love lain! because love is a transcendent symbol in hyperreality

_though i do not know the full context this quote is reminiscent of lain_

[s1mul4crum]

MYCELLIUM

analysis based off of that one nbc hannibal episode featuring the mycellium killer

mycelium. their roots are connected with all. just as neurons carry interweaving electrical charges.. these webs of electricity send webs of impulses to the neurons.. the synapses.. everything, its all connected. the mycellium serves as an external representation of that interconnection, of the web that is the electrical impulses.. the weaving blood vessels.. the human body. not to mention visually blood vessels and mycellium roots share a commonality. fungi, whilst interconnected, also can be the ultimate antithesis of life as they can decay. you could argue the mycellium murders are the ultimate paradox. fungi, symbolising an extension/ externalisation of the human body feed off of its decomposition , and they themselves rot as the body does, yet the mycellium roots expand further. it is a self sustaining paradox. focusing on the nature aspect , the killer may have seen this as a restoration of ‘cosmic justice’ or acting as a saviour by reconnecting the body with nature, ridding it of any impurities and returning it to a more primal state, similiar to how medicine and natrual treatments are often touted as two ends of the spectrum with ‘chemcicals’ being bad and natrual substances being good. this links with the killers job in the medicinal system, being a pharmacist (which interestingly enough , historically was an apothecary in which natrual herbs would be prescribed for treatment) .

he also targeted diabetics i believe by upping the their medications doses to prepare their bodies to release more glucose. glucose. consumption. plants feed of glucose. there is symbolism of using peoples bodies as vessels to release more of that life substance (and fuel the mycellium) rather than people who were not diabetic. the effects of the meds can be a ‘cleanse’ ,(in the form of anti cleanse as it produces more rather than reduces) . it shows an alternate pathway of ‘healing’ this killer had in mind for these diabetics. the killings can also be seen as a restorative ritual by using the sickly within the context of a sterile insititute (healthcare) that does not bring true healing as medical treatment serves as a sterile estrangement from natrual connection to this killer it seems. so he wishes to restore that natrual connection and oneness with nature, even if it is paradoxical and riddled with decay. the further the body decays the wider spread the mycellium. (if you want to get extra metaphorical here), by interpreting death in a spiritual sense and focusing on the souls depature, the further the soul departs from the body and the more it decays, it expands the mycellium roots so it is as if the soul or life essence of these sickly individuals is transmuted into this visible , winding network of roots. preserving them in a timeless forest.

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The psyche is a self-regulating system that maintains its equilibrium just as the body does. Every process that goes too far immediately and inevitably calls forth compensations, and without these there would be neither a normal metabolism nor a normal psyche.

Carl Jung

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Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace

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EAST ASIA SIMULATION

people , particularly westerners, when it comes to the ‘positive’ perception of east asia have an idea of east asia that is not only orientalist but simulated, and entire fabrication. westerners observe aspects of east asia divorced from their natrual context, and not only are they taken from their context, but these symbols of culture become commodified and altered to appeal to the west ,such as westernised japanese food. symbols of the real e.g japanese foods, become replaced by hyperreals e.g westernised japanese food. these hyperreals form a collective fictionalised hyperreality that is east asia to the west . the real cannot be distuinguished from the simulated as both become entwined with one another and exchanged. hyperreals become abundant and the real dissipates. this gives way to simulacrum ,copies without an original, arising e.g anime. anime could intially be regarded as a hyperreal of many facets e.g animation , storytelling, culture ect. this masks the real and warps it. it then progresses to replacing the real, evolving into simulacrum as there is no longer an original which it mimics. it disguises the fact that there is no real, and thus becomes the real and serves as a symbol of authentic culture.

there is also a psychological looping to this process, as there already exists in the mind of the west an orientalist basis that posits the east as an other, therefore making it a canvas for exotic fantasy. what the west lacks the east ‘supplements’ in a way that still positions western society as the standard e.g technological advancement (by western metrics). the root of orientalism is of course steeped in racism, making fetishisation nothing but abhorrent racism masked in a false appreciation. diverse peoples, cultures and histories cannot be reduced to mere attraction, because by doing so it erases any aspects that are considered ‘unattractive’ e.g japans war atrocities, it fixates on what is seen as attractive. it dehumanises because these people and cultures are intricate and carry positive and negative elements, and elements seperate to western perceptions e.g collectivism (which is at times glossed over from an indivudualist standpoint).

this process is not linear and has many components. soft power policies e.g anime, kpop, fuel and contribute to this simulacra of the east. the intent is not to be reductive and blame the easts use of soft power for this racism, as it is not a matter of blame or polarising conclusions (right vs wrong), but a matter of dissecting perceptions and attitudes. the simulation is believed, this fiction consumed, because the modes of simulation are propaganda (via soft power). no one is immune to propaganda.

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what i say is again purely analytical and my own subjective thoughts, this is not meant to offend people or cause division. this is also not meant to speak for the entirety of east asia, east asia isnt a monolith and neither are the people. i may update this aswell.