Simulacra and Simulation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulacra_and_Simulation

"Simulacra and Simulation" breaks the sign-order into 4 stages:
1. The first stage is a faithful image/copy.
2. The second stage is perversion of reality.
3. The third stage masks the absence of a profound reality.
4. The fourth stage is pure simulation.

Simulacra and Simulation identifies three types of simulacra and identifies each with a historical period:
1. Premodern period, where the image is clearly an artificial placemarker for the real item.
2. The modernity of the Industrial Revolution, where distinctions between image and reality break down due to the proliferation of mass-reproducible copies of items.
3. Postmodernity, where the simulacrum precedes the original and the distinction between reality and representation vanishes.

Additional Reading:

Jean Baudrillard: “Simulacra and Simulations”

http://www.lcc.gatech.edu/~xinwei/classes/readings/Baudrillard/Simulacra+Simulations.pdf

Reality Hunger (Page 1-19)

Instruction of Reality Hunger: A Manifesto from Wikipedia

Every artistic movement from the beginning of time is an attempt to figure out a way to smuggle more of what the artist thinks is reality into the work of art. (The situation)

Zola:"Every proper artist is more or less a realist according to his own eyes."

All the writing takes place in the editing room.

In antiquity, the most common Latin term for the essay was experior, meaning "to try, to rest, experience, prove."

Before the Industrial Revolution, culture was mostly local; niches were geographic.

Comment: before Industrial Revolution, transportation was not convenient. Information could not be spread rapidly and effectively.

The origin of the novel lies in its pretense of actuality.

The world itself is no longer our private property, hereditary and convertible into cash.

The aim of science is the discovery of truth, while the aim of literature is the production of pleasure.

Collage, the art of reassembling fragments of preexisting images in such a way as to form a new image, was the most important innovation in the art of the twentieth century.

PREZI-Review

Using Prezi to finish my first group presentation in college is really a wonderful journey for me.

The most difficult thing for our group-November at the beginning of the task was the content of our Prezi. At the first meeting, we chose a traditional way of brainstorming that was to divide the reality into several categories such as the assignment sheet mention—science, philosophy, culture and art. It was a safe way but lacking of innovation. Excitedly, I received an e-mail from Yao next day morning. He said that we may show our own interests and life in the presentation.

At our second meeting, we started over in a totally different way. Not just an academic mode of thinking, the divergent thinking promoted our task significantly. At this time, instead of confining our focus on reality, we only wrote key words related to our own interests and life. One reason of talking about our own interests is our main audiences of our presentation are our classmates. In another word, they are our peers, so they may be able to find their interests in our Prezi.

Then the next problem appeared: how to connect these stuffs with reality? The approach and the structure actually reflect the strengths of our presentation. We found out the overlapped contents in our brainstorming-map and then classified them into three divisions that were life, sports and pop-culture. In addition, all three categories could be related to real & material which should be the starting point of our presentation.  Because we would do the presentation as a group, we must use some method to enhance its integrity. To achieve this goal, we agreed to make the ending-points of all parts of our presentation to Ideal & Abstract. And stuffs we plugged in our Prezi are all purposed to connect the binary ‘real & material’ and ‘ideal & abstract’ logically.

However, our Prezi did not fully take advantage of the pro of this presentation tool. If we have more time, we may use ‘rotation’, ‘zoom in’ and ‘zoom out’ to create proper tension in our Prezi. Compared to other group’s work, the claims of our Prezi could be also improved by inserting some quotations. 

Quincy’s Prezi included three categories—physical reality, abstract reality and human culture. They used a more academic approach in their presentation. Their presentation started with introduction of  forms of reality and then spread out the discussion.

Unlike our group, Quincy used a lot of quotations to illustrate their ideas. This is good, however lack of attractions. If they could include more pictures, videos and their own stories in their Prezi, the presentation would be more interesting and alluring. Furthermore, the decorative typeface for the word ‘perception’ and ‘imperialism’ is hard to read. According to WOVENText, this should be used for informal, personal documents.

Their Prezi created wonderful visual effect to viewers by using lots of ‘rotation’, ‘zoom in’ and ‘zoom out’. Nevertheless, the persuasive force of the presentation itself is not strong enough. Firstly, the Prezi does not have a clear structure. They introduced that there are three forms of reality at the beginning of the presentation. At the first two parts of the Prezi, they talked about two forms of reality—physical and abstract. So the audience would assume the next part is the third form of reality—ineffable. However, they started to talk about human culture. The consistence of the presentation was broken. Secondly, there are a lot of same ideas however classified into different categories in the Prezi. ‘Science’ exists in both the categories of ‘physical reality’ and ‘human culture’; ‘religion’ exists in the categories of ‘intangible reality’ and ‘human culture’. So what category should these things be classified to exactly? Moreover, Quincy divided the ‘physical reality’ into two categories that is ‘tangible reality’ and ‘intangible reality’. But the stuffs in ‘intangible reality’ are almost the same as those in ‘abstract reality’.  

What is a claim?

Statement
*Assertion
With concrete language

Question is not a claim, even might be related.
Facts are not the same as claims.
Opinions also not the same as claims.
Idea is not a claim. However, a claim can be an idea.

Real, Reality

http://www.helsinki.fi/science/commens/dictionary.html

The substance of a dream is not Real, since it was such as it was, merely in that a dreamer so dreamed it; but the fact of the dream is Real, if it was dreamed.

Several times,when I had a nightmare, I told myself that THIS IS JUST A DREAM in my dream. But sometimes, when I awoke form the sleep, I cannot distinguish what is dream and what is reality jusi like the case in the movie INCEPTION.  

That which any true proposition asserts is real, in the sense of being as it is regardless of what you or I may think about it.

Does it mean that the reality is the absolute truth?

Reality is that mode of being by virtue of which the real thing is as it is, irrespectively of what any mind or any definite collection of minds may represent it to be.

A dream has a real existence as a mental phenomenon, if somebody has really dreamt it; that he dreamt so and so, does not depend on what anybody thinks was dreamt, but is completely independent of all opinion on the subject.

The opinion which is fated to be ultimately agreed to by all who investigate, is what we mean by the truth, and the object represented in this opinion is the real.

The real is that which is not whatever we happen to think it, but is unaffected by what we may think of it.


All human thought and opinion contains an arbitrary, accidental element, dependent on the limitations in circumstances, power, and bent of the individual; an element of error, in short. But human opinion universally tends in the long run to a definite form, which is the truth.

During the process of thinking, people will correct their mistakes gradually.

No matter; it remains that there is a definite opinion to which the mind of man is, on the whole and in the long run, tending. On many questions the final agreement is already reached, on all it will be reached if time enough is given.

Everything, therefore, which will be though to exist in the final opinion is real, and nothing else.