I had never read a book while I was writing my book, but as there were places where I felt blocked during that year, after a while I started to read, whether it was relevant or not. For me it was an act that I can liken to refuelling.
None of the books I read were novels, they were all books I thought might help my fiction. They were the kind of books that would shape the art of writing, or put it in a certain order, or they were the kind of books that would establish the philosophical thoughts and concepts that I felt were missing from my fiction.
I have to say that one of them was the subject of simulation. I am reading a book that I have wanted to read for a long time, but I read it very close to the end of my book and was content to make brief notes. Jean Baurillard's “Simulacra and Simulation”.
Here is a subject that has been on my mind and that I want to share, and I will write about it today.
Simulacrum is a term used to explain the similarity of something, and according to Baudrillard, there are three simulacra in life. Let's name them: Representation, Production and Simulation.
The first is called the pre-modern simulacrum and is about the representation and originality of something. Depending on the situation, it may be an imitation or a copy, but it has a direct relationship with the original. It is a direct representation of the original.
For example, you can think of icons, portraits and other types of paintings that contain religious references. These artefacts relate to the people mentioned and allow you to connect with them.
The latter is called the modern simulacrum and is based on a subject that is increasingly detached from the original, or even completely detached, as the case may be. Especially with the industrial revolution, it is emphasised that things are massively copied, reproduced and begin to make sense of themselves. They begin to create their own reality.
Take, for example, any model of car. Each one exists by reproducing the original conceptual structure. The importance of the original is now diminished and meaning is attributed to the product itself. Moreover, if we go back to the beginning, we should not forget that the first car was a copy of the Ford series. The point of birth of each of them is no longer important or the first thing that comes to mind. What is important and what reveals its own reality is what is produced. The copy overrides the original.
The last one is called postmodern simulacra and we see that we are now completely abstracted from the original. They have their own realities and fictions. They can have a meaning beyond what is known. We can speak of a virtual integrity as well as a surreal or hyperreal structure.
We can think, for example, of any reality show. Each of them may seem like a cross-section of our lives, but reality is not like that, it is even beyond that. Because they are fictitious, they have an order in themselves and are no longer connected to the original life itself. Because only cultural or moral structures are included from time to time, we feel that they tell us something about ourselves. But the connection between reality and fiction is blurred, everything that is presented is a simulation.
Photo by Alicia Steels on Unsplash
Let us take a single example for a better understanding.
For example, Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa. It is unique and original. It is real and represents a human being.
In time, da Vinci and his painting, which became famous, began to be imitated, for better or worse, by those who wanted to reach his level. We begin to see more than one Mona Lisa that does not resemble his essence. It does not matter how much they resemble her or not. For the aim is to imitate the work of art represented, not the person represented. Nobody wants to find Mona Lisa and ask her to pose (perhaps the same pose), they want to imitate the existing representation (the painting). Each of them now exists in its own way. It is like industrial production. The uniqueness and originality are lost.
Let's move on to modern times. The fame of Da Vinci and Mona Lisa has defied history and is basically known to everyone. No one fully recognises the Mona Lisa and does not feel the need to research it. Although those who are curious about the painting's representation compete to take a photo of it, their work is over after they post it on social media. Neither the real thing (the Mona Lisa), nor its representation (the painting), nor the possible similar productions (copies) that were presented at the time, are sought after as before. Because now we can access them virtually, reproduce them digitally and obtain them without having to invest the time and knowledge we would have to devote to a work of art. The Mona Lisa on T-shirts, mugs or advertisements is now completely detached from the real thing; modernity has already created its own Mona Lisa world. The meaning attributed to her has changed. She herself is only part of the simulation now.
I know it feels very negative at first, doesn't it? I think it can be useful, even if it's rare. Going back to the Mona Lisa, it's these T-shirts, mugs and advertisements that have made it recognisable to some of these people today. Strange as it may sound, this is the case. In other words, realities (people, events, cultural images, etc.) that are part of popular culture can sometimes reach more people by having a positive effect. Of course, the extent to which reaching more people - especially after a certain point - can contribute to a positive outcome is another matter.
Finally, let's look at the novels. Because the title of the section in the book is "Simulation and Science Fiction". In this context, I will talk about the section under which some of the works fall.
Representation produces utopia. “Brave New World”, although it may sound contradictory to its title, is actually an example of representation in that it attempts to reflect the idealised state of our society. Similarly, surprising as it may sound, Thomas More's “Utopia” is also like this. If we look at it in a fictional context, “Star Trek” can be used as an example because it tries to represent the future state and the future prediction of our society. In other words, each of them is a representation of the actual society. Narratives build on what exists.
Productivity produces fiction. Let us take the second type of simulacrum as an example to understand the difference. Philip Kindred Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" (Blade Runner film), “Matrix” series, “Inception” film or similarly “Ghost in the Shell” anime belong to this category. Although fiction continues to be shaped by society, the digital, virtual, copied and artificial factors in the middle abstract from reality. It tries to make us question what the truth is, and as such it begins to show a disconnection from pre-existing society and life.
The simulation shows itself. Now, if I point out the works that clearly stand out from the first two, the difference can be seen in full. “Tron”, “Westworld”, “Neuromancer”, “Ready Player One” and “Matrix” (yes, it's there too) are examples of the science fiction content of the final form of simulacrum. The worlds, realms, places, events mentioned here are of a kind that we cannot compare with our reality and life. They are completely fictional and even beyond our perception. They may cause confusion or seem meaningless with their abstract structure. This is because each of them has its own surreal structure. To understand these works, it makes more sense to try to grasp the form in the existing narrative than to look for traces of our own lives. Because not only are they far from reality, they are works that exist in cyberspace, virtual reality, or artificial intelligence and consciousness, where we are not. They are simulations and we are not part of them. They are mind-boggling works, so to speak. I read Neuromancer twice at different times and didn't understand it. It is considered to be the first work in the cyberpunk genre. It is the first book of a trilogy and the other two books are Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overload.
Although simulation as we know it generally looks like either a laboratory experiment or a set of programming compilations, it was actually enjoyable and instructive for me to see and illustrate the difference when I went into detail. I wanted to share my thoughts and notes because it is a topic I have been focusing on and it has piqued my interest.
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