In semiotics and postmodern philosophy, the term hyperreality characterizes the inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from fantasy, especially in technologically advanced postmodern cultures. Hyperreality is a means to characterise the way consciousness defines what is actually "real" in a world where a multitude of media can radically shape and filter the original event or experience being depicted. Some famous theorists of hyperreality include Jean Baudrillard, Albert Borgmann, Daniel Boorstin, and Umberto Eco. Semiotics, semiotic studies, or semiology is the study of signs and symbols, both individually and grouped into sign systems. ... Postmodern philosophy is an eclectic and elusive movement characterized by its criticism of Western philosophy. ... Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and ones environment. ... For other uses, see Reality (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Fantasy (disambiguation). ... Jean Baudrillard (July 29, 1929 – March 6, 2007) (IPA pronunciation: [1]) was a French cultural theorist, philosopher, political commentator, and photographer. ... Albert Borgmann is an American philosopher, specializing in the philosophy of technology. ... Categories: People stubs | 1914 births | 2004 deaths | American writers | Rhodes scholars | Pulitzer Prize winners | Librarians of Congress ... Umberto Eco (born January 5, 1932) is an Italian medievalist, semiotician, philosopher and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose (Il nome della rosa) and his many essays. ...

Most aspects of hyperreality can be thought of as "reality by proxy." For example, a viewer watching pornography begins to live in the non-existent world of the pornography, and even though pornography is not an accurate depiction of sex, for the viewer, the reality of "sex" becomes something non-existent. Some examples are simpler: the McDonald's "M" arches create a world with the promise of endless amounts of identical food, when in "reality" the "M" represents nothing, and the food produced is neither identical nor infinite. Porn redirects here. ... McDonalds Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is the worlds largest chain of fast-food restaurants, primarily selling hamburgers, chicken, french fries, milkshakes and soft drinks. ...

Baudrillard in particular suggests that the world we live in has been replaced by a copy world, where we seek simulated stimuli and nothing more. Baudrillard borrows, from Jorge Luis Borges (who already borrowed from Lewis Carroll), the example of a society whose cartographers create a map so detailed that it covers the very things it was designed to represent. When the empire declines, the map fades into the landscape and there is neither the representation nor the real remaining – just the hyperreal. Borges redirects here. ... Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (IPA: ) (January 27, 1832 – January 14, 1898), better known by the pen name Lewis Carroll (), was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican clergyman and photographer. ...

Baudrillard's idea of hyperreality was heavily influenced by phenomenology, semiotics, and Marshall McLuhan. This article is about the philosophical movement. ... Semiotics, semiotic studies, or semiology is the study of signs and symbols, both individually and grouped into sign systems. ... “McLuhan” redirects here. ...

Significance of hyperreality

Hyperreality is significant as a paradigm to explain current cultural conditions. Consumerism, because of its reliance on sign exchange value (e.g. brand X shows that one is fashionable, car Y indicates one's wealth), could be seen as a contributing factor in the creation of hyperreality or the hyperreal condition. Hyperreality tricks consciousness into detaching from any real emotional engagement, instead opting for artificial simulation, and endless reproductions of fundamentally empty appearance. Essentially, (although Baudrillard himself would perhaps balk at the usage of this word) fulfillment or happiness is found through simulation and imitation of a transient simulacrum of reality, rather than any interaction with any "real" reality. Consumerist redirects here. ... Look up Fulfillment in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Happiness (disambiguation). ... Simulacrum (plural: simulacra), from the Latin simulare, to make like, to put on an appearance of, originally meaning a material object representing something (such as a cult image representing a deity, or a painted still-life of a bowl of fruit). ... For other uses, see Reality (disambiguation). ...

Interacting in a hyperreal place like a casino gives the subject the impression that one is walking through a fantasy world where everyone is playing along. The decor isn't authentic, everything is a copy, and the whole thing feels like a dream. What isn't a dream, of course, is that the casino takes your money, which you are more apt to give them when your consciousness doesn't really understand what's going on. In other words, although you may intellectually understand what happens at a casino, your consciousness thinks that gambling money in the casino is part of the "not real" world. It is in the interest of the decorators to emphasize that everything is fake, to make the entire experience seem fake. The casino succeeds in turning money itself to an object with no inherent value or inherent reality. See also authenticity (philosophy) and authentication (which deals only with computer security). ...

Actually, the casino is trading the hyperreality of fiat currency for another. In reality, the money is fancy printed paper, but we share a constantly reinforced fantasy that it has inherent value. Look up fiat in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Definitions of hyperreality

• "The simulation of something which never really existed." - Jean Baudrillard
• "The authentic fake." - Umberto Eco

Jean Baudrillard (July 29, 1929 – March 6, 2007) (IPA pronunciation: [1]) was a French cultural theorist, philosopher, political commentator, and photographer. ... Umberto Eco (born January 5, 1932) is an Italian medievalist, semiotician, philosopher and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose (Il nome della rosa) and his many essays. ...

Quotations

"The secret affinity between gambling and the desert: the intensity of gambling reinforced by the presence of the desert surrounding the town. The air-conditioned freshness of the gaming rooms, as opposed to the radiant heat outside. The challenge of all the artificial lights to the violence of the sun rays. Night of gambling sunlit on all sides; the glittering darkness of these rooms in the middle of the desert. Gambling itself is a desert form, inhuman, uncultured, initiatory, a challenge to the natural economy of value, a crazed activity on the fringes of exchange. But it also has a strict limit and stops abruptly; its boundaries are exact, its passion knows no confusion. Neither the desert nor gambling are open areas; their spaces are finite and concentric, increasing in intensity toward the interior, toward a central point, be it the spirit of gambling or the heart of the desert - a privileged, immemorial space, where things lose their shadow, where money loses its value, and where the extreme rarity of traces of what signals to us there leads men to seek the instantaneity of wealth." - Baudrillard on Las Vegas

Examples of hyperreality

• A sports drink of a flavor that doesn't exist naturally or elsewhere ("wild ice zest berry")
• Pornography ("sexier than sex itself")
• A plastic Christmas tree that looks better than a real Christmas tree ever could
• A magazine photo of a model that has been touched up with a computer
• A well manicured garden (nature as hyperreal)
• Any massively promoted versions of historical or present "facts"
• Professional sports athletes as super, invincible versions of the human beings that they actually are
• Many world cities and places which did not evolve as functional places with some basis in reality, as if they were creatio ex nihilo (literally 'creation out of nothing'): Disney World; Dubai; Celebration, Florida; and Las Vegas
• TV and film in general (especially "reality" TV), due to its creation of a world of fantasy and its dependence that the viewer will engage with these fantasy worlds
• A retail store that looks completely stocked and perfect due to facing, creating a world of endless identical products
• A life which cannot be (e.g. the perfect facsimile of a celebrity's invented persona)
• A video game, realistic or not, in which the player temporarily forgets the difference between the game and reality

In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, athletes receive payment for their performance. ... Human beings are defined variously in biological, spiritual, and cultural terms, or in combinations thereof. ... Ex nihilo is a Latin term meaning out of nothing. It is often used in conjunction with the term creation, as in creatio ex nihilo, meaning creation out of nothing. Due to the nature of this, the term is often used in philosophical or creationistic arguments, as a number of... Cinderella Castle, at the center of the Magic Kingdom, is Walt Disney World Resorts most recognizable icon Introduction Owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company, the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, USA is home to four theme parks, three water parks, several resort hotels and golf courses... Coordinates: , Emirate Government  - Emir Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Area [1]  - Metro 4,114 km² (1,588. ... Celebration, Florida is a census-designated place and an unincorporated master-planned community in Osceola County in the U.S. state of Florida, near Walt Disney World Resort. ... For further information, see Las Vegas metropolitan area and Las Vegas Strip. ... See TV (disambiguation) for other uses and Television (band) for the rock band European networks National In much of Europe television broadcasting has historically been state dominated, rather than commercially organised, although commercial stations have grown in number recently. ... // This article is about the genre of TV shows. ... Facing is a meaningless term that will never catch on. ... Computer and video games redirects here. ...

See also

• Authenticity
• Jean Baudrillard
• Consensus reality
• Phenomenology
• Reality shifts
• Semiotics
• Simulacrum
• Simulated reality
• Solipsism
• Truthiness
• Cyberspace
• Facing
• Theme park
• Game theory

Look up authenticity, authentic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Jean Baudrillard (July 29, 1929 – March 6, 2007) (IPA pronunciation: [1]) was a French cultural theorist, philosopher, political commentator, and photographer. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Social constructionism. ... This article is about the philosophical movement. ... Reality shift is a term applied to the experience of hypothetical changes in reality that might include the appearance, disappearance, transformation or transportation of objects, or a change in the way time is experienced. ... Semiotics, semiotic studies, or semiology is the study of signs and symbols, both individually and grouped into sign systems. ... Simulacrum (plural: simulacra), from the Latin simulare, to make like, to put on an appearance of, originally meaning a material object representing something (such as a cult image representing a deity, or a painted still-life of a bowl of fruit). ... Simulated reality is the idea that reality could be simulated — often computer-simulated — to a degree indistinguishable from true reality. ... Solipsism is the philosophical idea that My mind is the only thing that exists. Solipsism (Latin: solus, alone + ipse, self) is an epistemological or metaphysical position that knowledge of anything outside the mind is unjustified. ... Stephen Colbert announces that The Wørd of the night is truthiness, during the premiere episode of The Colbert Report. ... It has been suggested that Virtual world be merged into this article or section. ... Facing is a meaningless term that will never catch on. ... Theme Park is a simulation computer game designed by Bullfrog Productions, released in 1994, in which the player designs and operates an amusement park. ... Game theory is a branch of applied mathematics that is often used in the context of economics. ...

References

• Jean Baudrillard, "The Procession of Simulacra", in Media and Cultural Studies : Keyworks, Durham & Kellner, eds. ISBN 0631220968
• D.M. Boje (1995), "Stories of the storytelling organization: a postmodern analysis of Disney as 'Tamara-land'", Academy of Management Journal, 38(4), pp. 997-1035.
• Daniel Boorstin, The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America (1992). ISBN 978-0679741800
• Albert Borgmann, Crossing the Postmodern Divide (1992).
• George Ritzer, The McDonaldization of Society (2004). ISBN 978-0761988120

Jean Baudrillard (July 29, 1929 – March 6, 2007) (IPA pronunciation: [1]) was a French cultural theorist, philosopher, political commentator, and photographer. ... Categories: People stubs | 1914 births | 2004 deaths | American writers | Rhodes scholars | Pulitzer Prize winners | Librarians of Congress ... Albert Borgmann is an American philosopher, specializing in the philosophy of technology. ... George Ritzer (born 1940) is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. ...

External links

• International Journal of Baudrillard Studies
• Why Las Vegas is "Hyperreal" (PDF)
• The Hyperreality of Wikipedia
• Baudrillard and Hyperreality; Simulacro y régimen de mortandad en el Sistema de los objetos {Disney World and Hyperreality} by Adolfo Vasquez Rocca