Hyperreal & Simulation... Jean Baudrillard

Simulation is the process in which representations of things come to replace the things being represented . . . the representations become more important than the "real thing"

Four Orders of Simulation

    1. signs thought of as reflecting reality (re-presenting "objective" truth)
    2. signs mask reality: reinforces notion of reality
    3. signs mask the absence of reality
            -Disneyworld
    4. signs become simulacra - they have no relation to reality; they simulate a simulation
            -Gulf War was a computer game


Hyperreal is a condition in which "reality" has been replaced by simulacra.


Jean Baudrillard argues that today we only experience prepared realities...
'The very definition of the real has become: that of which it is possible to give an equivalent reproduction. . . The real is not only what can be reproduced, but that which is always already reproduced: that is the hyperreal. . . which is entirely in simulation.'

Research on Hyperreality 

Hyperreality is thought to be a consequence of the age that we live in. Hyperrealism is a postmodern philosophy that deals in part with semiotics, or the study of the signs that surround us in everyday life and what they actually mean. For example, a king may wear a crown that symbolizes his title and power. The crown itself is meaningless, but it has come to take on the meaning that society has given it. The reality of the crown and the hyperreality of what it stands for are interwoven.
A popular way of understanding hyperreality is through celebrity culture. Celebrities who reach a point at which every aspect of their lives is taken care of by someone else are said to live in a hyperreal world. They lose the ability to interact with people on a normal level and are cocooned in hyperreality.