Post Class Blog 11/3

 

“Postmodern culture is often presented as an alternative to existing society which is pictured as structurally limited or fundamentally flawed.”

 

Mark Poster writes this quote in Postmodern Virtualities. He is arguing that the postmodern culture having to do with virtual reality is being considered as an alternative to the reality of the world. He is offering the claim that virtual reality is better than real. He believes this because he thinks that humans have more control over virtual reality than true reality. Poster understands virtual reality as being able to be dominated by humans because they are able to decide the details of a virtual world. This connects to Baudrillard’s idea of the simulacra because he believes virtual reality is just a representation of real life and is not real. When I think of humans having more control over virtual reality, I immediately think about social media. Social media users are able to control the image they broadcast to the world. People have the ability to edit or photoshop images and have the freedom to say what they want about themselves online. This happens a lot with celebrities. The Kardashians are major social media users and post frequently. Their posts frame their lives to be perfect. They edit their photos to achieve the “perfect” body and appearance and only regularly share about the luxurious parts of their lives. They do not open up online as real people, but rather portray themselves as an image of perfection in the media’s eyes. They have complete control of their image via their social media. They have taken control of their own virtual reality. Virtual reality has the ability to be positive when it allows people to experience things virtually they never would have gotten to before. It can be negative when it affects the real world so tremendously, it is hard to decipher what is real and what is not. I believe that virtual reality is not always better than the real and we should yes partake in these awesome experiences, but also not lose sight of the real us.