Hyperreality
[1] Hyperreality is seen as a condition in which, because of the compression of perceptions of reality in culture and media, what is generally regarded as real and what is understood as fiction are seamlessly blended together in experiences so that there is no longer any clear distinction between where one ends and the other begins.
[2] The term was proposed by French philosopher Jean Baudrillard, whose postmodern work contributed to a scholarly tradition in the field of communication studies that speaks directly to larger social concerns.
Through the postmodern lens, reality is viewed as a fragmented, complimentary and polysemic system with components that are produced by social and cultural activity.
[3] Baudrillard defined "hyperreality" as "the generation by models of a real without origin or reality";[4] and his earlier book Symbolic Exchange and Death.
Temenuga Trifonova from University of California, San Diego notes, [...]it is important to consider Baudrillard's texts as articulating an ontology rather than an epistemology.
Hyperreality tricks consciousness into detaching from any real emotional engagement, instead opting for artificial simulation, and endless reproductions of fundamentally empty appearance.
[12] He bemoans the loss of old heroes like Moses, Odysseus, Aeneas, Jesus, Julius Caesar, Muhammed, Joan of Arc, William Shakespeare, George Washington, Napoleon, and Abraham Lincoln, who did not have public relations (PR) agencies to construct hyperreal images of themselves.
[13] The dangers of hyperreality are also facilitated by information technologies, which provide tools to dominant powers that seek to encourage it to drive consumption and materialism.
"[15] Hyperreality, some sources point out, may provide insights into the postmodern movement by analyzing how simulations disrupt the binary opposition between reality and illusion but it does not address or resolve the contradictions inherent in this tension.
Simulation is no longer that of a territory, a referential being, or a substance; "It is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal.
[22] The first is the possibility of various simulations being used to influence the audience, resulting in an inability to differentiate fiction from reality, which affects the overall truth value of a subject at hand.
As society has transitioned toward a consumer culture, the combination of the free market economy and the advancements found within media and communication technologies have influenced this development towards a hyperreality.
Web3 is a newer platform that allows users to fully integrate the virtual world into decentralized and autonomously controlled environments, such as Filecoin and the metaverse.
Baudrillard, like Roland Barthes before him, explained that these impacts have a direct effect on younger generations who idolize the heroes, characters or influencers found on these platforms.
As media is a social institution that shapes and develops its members within society, the exposure to hyperreality found within these platforms presents an everlasting effect.
Emotions expressed on social media are directly having real-life effects on numerous sectors despite having any factual basis or tangible information.
As social media becomes more ingrained into the daily lives of countless individuals, the distinction between stories on the internet and truth in real life are becoming more blurred as it descends into the core of hyperreality.
[32] The Hollywood sign in Los Angeles, California, itself produces similar notions, but is more a symbol of a facet of hyperreality—the creation of a city with its main target being media production.
Once designed by humans, now completely independent of any influence, these AI creations have mass followings that present conditions of perfect four-dimensional simulation as described by Baudrillard.
Eco believes that Disneyland with its settings such as Main Street and full sized houses has been created to look "absolutely realistic", taking visitors' imagination to a "fantastic past".
Disneyland works in a system that enables visitors to feel that technology and the created atmosphere "can give us more reality than nature can".
"[38] "The Disneyland imaginary is neither true or false: it is a deterrence machine set up in order to rejuvenate in reverse the fiction of the real.
