Are we producing reality?

[drenevr]

My college textbook brought me here! :D

[EXPLOSIVEEGG]

My college textbook has this video as an example of a VLOG. You should sew them. Are you aware of your presense in a textbook?

[SimonAtDistgen]

"Unless you comment" I believe I saw you hold up a mirror to a webcam in M Wesch's video. It made an impact on me. The other day I made a short video. I refer to you as "that girl who says you need a mirror, here", sorry. By choosing to post this comment my reality embraces the posibility that we might discuss this "connection". Incidentally, in answer to your question "Who am I talking to?" Well one answer is me, now, albeit time delayed from when you asked the question.

[jerrywong0]

hey cutie, holla at yo boi!

[followthedon]

It depends on what is real, human perception is nothing more then millions and millions of repeated sniaptical electronic connections. some how these create self giving you the feeling of a 3rd eye or the central location of self .but what is real, are we trapped by are skull, your talking about the internet and perhaps people change there reality there but what is reality what is real. what is self . I have only seen this universe from my perspective

[aklyle76]

You're on to something. I've never thought of the internet in the way that you are, but I don't think that we are producing reality unless its a home video like the tv show "funniest home videos"

[uniontupapa]

I believe youtube does produce reality, even more so than if were were talking in fron of a crowd of people. We are more relaxed talking to a camera

[TheSalawag]

Wow, it's been two years since you posted this question. But before I give my answer, what do you think? Or do you think about it? If not, fine. If so, how has your sense of what makes reality 'real' changed over time since you posted this? Has this question changed your thinking in any way since it first came your way?

[dhadondada]

i can see how uncomfortable you are talking to a camera. i bet you kind of just laugh when you watch yourself on youtube huh! haha, anyways, i am preparing to make my first vlog on youtube. its for a class, so wish me luck

[kuuuuul20]

youtoube seems to have become fools paradise..

[yuradisman]

Kabbalah Revealed series goes into this question well.

[shibbolethed]

this video, together with it's fun & meditative circumnavigation of comments, loosened the tangles of my night's ontological skein tonight. and for that i am grateful...

the best author to treat this question in my experience is Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his short stories (especially Molineux, wives of the dead, Wakefield, young goodman Brown, & the ambitious guest). Thoreau in Walden is another good source, and Gibran in the Prophet. Also check out Plato's Cave of course, where it all started

[michaeljorden]

you suck. i hate you so much.

[jaalul]

uploading on youtube does creat reality.

creativeness is what reality is, along with potential actions. this comes from consciousness. if nobody shared there thoughts or ideas in the past, we would not see the world as we do today, the world that ultimately filters as reality. the second you shared with another individual something from your own mind, you are adding another piece to that persons infinite reality puzzle. agreed or disagreed, you have given pontial reality.

[horuzrizing]

I thought that's what marketing was for--creating "reality". Existence is an ever-expanding system of systems? Existence is information? Information as host,as parysite, manipulator, manipulated--hungry for info. Existence is cyclic, verb, evolutionary. Create--maybe. Change--for sure. In and out, left and right, photo negative and print positive. Did I create this comment, or did R. Dawkins and Wallace Black Elk? I'm sorry. What was the question?

[wima13]

Mmmmm, Ritz crackers........

[Heissenburger]

You are effectively talking to me via your "this" (web-cam, another mediator besides air) .

A "non-essentialist" accepts that reality is (at least partially) reflexive, so you are (co-)creating reality, not just being a passive observer. Via YouTube, you can make new friends even across the globe, and/but there is nothing to stop your usual friends from seeing what a freak you can be on YouTube. 'Virtual' reality is a part of 'real' reality.

[sylvanpine]

i really enjoyed the video, the question even more! which i will definitely respond to.

but since it's a long response i will give u a video response. in order to do that i will have to go out and buy a webcam and a microphone! because your question was stimulating enough for me to actually go to the trouble of doing so :D

never the less, i will post my video response, soon...

take care and say high to prof wesch for me!

love his work

[self0surr]

I think Baudrillard would've enjoyed a lot watching this video...

the MIRROR moment, also seen in the conference-videoproject of Wesch is ...

as the discover of 'the holy moment' in André Bazin's words, ... 

M. Wesch with his team (with you) are doing a great job. THANKS.

[echever7]

Talking in real life...talking to youtubers, hmmmm. Soon, talking to youtubers must be considered as 'real life'. Youtube, the net is part of our realities. We already designed what 'mask' put to go on youtube, what mask we like, and what dislike, as in 'real life'. Is talking to the phone 'real life'?.Yes, of course, but once upon a time this question was crucial. Talking to an individuum you don`t see was kind of traumatic at the dawn of telecommunications.

P.S I like you. Really

[gambara29]

reality = a plane of existence, most of all you create our own reality. u can only INFLUENCE other people's reality. point is this all reality is an illusion. what is "real" like real life ya... u go ahead and think its real b/c u can touch it.... enstien e=mc square... nothing is real but consciousness but what is that? point is humanity knows nothing of nothing our whole society and reality on this planet is a construct or idea of a person not "real" just a program.

[rhov233]

Resistance is futile! We will assimilate you!

[babaybluebutterfly]

if it's this hard to figure out whats real...

how the crap are we gonna figure out whats fake?

[kenellak]

try a blow dryer to dry out your phone, and yes we are creating reality. everything we do as humans does something to reality.

[ritmnews]

Becky:

Reality is a judgement, but as such, to make that judgement correctly we'd need to be both infinitely objective and infinitely wise, and if so, we'd probably not then need YouTube.

[SafetyLight]

Everything is a big ol' hologram. (Space between and within atoms being what it is. There is only 'energy', blah blah blah.) Only Thought is real.

In the world of thought there are falsehoods and truths. Real is that which is True. The medium is not relevant.

Simple.

Here's a truth: Cell Phones fuzz awareness. Maybe you dropped yours twice on purpose. The toilet was the right place. Now THERE'S a metaphor!

In a world made of thought, metaphor is king.

Listen to the subconscious. It knows.

[soundsfromnothing]

Don't lie! :P You were taking a dump & talking on the phone. This, my friends, is a female thing. My friend dropped her cell phone in the toilet this way. My sister dropped her house phone, & my grandmother has done the same. Ladies, leave the phone on the hook; It will be there when you finish your business(promise). This will save you money(as you won't have to keep buying a new phone or -worst case scenario- have to call Roto Rooter. Remember: When you're on the throne, leave the phone alone.

[filmmakingcarlos]

Everything is real as it's part of our experience of reality. Fiction is real, a lie is real... But our experience of reality is so limited that it would be easier to simply say that nothing at all is real. "Reality" is no more than a word we use to talk about what we live, what surround us... But -in my opinion- it's just a word.

[HempForPresident]

never try to turn on an electronic device when it's wet. that's when the damage happens.

[teedubyo]

it's fun...real? idk. fun? lol rotfl fun. intelligent? at times

counterproductive? idk. real? No!

[sekhon311]

drugs

[Lancemaker]

What happens on internet is not in all cases, virtual. Read "what is the virtual" from Pierre lévy for this explanation. A conference or a video conference happens like a fone call, in a place that is anywere at anytime. But its real. All production is real but it can last for ever (like an ideia or a web page) or for some time, like an oil painting canvas or an hardware processor.

[Lancemaker]

So what is virtual ?

Virtual is somethin that dont have a defined image, or form. It is a question, or a problem, that is not solved. A blank peace of paper and a poet form a virtual thing. The poet have a problem and is trying to solve it. Wikipedia is vitual, becouse it a place where problems can be solved. A programer, a poet and even a field worker can have virtuality without computers. Virtuality is about a problem that dont have a alredy made solution.

[Lancemaker]

So virtual is real witout beeing solved. I will demonstrate: i want to make a house. now i have a problem. I will have do draw a home-design, and in this process i will creat a solution to my problem. In this process i turn an undefined cloud in an plant. This is the virtual. This what we are doing here is virtual, trying to solve a problem together. This is real. And this will produce your paper

[Lancemaker]

where i said plant, i wanted to say schematics. Sorry about my bad english. Im trying hard here.

[Roadkill155]

you can't "produce" it, it's just there

[TabithaRobin]

This is a very interesting video. This is a great question. You have more nerve than I do. I could never talk on a video and put it on the internet. I am to shy. That is why I just write. Go figure. But this is Great. We must ask ourselves, Are we real? Are we real all the time? Do we live in a fantasy world? Who are we really?

Great Clip.

[dogwood523]

This is REAL Becky...as real as we as humans can be... with each other,

We still hide... behind somethings ...

Like P.C. s

[dogwood523]

We Are Watching YOU....

Reality ? YES it is>>>

Philosophical? Yes it is...

But anonymity allow us to pull down the barriers...

[senormassao]

hmmmm ... well ..i dont think that you could know a lot about youtubers while posting questions in videos !!being a student in Visual Anthropology and Social Research .. i really cant place your strategy to get answers in any fruitful research process. do enlighten !

[GeTakeo]

What is reality anyway.

Is being real acting the way ppl expect you too, or letting your inner self come out?

I think that some ppl will obviously come up as morons, others will try to make themselfs look cooler then they realy are, or other will try to make themselfs look smart.

Its hard to see what is real and what, since the internet makes easyer for ppl to pretennd to be something they are not.

I guess its up to each person to decide to believe or not to, acording to what they see.

[usernameavailable111]

Reality is an arbitrary sense of security produced mostly by culture. Yeah I understand that life is not a dream or at least I believe that it is not. But what I'm talking about is the idea that culture is based on transmission of info and info can be transmitted in many ways. Different types of communication equals different types of reality(Whorf hypothesis?)

[Heatnytrix]

It is also funny you are from Farminton hills, Because I am from Ann arbor here. goodluck with your phone problems I just bought a water proof one.

[Heatnytrix]

are those christmas lights on your ladder?

[thepoasm]

christmas lights can go anywhere. and should go everywhere. ;)

[UFMD1]

Real, of course, but we have created many more filters, sometimes. Sometimes we type based on emotive response. Sometimes we feel all powerful and post negativity. We can also basically program ourselves (beneficial or not) by choosing the content we want to put in our dome, or we can be programmed by pop culture and porn, but we still kinda choose it. Cool project!

[shibbolethed]

what if one didn't know one was being programmed, or,, what if one desires deprogramming....

[myfaith1969]

Hi there. I'm gonna be quick and as clear as possible. This world and everything is just an illusion. The movie Matrix points it out, though it's not really like in the movie. Believe me, this world is and everything is just a PROGRAM. I must say, it's the ULTIMATE program ever.

[shibbolethed]

Plato said that in his essay "the cave" long long before the matrix, tho neither work says this is all "just an illusion". check out John Partidge's amazing essay "Plato's Cave and the Matrix", it's on the matix's official website under essays. Also published in a book called "philosophy and the matrix" out of the UC Press. really tho, read Plato first.... then Descartes

[lanceauthor2525]

There is only perception and perspective, they exist independently but are not mutually exclusive. Reality is created from our spoken word. Everybody has the right to their own perspective as long as it does not interfere with my reality.

[lanceauthor2525]

GOOD LUCK!

[CAlex6977]

if you want the answer search BURT HARDING, he asks this question daily

[greydey]

Continued from below, again.

True reality and our ability to comprehend it requires, in my opinion, objectivity, which is an abstraction, as it is highly improbable that anyone could remain objective in order to accurately observe or sense reality.

By the way, you are hot. And that is real to me.

[greydey]

Reality is perspective and it changes for various reasons. I choose to perceive my reality a certain way if I would like to make myself feel better. I may be plain looking when comparing myself to the top models, but in comparison to my younger sister I am gorgeous. Both are real and the focus on one or either parts of this 'reality' will either make me feel good or bad. Therefore, I will align my sense of reality based on my personal needs and desires.

[greydey]

Continued from below (damned 500 character limit)

We ponder reality in times of crisis, when reflecting on significant events and when given a busy-work assignment in an undergrad class to help our professors with their own research.

There is not one answer that we can come to with respect to the nature of reality and how we interpret our reality (individually) if in fact their is an individual self, and collectively as a 'community'.

[greydey]

The question posed is not a new one. In fact it has been raised for various reasons on numerous occassions by those who have the capicity to explore the idea and by those who are under the influence of the favourite recreational drug.

Reality is objective and subjective, it is both ontological and epistemological. It does and does not require cognition.

[adaalman]

All of reality that is conceivable exists within conception. All objects that are known in reality as it exists within conception can be manipulated with energy. We are manipulating reality constantly, as are objects which appear to, within conception, have no conception in themselves. Everything within conception is relative and the entire experience of reality is relative.

[alsarmady]

Are we producing reality? no,the reality producing us !, see my work maybe help you,thanks.

[daveo26]

If there's so much shift and change then the self in these terms seems awfully elusive, very much like a mirage. Which begs the question; are we who we think we are? Anyway I'll leave it at that. Nice work.

[daveo26]

And then some aspects may meet with others...it goes on and on. So this here is just one side of what you'd call your personality. Your personality will change in 10 years or so, as it does. It's funny because there are so many nuances in the personality and so many dramatic changes that happen to it throughout life, that it's hard to pinpoint exactly who we are in regards to personality.

[daveo26]

I'm only replying because you're hot.

Ok, um, well I'm thinking there are many different aspects of a person, which all are very contradictory, but they all roll in one to make 'you' One aspect is not more you than the other; they are equal. Certain aspects will arise with certain people, some arise only when you're alone, some change through time, some don't, new aspects may be created over time, older ones may fade away...

[leocities]

Don't like talking very much, and I also don't like mirrors and hearing my own voice. I like computers and sometimes I feel somehow I am thinking with myself here. I feel you, virtual people, as part of me. I use virtual communities a lot and I feel like talking to a thousand me's, like a thousand alter egoes. And, I believe somehow, that we can be like that in real life.

[jeffleft]

JVANTA23 YOU R RIGHT

[guntherburow]

for this the web and the infinite creations on the day in the net are so important to explore and extend our real life, sometimes this expansion movement are obviously impossible to control. But i want t hear you thinks about my post to complete the real idea

[guntherburow]

Reality is a problem in virtual relations and id. also in corporal an biological life. in fact if you try to define the other life, the non virtual life is very hard, virtuality is only a fragment of the reality. Reality is more that the olders post said is the comlete life, reality is beyond our perceptions,

[AnNiiQue]

Wow, nice work..

I think it's a personal experience whether your videos are real or not. It isn't the same everytime we publish things. You can make all sorts of videos, but you can put a different piece of your soul in these videos. They're not all the same, you can't say videos are real or not, sometimes they are and sometimes they aren't. It's as simple as that.

PS It's a nice thing to argue about ;)

[Bollocks3000]

..can I have a ritz?...thanx...

[darkshogun1980]

If we put somthing on the internet, it is made up of ideas which can be transfered from one person's mind to another. Ideads are real because they can be experienced. Even if the content if fictional, the idea itself is still real.

PS, if your phone gets wet, dry it out BEFORE you desassemble it.

[EmersonSCG]

I think the answer to your question is yes this is reality. It is really no different than eavesdropping on the shopping cart chatter at any grocery store. Are the participants really engaged in reality or are they trying on their latest mask. "Oh, Jim and I are doing just great!" (Reality - that PIG is cheating on me ....Again) RedTuttle IS right, you know. See, some things never change!

[kozlowskiap]

google hyper reality, enjoy

[Ackphlatt]

What is the question??????????????

[jivanta23]

Reality is all in ones perception.

[Bchico9]

Reality is in the eye of the webcam.

[lieberkind]

Wow very philosophical....

Are we producing reality with the videos on Youtube? hmm... I guess we are, since the internet is our generation's way of difusing informaion that hasn't been peer reviewed

[andyc1909]

Hi there, i didn't catch your name from the vid but felt compelled to respond by directing you to a video called 'what we are' by marcus lindgren. You should find an answer to your question from that video.

[parispeter2]

Your professor is a genius, as s/he asked a question which forces you to think for yourself! I am thinking about it and hope to post a video response soon.

[MonsieurGoy]

A straight answer would be yes you are creating reality. Had this thing been an idea or thought in your mind then I would say no, but because you've influenced other people through the Internet and physically interacted with your surroundings/environment it should be called reality. Reality to me would be anything that takes place in the physical world, because that is all we can measure.

[ChefQuix]

I think instead of asking if we're creating reality, you should be asking what reality is. Maybe that's exactly what you're asking. I guess you're having trouble with the concept of identity, of the projectionist watching the screen play out in front of us. That is the big question, what is the nature of identity? What is the root of consciousness, something that we all share in common but are unable to properly define?

[ChefQuix]

With the internet, we are suddenly exposed to the raw creative output of individuals uninhibited by the social norms of 'status quo' society. You are free to express the person you want to be because you're wrapped in the blanket of anonymity. With this anonymous nature of the internet, you are freed from the shackles of the social mannerisms of your day to day life, however this is a simulacrum. It's not as real as real life. There is something important to proximity.

[ChefQuix]

Maybe it's brain waves, maybe it's quantum entanglement. For whatever reason, a connection you make over the internet is lacking in raw substance. That's not to say it can't be meaningful, but until you seal the deal with a real life encounter it will not be as significant.

[ChefQuix]

Reality is simply what we perceive.  We are a product of our sensory organs, we react to the environment and the individuals around us, but it our choices that define our identity, and it is our identity that we always have to live with.

[NilsDeDuitser]

Did u know emotions influense the particels we see around us.

[TBovelander]

It's unbelievable, but people are enjoying having an anonymous alter-ego. That's why, for example, Second Life is so populair. People are enjoying it. I think, the Internet is 10% reality. The other 90% is fiction. But that 10% is really important to me. To a lot of Internet-users.

I hope it's usefull, when it's not: good luck with finding answers to your questions ;)

(I'm Dutch, so the English is kinda crappy ;) )

[TBovelander]

I think we're creating both reality as crap. Like, this video is reality. But, when I go to a website and the only thing I see is a screaming face. Or a blog, full of bullshit. That's the problem on the Internet. Even here, on the Internet, people are having some kind of an inferiority complex. They think they have to do better, act different. Even when it's anonymous.

[stillsearchingstars]

i think they're all extensions of us. i'm not sure. i think i'm the center of my life, you're in my consciousness. same goes for you. and yes we are making reality.

[infiniti28160]

free your minds from mental restraint ,,,the truth is within

[pepxucla]

I want to be polite, but I think that the idea of cybersex is useful to distinguish between what is real and what is not in cyberspace. The explanation of Mark Dery in his book 'Cyberculture at the End of the Century' helps us to discuss this topic.

[jasonrepa]

I have two comments:

1) You are extremely pretty and have the most gorgeous eyes!

2) I think you're associating way too much importance to what is going on with utube. It is simply entertainment.

[creativeeusa]

Yeahh! Due! Yes it is REALity! Go back to Schoool...

[unipotent]

If you participate in any form of observing or being observed, you are creating and maintaining a reality. We can passively or actively determine what to observe and give it meaning or not.

[licoricemoon]

it is You Tube reality. there are multiple realities...this is simply one of them..

[KurtOfConspiracy]

What Is reality?

What Is producing?

What are we?

Or, at least, what do you mean by them?

All we know is people.

[tnraven]

I think reality is what you make of it.. I personally see it as a means to reach out to people you couldn't always get to see in person. So what is so wrong bad about that?

Oh, and I'm sorry about your phone, I've done that twice (cry) with my nokia 6620 and my 6682.. I nearly did it with my Blackberry pearl a week ago. I just need to leave them on the washer before I go into the bathroom... then again.. It'd prolly fall in there and someone would start a wash cycle just for fun. *sigh*

[kd5txo]

A simple question that deserves a simple answer: No.

You're welcome.

[ubex]

Reality is what we perceive. Your question is predicated on a belief that there's some objective reality that exists outside of the individual. "In real life" and "online" are context setting statements similar to "this morning at work" and "one time at band camp" and dont reflect reality

[thepoasm]

Good thought, you got me thinking.

[ubex]

Rephrased after a couple days thought: Yes, but our production of reality is ancillary to our participation in youTube.

consider: Virtual Communities like this are made up of real people. only the communication is virtual. what we communicate maybe fiction, but is no less real.

[floozyspeak]

you raise some interesting points, but you could use the mirror effect on your cell phone, or im, or myspace forum board interactions, it is reality its mediums we choose to interact with. youve created a real world portal into your life, we see your ritz box, your beads, your broken phone, your room, your personality, your voice, is that not real?

[thepoasm]

An interesting though tis how some might percieve the internet as "place" rather than "medium"..

[ubex]

What's the distinction between "medium" and "place"?

'M jes' askin'

[StevenErnest]

Marshall McLuhan said that media alters our environment. And that electronic media is a new environment. So I'd say that the Internet/Web/CyberSpace is a medium AND an evironment. It's an extension of our nervous system.

[StevenErnest]

We're producing various levels of abstraction of reality. It's all "real" -- just abstracted. The complex use of symbols. Self-conscious videos, not truly candid, edited for effect. Aren't you guys affecting your research subject by participating in it...? Or is that the point! (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind = Cool)

[thepoasm]

PArt of anthropology is to gain understanding through doing. How well can one understand everything about say, hunting, without doing it? Anth has battled with such a question, swaying from objective to subjective, but to guard against biases many researchers present or publish and are critiqued by their peers. We have youtubers themselves to critique and qualify..terrifying and fantastic.

[StevenErnest]

Interesting; I was playing at devil's advocate. I'd really like to know what you think of my comment re your question... That thru YouTube we're producing various levels of abstraction of reality. It's all "real" -- just humans using increasingly complex symbols. Creating muli-layered levels of meaning.

[EASOUL]

Well this is an interesting topic. These are only 500 word max posts so I am going to have to make two. Okay I have to start off by explaining what I do for work. I am a Cartographer, in other words I make maps. As funny as it seems, what you are talking about is a lot like the mapping world, where you have to take the reality world and put it on paper, web-based program, or another alternative way.

EASOUL

[MarkMBravura]

Hello Becky,

Accolades, and well spoken!

Does this "reality" you speak of radiate heart, enthusiasm, and passion?

It is these that shape the reality of the Artist, Musician and Actor.

Warmest regards,

Mark

[1938superman]

Nicely done. Video response perhaps to follow.

[linxLJB]

Am me alright, I was sick of hiding my self because of who I am.Linx

[eebruce]

Riddle me this: if two people in different parts of 1800's England meet briefly, agree to correspond, correspond regularly for ten years, become friends, and then after ten years, meet ... were they really friends when they were sharing text on paper, or was it only real when they met? ...

... its not the videos on UTube that are real or unreal, its the interactions.