Desert of the Real: Jesus, The Matrix, and Hyper-Reality.

phatcityhogs. hyperreality
Doc/Essay. Sourced from:

Desert of the Real: Jesus, The Matrix, and Hyperreality.


Jean Baudrillard's "Procession of Simulacra" (1984).

Larry and Andy Wachowskis' The Matrix (1999).




Baudrillard compares reality to the map of a great empire's territory. The map of the empire becomes so descriptive that it "ends up exactly covering the territory (but where the decline of the Empire sees this map become frayed and finally ruined" (Baudrillard, 19). The great map, the abstraction, the simulation of the territory, presents the frayed edges as the symbol for the decline of the empire. Compared with the simulation prevalent in the modern world, Baudrillard suggests that the map which was once only a representation of a true substance, has replicated that substance so many times that the simulation has become the substance itself. Today, we cannot use abstraction in the sense that true reality can be separated from a representation of itself. That is to say that you cannot separate the territory from its representation in the map. What then is left for reality and truth? If the simulation, or map, now contains the essence of the territory, than the frayed edges which once symbolized the decline of the empire today represent the outskirts of our current simulation. "It is the real, and not the map, whose vestiges subsist here and there, The desert of the real itself" (Baudrillard, 20). What is meant by this is that real truth and meaning cannot be found when one only ever encounters simulation. The individual who is aware of the presence of simulation and can separate themselves from it, in a sense becomes free from it. A state of pure reality still exists in relation to the map. It is in the desert of the real that one finds themselves in a position to reject simulation in order to derive at a greater truth.


Simulation makes the human lose all emotional connections with the other, the object. That at it's worst, it turns us into droids, incapable of human emotion..


Written by: Nic Foster. 2005, or thereabout.
All comments welcome. Id really like some feedback on this one. Thanks for Watching, and for all the great comments/thoughts posted so far.




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[SOCRATES012]

genius presentation my friend :) i see you

[phatcityhogs]

@SOCRATES012

thanks ;)

[legorocks3]

is this video spiritual?

how this world is just a dream and not reality?

[phatcityhogs]

@legorocks3

its just food for thought really :)

[phatcityhogs]

thanks for all the amazing comments everyone. it really seems to make the video a lot more accessible, and open. thanks again :)

[ChronoTriggerMusic]

The irony is that this video is viewed by people on Youtube, on a computer.

[HiGhLiKeAlLaDin]

Well done my friend, well done

[tiz444]

So Neo was a neo-Platonist, trying to get out of the cave of false (simulated) reality?

[THESCHNEV]

1:06 and no clips from the Matrix! fuck this shit i'm out of here

[descentfromhistory]

Why did Beaudrillard say that the Matrix was a misunderstanding of his ideas?

[moderjoker]

The only way a human can reason is by creating a false reality. The only REAL truth is the present moment, and that is experienced via zen-like states which have nothing to do with machines or simulations. If you think the matrix is a literal concept, you're a moron.

[moderjoker]

Plato said this in a simpler way. Come on.

[HSzach]

I think the solution is the acceptance of, and embracing of hyperreality (within moderation). Think of Warhol, he seemed like he was having a great time embracing the celebrity lifestyle despite acknowledging it was an entirely fake and vacuous simulation. "A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators" - William Gibson in Neuromancer

[MrAussieJules]

which is what proponents of po-mo nonsense do not understand - reality is never completly known, but we can get close, by our own experiences over time, by examining evidence from multiple sources etc. I often would like to punch a Po-Mo "philosopher" in the nose, and then tell him that according to his philosophy, there is no such thing as right and wrong, and truth is what you make it (!!) yeah right .... not when it comes to his safety it isnt.

[MrAussieJules]

yeah... European philosophers often end up loving their own abstractions and words, at the expense of reality and a useful and comprehensible philosophy. If, say, I watch a lot of documentaries and read a lot of articles saying that life in Kazakhstan is really good, unemployment is low, people have a high standard of living etc, I can verfiy this by actually living and working there for a year...