AS, Poster

Poster discusses the radical changes in identity and culture community that are introduced by the advent of the internet and virtual reality. The use of the term “virtual reality” implies the existence of multiple realities; this proposal of an unfixed real corresponds with Baudrillard’s idea of hyperreality and Dorffman’s concept of Disney as “the imagination of the child conceived as the past and future utopia of the adult.” The internet is a medium of fantasy and imagination – a playground for grown-ups. Whereas Dorffman classifies Disney as a hyperreal utopia, Poster believes that modernity’s “wounds” are not only incorporated into, but also heightened by, the simulated reality of internet communities, thereby preventing utopian perfection. Virtual reality isn’t perfect, but there is the danger of its being better than “real” reality. Poster states, “From the club that extends and replaces the arm to virtual reality in cyberspace, technology has evolved to mime and to multiply, to multiplex and to improve upon the real” almost echoing Eco’s statement that, “technology gives us more reality than nature can." We are living in a world where real isn’t good enough. “Real” quantifies guaranteed dissatisfaction. Only alternative realities promise complete satisfaction. In the virtual world you can be anybody and do anything. An average slob can create an online profile/persona that digitally reflects the unrealistic models of desirability presented as REAL in advertising (never mind airbrushing). Perfection is packaged and marketed to the masses, creating a reality no one can realistically achieve except in another reality altogether. Poster discusses the interface being the face that we forget we possess; the interface of the internet is another mask that we slip on to distance ourselves from disappointing reality. Images/pictures posted on Myspace are not exact representations of the person, but carefully selected signifiers of a projected (better) identity. Virtual plastic surgery – yippee. Guess broadband is cheaper than a boob job.