No one knows who first created a simulacrum. Maybe some cave artist had some ochre on a finger and just decided to wipe it on a stalactite. “Wow!” a friend exclaims, “that looks like a deer.” Art was born, and humans (maybe even pre-humans) obtained a new way of thinking about themselves and the world.
The next step? “Let’s put a stick figure representing Ugma throwing a spear at a deer.”
Game on. A little one, seeing the image says, “I want to be like that.”
Skip to dolls and then to computer simulations. Now we bounce between a constant display of simulacra, and we discuss images that represent or alter the world as realities equal to reality. Some of us even make a living by creating simulacra. Many of us live on the cave wall, and many also think through simulacra.
Computer games have their effect, a demonstrable fact in that brains on games show chemical influence.* That we can be influenced by what we regularly observe isn’t a new thought, but it is one worth considering again, especially since so many of us stare at screens as part of our lifestyles. Of course, the important question is whether or not simulacra also influence behavior, especially in light of murders and violence linked, however loosely, to video games.
Smile at an emoji lately? Respond emotionally to a political cartoon? Are we just using different kinds of cave walls? If so, for all our supposed sophistication, are we really much different from our ancient ancestors?
*Koepp, M.J., R.N. Gunn, A.D. Lawrence, V.J. Cunningham, A. Dagher, T. Jones, D.J. Brooks, C.J. Bench, and P.M. Grasby. 1998. Evidence for striatal dopamine release during a video game. Nature 393:266-268.
The next step? “Let’s put a stick figure representing Ugma throwing a spear at a deer.”
Game on. A little one, seeing the image says, “I want to be like that.”
Skip to dolls and then to computer simulations. Now we bounce between a constant display of simulacra, and we discuss images that represent or alter the world as realities equal to reality. Some of us even make a living by creating simulacra. Many of us live on the cave wall, and many also think through simulacra.
Computer games have their effect, a demonstrable fact in that brains on games show chemical influence.* That we can be influenced by what we regularly observe isn’t a new thought, but it is one worth considering again, especially since so many of us stare at screens as part of our lifestyles. Of course, the important question is whether or not simulacra also influence behavior, especially in light of murders and violence linked, however loosely, to video games.
Smile at an emoji lately? Respond emotionally to a political cartoon? Are we just using different kinds of cave walls? If so, for all our supposed sophistication, are we really much different from our ancient ancestors?
*Koepp, M.J., R.N. Gunn, A.D. Lawrence, V.J. Cunningham, A. Dagher, T. Jones, D.J. Brooks, C.J. Bench, and P.M. Grasby. 1998. Evidence for striatal dopamine release during a video game. Nature 393:266-268.
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