Virtuality as Representation

2046 Words5 Pages

The most important error [generally committed] is the reduction of reality to actuality and virtuality to possibility: as if the actual and the virtual were the given and the pre-given, respectively” (Doel & Clarke, 1999) From since the 1970s computers have opened new ways of virtualization where the human brain is assisted in forecasting extremely complicated, and even inherently complex systems. At the beginning of the 1990s the commercialization of the internet as an international network determined the popularization and incorporation of virtuality into every aspect of modern life, creating a pervasive cyberspace. This paper presents a collection of meanings of the term "virtuality" and develops, though the implications in representation and interaction, how virtuality plays a central role in current polytechnic research. In other words, we present virtuality both as the property of things that are not actual, and as the realm of invention and potential that the architect, the designer and the engineer share when they work. 1. Introduction The term “virtuality” is an antonym to “actuality” and it comes form the latin virtutue, which can be translated to virtue, a quality, valued as moral, that also expresses potential. In part Virtuality is the world of potential: a virtual space where design takes place, and where reality is not actual but expressed and represented by human mediation [1]. French philosopher Jean Beudrillard theorized that virtuality is naturally produced by humans as they try to understand reality: as humans can only interprete one object through comparison with other objects, says Beudrillard, the observers can only relate to its signification (from the latin signum ficare: to make a sign) and they eventua... ... middle of paper ... ...pace". 2009 WIRED. [12] Zhai P., Get Real: A Philosophical Adventure in Virtual Reality [13] David C., Crang M., Crang P., May J., Virtual Geographies. Bodies, space and relations, London: Routledge (1999). [14] Morgan, M., Morrison, M. Models as mediators: perspectives on natural and social science. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK [15] Strogatz, S., "The End of Insight", in Brockman, John, What is your dangerous idea?, HarperCollins, (2007) [16] Neale M., William Gibson: No Maps For These Territories (2003) Documentary [17] Meadows D., Meadows D., Randers J., Behrens W., The Limits to growth [18] Bogost, I., Ferrari, S., & Schweizer, B. (2010). Newsgames: Journalism at play. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. Jenkins, H. (2006) [19] Putnik G.D., Cunha M.M., Virtual enterprise integration. In Idea Group. 2005 [20] Norman D, The Design of Future Things

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