What is Real?

as the title of this post may imply, the idea of it is to first outline some basic concepts that Baudrilliard is going to be dealing with. the three terms we'll define in relevance to Baudrilliard's work are simulacrum, simulation, and real.

      working backwards, let's begin with his use and definition of the word real. i know i haven't provided much context for the terms, so we need to understand the point he's trying to get across in order to understand his use of the word "real". this is not a Cartesian version of asking what's real. Baudrilliard is not concerned with if the keyboard I'm currently typing on is actually here, or if the only way to know if i exist is that somewhere, somehow i am thinking "i exist." no, as the postmodern philosopher he is, he uses real in the sense of what's genuine. but, that answer only raises further questions, such as, well, what then is not genuine? i suppose a way to look at it, is that which can be replicated. that is the way Baudrilliard likes to see it.

people, once upon a time were unprecedented, in the sense that yes, the farmer's son was very likely to be a farmer, but so much of this child was left to chance. how his parents raised him was far more prominent then than nowadays because the mix of schools, mass media and nationwide social norms would force this farmer's kid into a much more rigid definition of himself than had he been left to be raised by a small community and the rules that have successfully allowed that community to continue. an example that's perhaps a bit more relatable to the now than a hypothetical farmer is one i can draw from the very hallways of park. upon the lockers, there are countless notes taped each holding an ideal to the locker, with something like "we have the right to safety" or, "do not discriminate" or another idealistic utopian saying. so, there are three steps away from "real" here. the first, being the difference between the world these notes are trying to represent or create, and the world as it is, and as it will become. that’s our first separation, this is a representation of reality, or an ideal for it, and is clearly not real. the second, and, these are built on top of each other, is the thought that this is helping to achieve that world. there may be some truth to it, but the point is the perception that by posting these, one is actively making change. it is a simulation of going to the places that need help, and doing good there. and the third step, is in my reading of it, and thinking "yeah, that ought to be true" i also feel as though I’m helping. but, nothing could be further from it. I’m not even simulating helping, I’m simulating the people who are in turn, simulating helping.

 this level of separation from the real, this separation from actually helping, is an example of what Baudrilliard considers hyperreal. when we are not recreating the real, but instead, recreating the representation of the real, we end up in a cycle where real is lost, somewhere to the side, and we end up with a bunch of symbols that mean more than what they once tried to represent.