"Simulacra and Simulation" breaks the sign-order into 4 stages:
The first stage is a faithful image/copy, where we believe, and it may even be correct, that a sign is a "reflection of a profound reality" (pg 6), this is a good appearance, in what Baudrillard called "the sacramental order".
The second stage is perversion of reality, this is where we come to believe the sign to be an unfaithful copy, which "masks and denatures" reality as an "evil appearance—it is of the order of maleficence". Here, signs and images do not faithfully reveal reality to us, but can hint at the existence of an obscure reality which the sign itself is incapable of encapsulating.
The third stage masks the absence of a profound reality, where the simulacrum pretends to be a faithful copy, but it is a copy with no original. Signs and images claim to represent something real, but no representation is taking place and arbitrary images are merely suggested as things which they have no relationship to. Baudrillard calls this the "order of sorcery", a regime of semantic algebra where all human meaning is conjured artificially to appear as a reference to the (increasingly) hermetic truth.
The fourth stage is pure simulation, in which the simulacrum has no relationship to any reality whatsoever. Here, signs merely reflect other signs and any claim to reality on the part of images or signs is only of the order of other such claims. This is a regime of total equivalency, where cultural products need no longer even pretend to be real in a naïve sense, because the experiences of consumers' lives are so predominantly artificial that even claims to reality are expected to be phrased in artificial, "hyperreal" terms. Any naïve pretension to reality as such is perceived as bereft of critical self-awareness, and thus as oversentimental.
anonymous on 29 Jul 14This "humanoid robot" has lots of sensors, facial recognition, voice recognition, articulate hands. Design company claims to be able to read and express human emotions. Suggested plans are to use robot for babysitting and storytelling with young children. I wonder whether young children left alone with a robot limited to artificial intelligence would respond positively or would be frightened or upset without the presence of a parent, caregiver, or teacher to mediate their interactions with the robot. I imagine an early childhood classroom would be highly entertained and their attention stimulated by the presence of this humanoid robot. But I can't imagine having this robot replace responsible teaching or caregiver staff with the social interactions presented in this video. Based on Alan Kay's comments that computer artifacts are meta-medium that need to go beyond demonstrations and build artificial intelligence for specific user groups and age-appropriate curriculums, I will review the literature about interactive storytelling with socially assistive robots in early childhood classrooms.
