Through the looking-glass

The most powerful machines are the ones that process information, that is, text.

The activities of all machines these days are based on which texts come out of computers. This electronic information is, potentially, so rich that it is not an inaccurate picture of what happens in the machine, but a real, essential part of the machine —one, moreover, that is more transparent and accessible than the messiness of matter and life.

Text is no longer a mirror in which you see your own reflection: the reflective sheet of paper is replaced by an embracing screen and (like Alice) you go through the looking-glass into a strange but believable world. In such a world the boundaries between what is ourselves and what is text are lost.

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/
See that post with different algorithms in metabole
See the journal French Metablog with today different posts
Enter Hypertextual as a member

More reality

It is in Disneyland, where Umberto Eco finds the ultimate expression of hyperreality, in which everything is brighter, larger and more entertaining than in everyday life.

In comparison to Disney, Eco implies (Travels in hyperreality), reality can be disappointing. When he travels the artificial river in Disneyland, for example, he sees animatronic imitations of animals. But, on a trip down the real Mississippi, the river fails to reveal its alligators. "...You risk feeling homesick for Disneyland," he concludes, "where the wild animals don't have to be coaxed. Disneyland tells us that technology can give us more reality than nature can."

He also discovers something else in Disney: a place that no longer even pretends it is imitating reality, but is straightforward about the fact that "within its magic enclosure it is fantasy that is absolutely reproduced."

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/

See that post with different algorithms in metabole

See the journal French Metablog with today different posts

Enter Hypertextual as a member