Category Archives: Virtual Forums

Texting and Social Media as Hyperreal

With the convenience of connecting online, the internet becomes a new virtual reality. We replace the face-to-face connections and conversations with a simple text, believing that will be sufficient. However, the virtual world is no where near the same as … Continue reading

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Second Life

One of the most relevant examples of the hyperreal that we can observe today is that of virtual reality. A popular virtual reality that over a million people have made accounts on, called “Second Life” is a perfect case that … Continue reading

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Examples of the Hyperreal: Ghost Cities in China

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2015/07/20/what-will-become-of-chinas-ghost-cities/ Because of its rapid economic development, China has constructed several cities that it intends to fill with people and their burgeoning activity. However, the cities often experience a time gap between construction and occupation and use, resulting in a … Continue reading

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The Star Wars Effect — How hyperreality is changing reality

http://www.space.com/8917-star-wars-changed-world.html Along with the massive pop culture influence Star Wars holds, this article argues that this hyperreal science-fantasy is shaping several current technological trends, including a miniature ‘Death Star’ that targets malaria-carrying mosquitoes. This is an excellent example of the … Continue reading

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Hyperreal Example – Touched Up Model

My example of hyperreal was a touched up photo of a model. Photoshop is often used to blur the line between real and fabricated, and that is done exceptionally well with photos of individuals for magazines and other media sources. … Continue reading

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Androids as Slaves of Colonialization

“Nothing is as exciting. To read about cities and huge industrial enterprises, and really successful colonization. You can imagine what it might have been like. What Mars ought to be like,” (Dick 151). Pris is here telling Isadore of the … Continue reading

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Implications of Setting in Neuromancer

Neuromancer (just like Blade Runner and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) takes place in a setting that includes both an arsenal of advanced technology and a pervading sense of urban decay.  On one hand, the contrast between the two– … Continue reading

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Technological Development and the Natural Environment

The natural world—forests, open fields, areas untouched by mankind—are almost completely lacking in William Gibson’s, Nueromancer. In fact, Gibson demonstrates the gross disconnect between humans and nature in the opening line of his work, comparing the sky—one of the most … Continue reading

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Humanity and Identity in Neuromancer

Neuromancer is a novel deeply entrenched in themes of individual identity and relevance of physical human embodiment. In the beginning of the story, Case associates his identity wholly with his job. He sees himself only as a useless thug-for-hire without … Continue reading

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Technology Overload

William Gibson’s novel titled Neuromancer was one of the first novels published within a new subgenre of science fiction called cyberpunk.  This literary movement began in the 1980s and sought to combine things of high tech nature with things of … Continue reading

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