Assignment 5: What is reality?

Introduction

The aim of the essay is to analyse the boundaries between the 'real' and the 'virtual' in our contemporary culture. It would be easy to spend the entire essay and much more on defining 'reality' and 'virtual' but it is important to set some context for the substantive text.

Taking from the Oxford English Dictionary, Wikipedia defines reality as "the conjectured state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined." Existence is itself not easy to define, notably whether the term is restricted to physical existence. Consequently, an easier way of defining reality is to what it is not: fictional, abstract or imaginary. Freud saw reality as a constraint, as an interference in the 'pleasure principle': the process of obtaining gratification from previous experience. Lacan thought this was too simple; in his 'symbolic order', the distinction is less clear.

Lacan theorised three registers: Real, Imaginary and Symbolic. The Real for Lacan is a state of nature, in which we are in constant need; it is neo natal because the acquisition of language separates us from Real. We can therefore never describe the Real - "the real is impossible" says Lacan; its role is to act as a barrier to the imaginary and symbolic orders. 

The symbolic order  is characterised by the adoption of  skills and norms required to engage in society: notably language, but also acceptance of social norms and the rule of law. It is related to the Oedipus complex discussed in previous blog. There is some congruence with the Real to a child growing up and adopting language and norms.

Lacan sees the imaginary order as being where the individual creates fantasy images of himself and of his objects of desire (Felluga, 2011). There is a close relationship to the Mirror Stage, that point where the child moves from the I to the Other, realising he or she is an individual and not just a body reliant on others. 

Reality is therefore many faceted. The term 'virtual' means near or almost so we are seeking in this project phenomena that are very close to what we deem real. 

I have chosen two topics to consider: Photography, specifically the role of manipulation; and some contemporary developments in the world of digital technology. In both cases I argue that the boundaries between the virtual and the real are merged, concluding with a project where they have completely merged. 

Photographic manipulation

 "And after it rains there's a rainbow
And all of the colors are black
It's not that the colors aren't there
It's just imagination they lack"

Paul Simon - My Little Town

Post processing - the manipulation of images after they have been photographed - has become mainstream since the advent of digital cameras. The most  commonly used software amongst keen amateurs and professionals is Adobe Photoshop, originally designed to aid graphic design, but now the leading camera image manipulation software.  

Consider the image below of Gribben Head in Cornwall. It was taken in fairly extreme weather in early January 2014 while walking the South West Coast Path:

The image was taken in camera RAW - the above is saved as jpeg 'out of the camera.' We get a sense of changing weather conditions, can see the landscape is out of season. But the image appears drab: grey with dull browns, with a bright white sun leading the eye away from the main subject: the coastline.

Now consider the following manipulated image:

In this manipulation I have cropped the left side to reduce the flair from the sun, added  strong saturation and contrast; sharpened; and reduced luminescent noise, using Photoshop and Topaz, a plug in. This manipulation was done for a specific purpose. The magazine for South West Coast Path Association was seeking images of the trail taken in winter for use in their published material. I had several suitable images and submitted a few. Would they be likely to print the top image? Probably not, it is too drab. But there is a very positive response for the second, submitted, image from the administrator responsible for the magazine:

"Many thanks for sending us these photographs. I love the Gribbin Head one – the colours are wonderful. I hope we will be able to use them in our marketing¹

So my hunch that the original image required a more vivid interpretation to be used for a publication seems correct. We have an image which is not reality in the sense of what I was conscious of, but rather one that I preferred and perceived an audience might prefer. Disregarding smugness from the author, what are the underlying processes here?

To quote Paul Simon (above): "It's not that the colors aren't there/It's just imagination they lack". The post processing provides the imagination. It is the function of the software to empower me to enhance reality. The post processed image is reality as defined above - it is not imagined, but it is virtual as it is not what my eyes perceived on a January afternoon. Even expensive SLR cameras do not have the dynamic range of the human eye (incidentally a good reason for the adoption of post processing techniques) but the original image is a lot closer to the 'reality' that I experienced. I prefer, however, to submit to a publication a brighter more vivid image because as Freeman (2010, p20) points out, most people prefer rich colours to drab ones. In Lacanian terms my imagination has overcome the barrier of the Real by the use of the software.
 
There are those who would think the manipulated looks 'unnatural'; 'get it right in the camera' is the cry. Theirs is a view one respects. But the genie is out of the bottle. Freeman (ibid) summarises thus:

"It's hard to know where photography fits in the fully liberated world of digital colour..."

Photographic software is now so sophisticated that it gives rise to a second, virtual, reality only partially dependent on the reality described by the image on the sensor. It is unlikely that the (indeed any) camera's settings could have been adjusted to take the secondary image 'in camera', it relies on software. Post processing software typically describes processes such as 'painting' or 'digital scissors', implying it is creating a new and distinct image.

Howells and Negreiros (2012, p265) take a different view of manipulation. They contend that technological changes make manipulation easier and more wide-ranging², but the act itself is the same. It is only a question of degree and consequently: 'the special, complex relationship between reality and the photograph remains fundamentally as it has always been'. This confuses the act with the outcome. If we produce a manipulated image that adduces different responses from the viewer than the original, the result is a different reality. The difference may be subtle - 'virtual' - but that is sufficient. Howells and Negreiros arguably contradict their own argument when they describe how Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths from Cottingley in Yorkshire, using only a domestic camera, produced images of themselves playing with fairies that were sufficiently convincing for many, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, to be duped of the veracity of the fairies' existence. If that is not an ontological difference created by manipulation, it is difficult to see what is.

There is a wider argument concerning whether photography is art. This is important for this discussion, because if it is not art, then by definition photography can be describing only one reality. In this view, photography is no more than a photocopy of the actual. It copies reality, it does not add to it; 'we respond not to the photograph itself, but what it's of' (Howells and Negreiros, ibid, p190). It is the view of Roger Scruton that:

"if one finds a photograph beautiful, it is because one finds something beautiful in its subject. A painting may be beautiful, on the other hand, even when it represents an ugly thing." (Scruton, 1984)

Yet there is more than merely recording the subject-matter. To use the terminology of Nusselder (2009), a photograph reflects both selection of the subject and the composition thereof by its author. He or she takes responsibility for the aesthetic of the image by choosing a subject and how it should be viewed to best represent the author's desires. Selection and composition are subjective choices; 100 photographers set the same task will produce 100 different solutions reflecting their individual imagination and desires. Each will be a distinct 'reality'. To turn the argument on its head, photography, because of its unique proximity to the subject-matter, yet subtly presenting it slightly differently, is a quintessential example of the difference between 'real' and 'virtual'. Post processing extends the range of the realities of the camera yet further.

Sending is Being

Creation Story

In the beginning

there was the cool touch

of a flagstone floor.

Baby soft feet.

And then a big brown bowl

and a swallowing up.

A lap’s crazy heat.

Soft petals. Wet cheek.

Mum dead heading roses.

Susan Jane Sims

From Irene’s Daughter, Poetry Space Ltd 2010 (First published in Obsessed with Pipework, 2009.)

 

The pace of change in digital technology has been so rapid recently that the constraints of the academic modus operandi mean that much research is out of date technologically speaking before the metaphorical ink is dry. Howells and Negreiros (ibid, p 263) describe the problem thus:

 "Disasters lie in wait for writers in new media...The first disaster befalls the writer who attempts an 'up to date' account of the new media today. Inevitably the new have (sic) become old by the time the manuscript reaches print,...[resulting] only in comedy value for the reader."

They continue their chapter on 'New Media' by considering the internet (briefly), photographic manipulation (as above) and the music video. For them, 'new media' are no more than 'new delivery systems' (ibid, p264); the reality does not change, merely the way in which it is delivered. They omit the interrelationship of new technologies with the user, which is the subject of this section. The contention is that these new forms of information exchange have profound influences beyond the immediately apparent; they present alternative, virtual, forms of reality in cyberspace.

Cyberspace may be defined as 'the mental space of the conceptualization or representation of the codified objects of the computer' (Nusselder, ibid, loc 56). The computer screen acts a screen of fantasy in cyberspace (Nusselder, ibid, loc 76). At its most basic - the digital technology equivalent of Lacanian Real - a computer is no more than a binary distinction between ones and zeroes, but the message therefrom is distorted by the screen of the human mind (Nusselder, ibid, loc 81). Lacan considered the determination of objects to be a function of the human mind; technological interfaces determine the object's appearance:

"Just as early humans painted their other Self on the walls of their caves...., modern humans "paint" or design their virtual Self on or with the interfaces of computer technologies." (Nusselder, ibid, loc 86) 

Most users have alter egos when using technological communication, sometimes textual based 'user IDs' but commonly visual avatars, the 'face' of ourselves presented in technological communication. The avatar illustrates Lacan's three orders above; as an avatar I have both a real self and a symbolic self, and act out my fantasies in an imaginary domain. The fantasy self is 'not merely a duplication of the real but also an inevitable formation of it.' (Nusselderibid, loc 96). 

Sherry Turkle (1995) adopts the thesis of Baudrillard, arguing that the distinction between real and virtual has disappeared due to the proliferation of 'multi user domains' (MUDs) or 'neighbourhoods in cyberspace' leading to 'hyperrealities' where reality and the simulation of reality are indistinguishable. Turkle sees benefits in the ability of individuals to explore new identities, but sees dangers in the shallowness of the consequent remote relationships. Cyberspace may lead to identity confusion, or for some become a shelter from the travails of everyday life. This binarism is discussed in blog entry The Matrix in which the simulacra created by aliens is confronted by dissidents.

Turkle extends the argument in Alone Together (2011). The trends she saw earlier have been exacerbated by the development of smart phones and tablets. Before the advent of portable devices, we sat in front of a computer, experimented with our 'identity workshop' then rose and became ourselves again. But we are now 'always on'; we crave the sweetness of the incoming message or tweet - someone wants a piece of us, and we interrupt our discourse to read it. In the interview discussing the book (below) she discusses how the 'playground of immortality' engendered by the huge network of contacts on Facebook, Twitter and other social media³ creates 'the illusion of companionship without the demands of relationship'. 'We are but simulations' she adds, 'we cannot be ourselves. Sending is being.

Turkle bemoans the loss of conversational skills particularly at ostensibly social occasions such as dinner. This Facebook ad says it all:

In Freudian terms, the girl can indulge the pleasure principle - she does not have to listen to boring conversation but can take herself to an imagined reality of rock drummer, ballet dancers, and snowball fights. The social norm constraint (Freud's reality principle) of politely listening to conversation is undone by the availability of her smart phone.

There is an irony here. It is impossible for the younger generation in particular to unplug from social media, because to do so would be to unplug from social contact. An acquaintance recounts how she was bullied at school but felt safe once she could close the door at home; 'they' could not get at her. Fast forward 40 years and there is no escape from cyberbullying in the always on society. Not only are bullies more able to access their targets, but their vitriol is often more extreme than in face to face contact. 

Turkle is therefore concerned that that utopian dream has turned into a dystopian nightmare: a particular manifestation of the general principle of the Law of Unintended Consequences. The positive, liberating effect of new technology has a negative, controlling flip side. Whatever, the technology cannot be 'uninvented', we have to mitigate the negative impacts. 

The other main thrust of technology to consider in our reality/virtual dichotomy is artificial intelligence ('AI'). As with many forms of new technology, sex products are a leading driver. Teledildonics - electronic sex toys controlled by computers -  have been around for a while as an enabling method of reaching orgasm (source: Wikipedia). The physical gratification is being enhanced by bluetooth and apps that can activate devices remotely; an example of where the real and virtual have truly merged. Levy (2008) presents a positive view of how we can receive gratification sexually and (importantly) emotionally from robots:

"Humans will fall in love with robots, humans will marry robots, and humans will have sex with robots, all as...'normal' extensions of our love and sexual desire for other humans." (p 22)

Contrary to expectations, Levy believes women will embrace the technology as much as men, as, in his view, robots will increasingly provide empathy and support, providing much more than purely physical gratification, or even the limited comforts of robot pets such as Tamagotchi and AIBO. 

Conclusion

The two discussions in this essay - one on a restricted more traditional plane, the other more philosophical and wide-ranging - show that the boundary between the real and the virtual is becoming blurred to an extent that suggests Boudrillard is right: there is no longer a distinction. 

The denouement belongs to this project. The accompanying video lends much to Sherry Turkle.

Artist Mark Farid spends 28 days wearing a VR headset and experience life as 'the Other', a heterosexual male who he does not know. The project considers whether Mark will lose his identity and adopt the reality of the Other. The virtual meets reality head on. The project is ongoing as this essay is written. 

Notes:

1. I submitted two others, below, that are perhaps more challenging for inclusion in a marketing campaign. The first is of an abandoned property in Westward Ho! The place the weather conditions and the ambience suited a black and white conversion in my view, providing a 'Du Maurieresque' feel to the image. The second is of Admiral's Hard in Plymouth after the February 2014 storms. It is almost desaturated but I maintained the blue channel so the observer will more readily notice the unscathed SWCP icon on the right, signifying sustainability despite the surrounding debris. The principle is the same: altering one reality to enhance messages in another. Will be interesting to see if these are utilised.

2. The ease with which digital images can be taken and manipulated accords with the thesis of Walter Benjamin - mechanical reproduction "emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual" -  discussed in a blog entry in Chapter 2 and enthusiastically upheld by John Berger.

3. The number of social media continues to grow. Ello was established recently in a competitive landscape.

 
References: 


Felluga, Dino (2011) Modules on Lacan: On the Gaze. Introductory Guide to Critical Theory. Available from http://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/psychoanalysis/lacangaze.html. Accessed on 21 November 2014

Freeman, Martin (2010) The Photographer's Mind. Ilex Press Ltd. Lewes

Howells, Richard and Negreiros, Joaquim (2012) Visual Culture. Polity Press. Cambridge

Johnston, Adrian (2013) Jacques Lacan Available from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/lacan/. Accessed on 21 November 2014

Lacan, Jacques (1999) The Seminar of Jacques Lacan. Book 20: On Feminie Sexuality: The limits of Love and Knowlededge (Encore). New York. Norton (quoted in Nusselder, 2009)

Levy, David (2008) Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships. Harper Collins e-books.

Nusselder, André (2009) Interface Fantasy: A Lacanian Cyborg Ontology Kindle version. Amazon

Scruton, Roger (2014) The Aesthetic Understanding. Methuen. London. Quoted in Howells and Negreiros (ibid)

Turkle, Sherry (1995) Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. Simon & Schuster. New York.

Turkle (2011) Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other. Basic Books. New York.