Editing Hyperreality (section)

== Significance ==
Hyperreality is significant as a [[paradigm]] to explain current cultural conditions. [[Consumerism]], because of its reliance on sign exchange value (e.g. brand X shows that one is fashionable, car Y indicates one's wealth), could be seen as a contributing factor in the creation of hyperreality or the hyperreal condition. Hyperreality tricks consciousness into detaching from any real emotional engagement, instead opting for artificial simulation, and endless reproductions of fundamentally empty appearance. Essentially (although Baudrillard himself may balk at the use of this word), fulfillment or [[happiness]] is found through simulation and imitation of a transient [[simulacrum]] of reality, rather than any interaction with any "real" [[reality]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Goff |first=Graham C. |date=2024-05-03 |title=Ascetic protestantism as fatal strategy: religious-economic conflict and the implosion of cultural value |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10253866.2024.2313106 |journal=Consumption Markets & Culture |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=284–294 |doi=10.1080/10253866.2024.2313106 |issn=1025-3866|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

While hyperreality is not a new concept, its effects are more relevant in modern society, incorporating technological advancements like artificial intelligence, virtual reality and [[neurotechnology]] ([[simulated reality]]). This is attributed to the way it effectively captured the postmodern condition, particularly how people in the postmodern world seek stimulation by creating unreal worlds of spectacle and seduction and nothing more.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Contemporary Social and Sociological Theory: Visualizing Social Worlds |last=Allan |first=Kenneth |publisher=SAGE |year=2010 |isbn=9781412978200 |location=Thousand Oaks, CA |pages=311}}</ref> There are dangers to the use of hyperreality within our culture; individuals may observe and accept hyperreal images as role models when the images don't necessarily represent real physical people. This can result in a desire to strive for an unobtainable ideal, or it may lead to a lack of unimpaired role models. [[Daniel J. Boorstin]] cautions against confusing celebrity worship with hero worship, "we come dangerously close to depriving ourselves of all real models. We lose sight of the men and women who do not simply seem great because they are famous but who are famous because they are great".{{sfn|Boorstin|1992|p=48}} He bemoans the loss of old heroes like [[Moses]], [[Julius Caesar]] and [[Abraham Lincoln]], who did not have [[public relations]] (PR) agencies to construct hyperreal images of themselves.{{sfn|Boorstin|1992|p=49}} The dangers of hyperreality are also facilitated by information technologies, which provide tools to dominant powers that seek to encourage it to drive consumption and materialism.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction |last=Kincheloe |first=Joe |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media]] |year=2008 |isbn=9781402082238 |location=New York |pages=206}}</ref> The danger in the pursuit of stimulation and seduction emerge not in the lack of meaning but, as Baudrillard maintained, "we are gorged with meaning and it is killing us."<ref>{{Cite book |title=Mapping the Subject: Geographies of Cultural Transformation |last1=Pile |first1=Steve |last2=Thrift |first2=Nigel |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=1995 |isbn=0415102251 |location=London |pages=241}}</ref>

Hyperreality, some sources point out, may provide insights into the postmodern movement by analyzing how simulations disrupt the [[binary opposition]] between reality and [[illusion]] but it does not address or resolve the contradictions inherent in this tension.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Postmodernism, Page 2 |last1=Taylor |first1=Victor |last2=Winquist |first2=Charles |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2001 |isbn=0415152941 |location=London |pages=183}}</ref>