The digital frontier, simulacra, and the blurred line between the real and unreal is a double edged sword for me.
On one hand it can see the demise of important cultural distinctions being replaced by an over-commercialized version. Think of Chinese food for instance. The american Chinese restaurant is not real Chinese culture, or Chinese food. It's a distorted symbol of Chinese food. But when these restaurants have been around so long, they become their own entity. Then there is your own country's food, Chinese food, and Fake Chinese food.
A simulation becomes the replacement of reality or an entity of itself separate from the real.
That in and of itself is a potentially destructive process, with the possibility for the Chinese to one day be having "Chinese Restaurants" in their own country instead of their true cultural foods (for example).
On the other hand, I believe that the virtual reality aspect of simulacrum can be an infinitely positive thing.
Things that have been lost can be recreated, things that cannot be can all of a sudden be.
Within the digital realm there is potential for anything and everything.
This in and of itself has potential for harm, with people preferring the unreal to real, ignoring some of the inconvenient realities of the world. However it does have the potential to offer so much to people, in whatever way people want.
-Thomas
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