Henceforth, it is the map that precedes the territory – PRECESSION OF SIMULACRA – it is the map that engenders the territory and if we were to revive the fable today, it would be the territory whose shreds are slowly rotting across the map. It is the real, and not the map, whose vestiges subsist here and there, in the deserts which are no longer those of the Empire, but our own.

The desert of the real itself.

“ The Precession of Simulacra” from Baudrillard, Jean. Simulacra and Simulation. Michigan, USA: University of Michigan Press, 1994.

Aim of Essay

Update and Relate Simulations and Simulcra to the current era of Hacking and Virtual Reality.

1 Theoretical Frameworks

• Simulacra and Simulation (primary text), link briefly to Dreyfus’ On the Internet (distance learning), and Jenkins’ Convergence Culture (hopeful solutions but also issues with walled garden social media/VR).
• Establish key Baudrillard terms and judge their impact and usefulness.

2 Mediated reality

• Explain links between the Matrix films, social issues, information, entertainment, and VR, under the heading “Synchronicity between film, fiction, philosophy and fact.”

3 Baudrillard’s theory-Video Games, Cybersecurity, hacking and VR

• Focus on hacking, hacking versus cracking, and hacking versus crafting and tinkering.
• Give examples of VR, social media companies and VR, personal and sensory data issues) and biofeedback interfaces/affective computing), and hacking issues.

4 Digital mediation, simulacra and simulation, digital artifacts in education

• Expand on the relevance to digital humanities, teaching and learning (and research), especially in Australia (and perhaps Oceania).
• Contextualize in terms of distance learning during the era of COVID and lockdowns.
• Expand upon the implications for educating current and upcoming generations.

5 VR Hacking-digital paradigm, education and computer hacking

• Does the theory/framework hold up? Can it adjust, must it be adopted wholeheartedly, is it more of a warning than a framework, has it remained relevant?
• Implications.
• Future possibilities, threats, strategies in education.
• Tie all above together, explain originality.

Learning outcomes

1. Analyse and discuss a range of theoretical frameworks for understanding our mediated ‘reality’ and the digital paradigm, and in particular the work of Jean Baudrillard.
2. Apply the reading of Baudrillard’s propositions regarding our mediated reality to the analysis of the Matrix Trilogy to identify the degree of synchronicity between film, fiction, philosophy and fact.
3. Critically review the value of Baudrillard’s theoretical frames for understanding video games, cyber security events in general, and computer hacking in particular.
4. Critically evaluate the implications of Baudrillard’s propositions around digital mediation, simulacra and simulation for the use of digital artifacts in education.
5. Communicate effectively to present a coherent and independent exposition of knowledge and ideas within and across a range of discipline areas related to the digital paradigm, education and computer hacking.