The fourth stage is pure simulacrum, in which the simulacrum has no relationship to any reality whatsoever. Here, signs merely reflect other signs and any claim to reality on the part of images or signs is only of the order of other such claims. This is a regime of total equivalency, where cultural products need no longer even pretend to be real in a naïve sense, because the experiences of consumers’ lives are so predominantly artificial that even claims to reality are expected to be phrased in artificial, “hyperreal” terms. Any naïve pretension to reality as such is perceived as bereft of critical self-awareness, and thus as oversentimental.
I yearn to eat the ghost of the ghost of the ghost of chocolate. I yearn to consume the idea of nutrient-fortified milk rendered into a hyperreal chocolate flavour that marks the absence of chocolate and nutrients.
Baudrillard is such an important daily lens for me because he helps me understand why these things are so repulsive and demonic to me. There are so many weird layers of alienation to a 4th stage simulacrum and all of them are predatory.
My partner got me one of these
It’s a chilling portent of things to come
The fourth stage is pure simulacrum, in which the simulacrum has no relationship to any reality whatsoever. Here, signs merely reflect other signs and any claim to reality on the part of images or signs is only of the order of other such claims. This is a regime of total equivalency, where cultural products need no longer even pretend to be real in a naïve sense, because the experiences of consumers’ lives are so predominantly artificial that even claims to reality are expected to be phrased in artificial, “hyperreal” terms. Any naïve pretension to reality as such is perceived as bereft of critical self-awareness, and thus as oversentimental.
Mmm I love my hershey-flavored dextrose treats 😋
I yearn to eat the ghost of the ghost of the ghost of chocolate. I yearn to consume the idea of nutrient-fortified milk rendered into a hyperreal chocolate flavour that marks the absence of chocolate and nutrients.
Baudrillard is such an important daily lens for me because he helps me understand why these things are so repulsive and demonic to me. There are so many weird layers of alienation to a 4th stage simulacrum and all of them are predatory.
If it’s milk chocolate flavored, does that at least mean it’s vegan?
Oh no.
Oh yes
It’s imitation imitation chocolate
Sort of like in Judge Dredd when they outlawed synthi-caff and replaced it with synthi-synthi-caff