Week 8- Lecture

This weeks lecture I found particularly interesting, despite the Einstein-Esq rambling of the lecturer. Virtual philosophy was discussed in detail in this weeks lecture, a concept I found particularly hard to get my head around, but still enjoyed trying to.

He began the lecture by introducing philosophy and some of its most famous faces, including Plato. The application of philosophy, a study of life that has existed for thousands of years, in the virtual world is an extremely interesting concept; something I have never even thought of, but the lecturer discussed it as if it was the most logical of ideas.

He discussed the way in which every image we see in the virtual world is a representation of life and the socialisation of a person allows them the ability to tell the difference. For example, when we see a box of tic tacs projected on the wall, we know, even though we cannot physically see the box of tic tacs, that it exists in reality. He then went on to explain that this was not always the case, but has developed over time immensely.

The lecturer explored the way in which the hierarchy that existed between reality and the virtual world has been destroyed, and that the two now exist in the same realm. He linked this concept to the film The Matrix and the way in which the film effectively applied this concept.

While this concept was extremely difficult to comprehend, it definatelty made me think about its existence and to question it immensely, not only in regard to the virtual world, but life itself and what allows us to believe what we see.