Yes, Damien, how true.
But only for the imaginary and 'reality'. The Real is something else entirely.
Subject/Object are, we may say, products of the Real.
While perusing Simone deBouvoir's letters to Jean Paul Satre this morning,
(as one does) I was reminded of Phillip Soller's 'definition' of The Real.
It may help us to 'reinscribe' the difficult concept of 'culture' into the 'mediation,
communication and ?' formula my colleague Sean Cubitt, surprisingly, seeks to
revise. Without some concept of culture, I would argue, it is very difficult to locate
either the imaginary or The Real in analogue or in digital culture. Phillip Sollers said
something to the effect: One must not confuse reality with the Real. Reality may be
reproduced in a newspaper for example (we may add here any cultural artifact from
a film to your local MacDonalds) while The Real produces the newspaper.
The study of culture begins with the study of myths and folklore.
I discuss this further in my forthcoming 'Digital Cultures: locations of production,
networks of distribution, contexts of reception.'
There is also a 'Metaversity' course, a basic introduction to the study of culture that may
interest some people here in Empyre. It discusses in an introductory way some of the
themes under discussion here. Perhaps I will send a message via Empyre_announce.
But let's first peruse the digital object Sean has made.
Lachlan Brown
T(416) 826 6937
VM (416) 822 1123
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