Metasimulacrum & AI simulation: human, media, interfaces
- Authors: Aliev R.T.1,2
-
Affiliations:
- Saint Petersburg State University
- HSE University Saint Petersburg
- Issue: Vol 36, No 1 (2025)
- Pages: 102-120
- Section: Social practices
- URL: https://journals.rcsi.science/0236-2007/article/view/285961
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.31857/S0236200725010076
- ID: 285961
Abstract
This essay explores changes in the perception of reality and art in the digital age, where artificial intelligence and algorithmic processes form an integral part of our interaction with the media environment. The author introduces the concept of metasimulacrum, which represents a hybrid form of simulation that transcends classical notions of signs and their connection to reality. Metasimulacrum do not simply reproduce reality but actively transform it, altering the nature of symbols and meanings in the digital world. The author examines how metasimulacrum reshape creativity, turning it into a complex symbiosis of humans and technology, with algorithms acting as active co-creators that directly influence the final outcome. The essay discusses how human-algorithm interaction leads to changes in the creative process, making it more algorithmically defined and hybrid in nature.
Special attention is given to how digital information and technologies create a new environment for existence, which requires adaptation and reappropriation through bricolage. Bricolage serves as a method for appropriating and utilizing digital resources for survival and sustainable existence in this new informational element, where individuals must find new ways to adapt. The essay also addresses changes in perceptions of reality, symbols, and the uniqueness of the creative act in the context of posthumanism, where human and machine interaction creates hybrid forms of art. The focus lies on changes in the nature of symbols, meanings, and the perception of art as a democratic, accessible, and adaptive tool for engaging with the surrounding world, challenging traditional notions of the creative act and the uniqueness of an artwork.
About the authors
Rastyam T. Aliev
Saint Petersburg State University; HSE University Saint Petersburg
Author for correspondence.
Email: rtaliev@hse.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-2812-7655
CSc in History, Researcher at the Institute of Philosophy, Researcher at Laboratory of Critical Cultural Theory
Russian Federation, 5, Mendeleevskaya Line, 199034 St. Petersburg; 123, Lit. A, 123, Canal Griboyedova Embankment, 190068 St. PetersburgReferences
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