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UMI A Ben & HoweIllDformalion Company 300 North Zeeb ~ ADn Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313n61-4700 8001521.060() l Simulation and the Digital Refiguring Of Culture by Malcolm Kirk Cecil Graduate Progrnm in Communications McGiII University, Montreal August, 1996 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Gmduate Studies and Research in partial fuifillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts. © Malcolm Kirk Cecil, 1996 ( National Ubrary Bibliothèque nationale 1.1 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue Wellington Cltawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1 A 0N4 Canada canada Our'" NctnI ,.~ The author bas granted a non­ L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library ofCanada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies ofthis thesis in microfonn, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership ofthe L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts from it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels May be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son penmSSlon. autorisation. 0-612-29534-6 Canadl Abstract This thesis elaborates on existing definitions and descriptions ofsimulation to develop an extended. inter-disciplinary concept ofsimulation that serves as an orienting model for the interpretation ofculture. As cultural theory~ simulation offers insights into the stabilization and propagation ofcultural forms. Used descriplively ~ the metaphor of simulation throws into definition a cultural pattern of progressive formalization through increasingly sophisticated methods ofabstraction. 1find evidence of the pattern at Many levels of analysis; metaphysical, social and micro-social, particularly at the level of the body. 1 use the speculative notion of the digital retiguring ofculture 10 articulate this tendency towards abstraction through a parallel with the enhanced analytic and representational capacities of digital technology. 1consider several actual and hypothetical ways that the computer figures in tbis process. 1argue that the basis for cultural fonn is shifting away from the referential function of the body, as the abstract realm of mediated relations takes on greater importance in modem culture. Cette thèse élabore des définitions et des descriptions déjà existantes de simulations, afin de dévelop~r un concept plus élaboré et interdisciplinaire qui va servir comme modèle d orientation pour interpréter la culture. Comme théorie s appliquant à la culture, la simulation offre une réflexion sur la stabilisation et la propogation de modèles culturels. Utilisé de façon descriptive~ le modèle fait ressortir un motif culturel de formalisation progressive, à travers des méthodes d abstraction de plus en plus sophistiquées. Je trouve des signes de ce motif sur plusieurs niveaux d analyse: Metaphysique, social~ micro-social et particulièrement au niveau du corps. J'utilise la notion spéculative de refiguration numérique de la culture pour exprimer cette tendance vers 1abstraetion~ en la mettant en parallèle avec les capacités d analyse et de représentation de la technologie numérique. J observe plusieurs façons existantes ou hypothétiques que 1ordinateur occupe dans ce procédé. J avance 1hypothèse que les fondaments du modèle culturel sont en train de s écarter de la fonction du corps comme référence, du moment où 1abstraction des relations intramedium, sans face à face, prends de plus en plus d importance dans la culture moderne. ( Table ofContents Preface and Acknowledgements 2 IntrOOuction 3 ChapterOne: The Contribution ofJean Baudrillard 14 1n search ofthe •code'................................. .............................. .. .. .. 20 The systemic operation ofsimulation 26 ChapterTwo: Social Simulation 30 The operational form ofsimulation 35 Simulationand the fonnalization ofsociallife 42 ChapterThree: The metaphysics ofsimulation 49 The eclipse ofReason 5() The Evil Demon ofSimulation 54 The Fabling ofthe World 55 Refabling the Social Booy .56 ChapterFour: Digital Domains 60 Postmodem Play Spaces (i() Parallel Politics: TheZapatista Rebellion 70 Chapter Five: Simulationat theTechno-Sociallotetface 82 The Digital Refiguring ofCulture 92 .Reproximation'................................. ................................ ........... fI] The Culture ofAbstraction 101 Conclusion 107 WorksCited Ils ( 1 Preface and Acknowledeements 1would like to thank my faculty advisorCharles Levin for bis generosity in contributing both time and ideas to this lengthy project. 1especially appreciate the creative and supPOrtive atmosphere that he cultivated throughout our work together. My thanks also to the students and the faculty of the Graduate Program in Communications at McGill University who made my stay there a consistently interesting one. 1would like to single out Professors Ron Bumetty Will Straw y David Crowley and Mette Hjort ofthe English Department as having been models of good scholarship. Thanks also to the FCAR and the tax payers ofQuébec who funded my research over the last two years. Fïnally, 1would like to dedicate tbis thesis to my family, who raised me in a context that made this sort ofwork especially meaningful, and to my wife Farinaz, who gave me much love, encouragement and stimulating feedback while 1worked. 1am required by the faculty ofgraduate studies to reproduce the following text to infonn the external examineroffaculty regulations: ( Candidates have the option ofincluding, as part ofthe thesis, the text ofone or more paPers submitted or to he submitted for publication, orthe clearly-duplicated text ofone or more published papers. These texts must he bound as an integral part ofthe thesis. Iftbis option is chosen, connecting lexts that provide logical bridges between the papers are mandatory. The thesis must he written in a such a way that it is more than a mere collection of manuscripts; in other words, results of a series ofpapers must he integrated. The thesis must still conform to ail other requirements ofthe '"Guidelines forThesis Preparation". The thesis must include: A Table ofContents, an abstracl in English and French, an introduction which clearly states the rationale and objectives ofthe study, a review ofthe Iiterature, a final conclusion and summary, and a thorough bibliography or reference liste Additional material must he provided where appropriate (e.g. in appendices) and in sufficient detail to allow a clearand precisejudgment to be made ofthe importance and originality ofthe research reported in the thesis. ln the case of manuscripts co-authored by the candidate and others, the candidate is required to make an explicit statement in the thesis as to who contributed to such work and to what extent. Supervisors must attest to the accuracy ofsuch statements al the doctoral oral defense. Since the task ofthe examiners is made more difficult in these cases, it is in the candidate's interest to make perfectly c1earthe responsibilities ofail the authors ofthe co-authored papers. ( 2 Introduction This thesis sets out to assess the utility ofthe conceptofsimulation as an orienting model for the interpretation ofcultures. If, as SherryTurkle writes in ber latest book, "We are moving towards a culture ofsimulation in which people are increasingly comfortable with substituting representations ofreality for the real," (23) it is time to review sorne ofthe many fonns ofsimulation, the theoretical treatments ofsimulation, and the evidence of simulation in the cultural context, to ask what such a culture would entail, and ifin fact, as many theorists have suggested, we might not already he living in it. Wefind sorne ofthe most pressing moral and epistemological concems ofour age centering around the interface oftechnology and culture, where simulation has hecome