Virtual Philosophy

Taken from The Matrix character Morpheus:
"What is real? How do you define real? If you are talking about your senses, what you feel, taste, smell, or see, then all you're talking about are electrical signals interpreted by your brain."

This lecture is my favorite so far...... I found the content challenging and extremely interesting.

Adam related the concept of virtual philosophy back to Plato and his writings on the "essential truths." Plato suggested that "essential truths" relate to objects in the world having an ideal form. We do not see what is truly there, instead we see a shadow of reality.
Following discussion about Plato and his allegory of a cave the lecture then moved on to philosopher, Guy Debord. Debord wrote "Society of the Spectacle" which grounds itself firmly in teaching the individual how to become accustomed to mediated life.
Following this Adam discussed the ideas of Eco. Umberto Eco wrote of a "hyper-reality" which builds upon McLuhan's idea of the media being an extension of ourselves. Thus, virtual worlds of the internet allow us to experience reality like never before.
The lecture concluded with the ideas placed forward by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. They perceive reality as a string of moments (Platonic essences) in which all the different paths and outcomes (possible forms) make up the virtual reality.