Imaginary Reality
What are the consequences of allowing oneself to be consumed by the artificial?
Does the artificial hinder or enhance one’s experience with the physical world?
Koolhaas investigates this phenomenon observing the consequences that a congested city creates, concluding that artificial technology “is a superior substitute for the natural reality that is being depleted by the sheer density of human consumers”.
The examples that Koolhaas highlights demonstrate opportunities that physically provide the public an imaginary reality and for the most part, it creates new experiences for society to enjoy and assists facilitate a place for interaction.
Today, one of the biggest technologies to simulate reality is the cell phone. But unlike Coney Island’s technology, this technology creates a world in one’s mind rather than a physical augmentation of reality. For this case, artificiality hinders tangible experiences.
The question now is, does the built environment adapt to the effects or does it attempt to redirect its course?
Your comment on today's version of technology that simulates reality, the cell phone, is very interesting; mainly because of how true it is. The use of phones has essentially dominated the desire to experience the tangible and actual world and needs to be fixed sooner than later. To answer your question, I personally think the built environment should attempt to redirect this course, mainly because it is one of the few remaining things that can actually do it. The way in which to do it is to design structures in such a way that they entice and attract individuals and put their attention into something other than their cell phone.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up an interesting conversation between how you experience both the physical world and "artificial world", specifically as it is related to time and technology. In the case of Coney Island their fantasy world was very much a physical place, a manifestation of the human imagination. However I'm not sure the impact that the cell phone, social media, or even virtual reality will have on this idea of experiencing artificial space. I feel like with technology we're so caught up in the artificial that we miss out on the physical. Unfortunately instead of building a new Coney Island out of need or desire I think we'll continue to experience this escape from reality digitally as opposed to physically.
ReplyDeleteThe technology provide us with a brand-new of experience of touching the world from different dimension, but still limited, like visual reality, it is still restricted by space, and the sense of touch. And I believe the visual interaction with machines still can't replace the real interaction with real objects.
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