NOTAS Y DEBATES DE ACTUALIDAD

UTOPÍA Y PRAXIS LATINOAMERICANA. AÑO: 23, n° 82 (JULIO-SEPTIEMBRE), 2018, pp. 369-375

REVISTA INTERNACIONAL DE FILOSOFÍA Y TEORÍA SOCIAL

CESA-FCES-UNIVERSIDAD DEL ZULIA. MARACAIBO-VENEZUELA. 

ISSN 1315-5216 / ISSN-e: 2477-9555 

Virtuality as the Ideality of the Information Society

La virtualidad como idealidad en la sociedad de la información

Oksana B. KRUT

ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0797-3935

oxana_krut@list.ru

Department of Intercultural Communication, Tyumen Industrial University, Tyumen, Russian Federation

Ludmila N. KOSHETAROVA

Department of Social and Cultural Activities, Cultural Studies and Sociology, Tyumen State Institute of Culture, Tyumen, Russian Federation

Anna Yu. LOSINSKAYA

Department of Social and Cultural Activities, Cultural Studies and Sociology, Tyumen State Institute of Culture, Tyumen, Russian Federation

Marina V. KORABLINA

Department of Intercultural Communication, Tyumen Industrial University, Tyumen, Russian Federation

Marina V. BOROVKOVA

Department of Russian, Foreign Languages and Culture of Speech, Ural State Law University, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation

This paper is filed in Zenodo:

DOI: http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1512284

Recibido: 17-08-2018 ● Aceptado: 06-09-2018

Utopía y Praxis Latinoamericana publishes under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0). For more information go to https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/deed

INTRODUCTION

With the advent of the XXI century in the life of modern man, more and more places began to be assigned to virtual environment, characterized by its transfer from real objective environment to the sign environment of various technologies that do not have a natural property reference. The form of existence of virtual environment is the information space, which possesses the specific space-time relations, formed in biological and social systems. This space is a kind of superstructure above the physical space (the so-called noosphere) within which the subject is able to create, transform and consume information.

The concept of the noosphere as the "sphere of reason", the shell of the earth created by the mental activity of mankind, was introduced in 1927 by E. Le Roy, the French mathematician and philosopher bergsonian (Vernadskiy, 2008), developed by P. Teilhard de Chardin and the Russian academician V.I. Vernadsky. The noosphere is thus understood as a new state of the biosphere, to which we are approaching without noticing this, as a phenomenon of a planetary scale in which for the first time a man becomes the largest geological force capable of reconstructing the field of his life with his work and thought (Vernadskiy, 2008) and full of new creative possibilities. The information space of the noosphere is understood by V.I. Vernadsky materialistically, as the formation of the sphere of ideal being, which nevertheless organizes the man’s material-transforming activity, and in the great historical tragedy we are experiencing, we have followed the right path that corresponds to the noosphere (Vernadskiy, 2008).

The virtual environment is considered a product of the information society, but it has a long cultural background and is a modification of the previously existing forms of virtuality.

VIRTUALITY AS A FORM OF IDEATIONAL CULTURE

The appeal to geospatial theories in the system of international relations is due to The term ideationality became widely known thanks to P.A. Sorokin and his concept of social and cultural dynamics, whose central idea is the change and fluctuations of the three culture systems: ideational, idealistic and sensual ones. The filling of the ideational and sensual systems of culture is profoundly different, each of them has its own mentality, its own philosophy, type of religion, forms of art, laws, customs and its system of truth and knowledge. Balanced synthesis of these types is called an idealistic one by P.A. Sorokin (Sorokin, 2006).

The spiritual (ideal) supernatural beginning is the priority environment for ideational culture, and altruism, asceticism and mysticism play a priority role in it. Its opposite is the sensual (sensitive) culture, which is characterized by pronounced hedonism. Modern culture is an agonizing sensory system, but it is this state of extinction that is fertile soil for new shoots of ideational culture.

According to the concept of the Russian religious philosopher P.A. Florensky, the history of culture is a chain of alternating "night" and "day" civilizations, which he conditionally calls "medieval" and "revival" ones. At the heart of the "night" civilization lies the religious cult of God, and at the heart of the "day" civilization is the cult of man. The "night" period is the Middle Ages (or the ideational system of culture, according to Sorokin), and the "day" period is the New Age (or sensual culture). Between the Renaissance and the Middle Ages lies the period of destruction of the system, first internal, then public. XX century, according to P.A. Florensky, is a "degeneration" when culture is "on the threshold of a new Middle Ages" (Florenskiy, 2000).

If the XX-XXI century represents a crisis of sensual culture or the "degeneration" of the day civilization, then how can the ideality of modernity manifest itself?

A fertile ground for new shoots of the ideational culture of the 21st century was the dawn of the technogenic information society, which gave birth to a phenomenon like the Internet, replacing an increasing number of our contemporaries the real world. Today, we clearly observe the tendency of "withdrawal" of a personality from the sensible material world to the virtual one. He is less interested in consumption, in spite of the fact that society continues to impose immersion in the world of things and position itself, as "I am that what I have". Escaping from environment, a man of the 21st century creates a new virtual world for himself where he tries to hide himself in a sink from intrusive calls for sensual hedonism (Rusavin, 2001).

P.A. Sorokin predicted the return of ideality, and today, analyzing the virtualization of the information society, we are convinced of this, revealing in it the pronounced ideological sociocultural tendencies. Modern virtuality is a category traditionally associated with computer and video games. The so-called, secondary environment created by means of computer modeling. But the term "virtuality", as noted by J. Borgos, became known in philosophy since the thirteenth century. It belongs to Thomas Aquinas, who asserted that after the destruction of the combination of the soul and the body, the potencies of the second kind, which constitute the beginning of the functioning of the sensory and vegetative parts of the soul, cannot remain, but they remain in the soul virtually as in their original or root (Borgosh, 1975). Therefore, before the appearance of technogenic computer technologies, virtuality was understood as an object or state that does not really exist, but can arise under certain conditions (Sorokin, 2006).

With the ontological approach, virtuality can also be considered as a potential state of being, with a certain active principle present in it and a predisposition to the appearance of certain events or states that can be realized under the appropriate conditions. That is, not as a reality, but as an opportunity.

In physics, for example, virtual particles are called those having the same quantum numbers as real particles, but for which the relationship between momentum, energy and mass is not fulfilled (Sorokin, 2006). These particles are carriers of the interaction that facilitates the transformation of real particles, i.e., a process that causes similar particles to occur in intermediate short-lived states, and virtual particles cannot be detected experimentally (with the help of an observer).

However, the environment created by means of computer modeling exists. It is already created as a result of programming electronic devices, and the user can enter it and immerse there. And this will be using, communicating or otherwise interacting with an already existing object of environment, but not creating it anew in your mind. In this case, the subject will not distinguish between things and events of the real and virtual world: the world is given to him directly in his sensations, and they are at this level indistinguishable (Sorokin, 2006). The virtual environment characterizes the state of consciousness, that is, it is secondary, or subjective environment. Thus, it differs from objective environment, including from the world of our daily life.

Therefore, the virtuality is understood as one of the aspects of the formation of the real being. Such an environment is created due to the interaction of individual consciousness in this or that information field, forming some kind of ideational virtual culture. From a similar point of view, virtual environment models that occur in psychology, aesthetics and in spiritual culture in general should be considered.

VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT MODELS

A modern man, in order to preserve the ability of orientation in the artificial environment of countless information technologies, is forced to adapt to the heterogeneity of local meanings, truths and norms surrounding it. He also has to constantly adapt to the new, because the environment of his dwelling, the life path, landmarks and the very meaning of life vary according to the rapid changes in the symbolic information consumed by him.

In the concept of S.S. Khoruzhy the virtual environment is a disembodied anthropological environment that has not received a part of the properties of real, full-scale environment, as if swirling around environment of a full, non-virtual experience. In modern virtual strategies, he believes, the power of disinhibition of form-building and structural inferiority is realized (Khoruzhy, 2002).

Ontological concept of virtuality of F.I. Girenk is built on the knowledge of the elusive being of man. Really existing person is the ultimate person, in contrast to which virtual "excess" person (non-existent in objective environment) acts. But in every real, finite person there is a virtual side of a place for the unrealizable, which was once called the soul, but today has turned into something empty. Being empty, the place of the unrealizable can be filled in two possible ways. In the first case, the emptiness of the soul is filled with a feasible that is conditioned things with properties (alcohol, drugs or aggression). In the second case it is filled with a virtual content based on the effects of modern information technology (Girenok, 2002).

If we follow the evolution of the development of virtual models of environment, then the first one can be considered as a traditional fantasy model that originated in the period of primitive society, when people worshiped the elements, totems and nature forces, explaining them with the help of myths and legends. Today this model has survived in some literature genres (fairy tales, fantastic, fantasy, etc.), in role-playing games of live action, in verbal and desktop story-role games.

A virtual model of the direct contact appears almost simultaneously with the first one and is associated with ritual practices of primitive magic and religious worship (meditations, prayers, shaman practices, etc.). K.G. Jung associated such actions with the concept of collective unconscious (Jung, 2006). Nowadays it is realized in religious and extrasensory practices as well as various kinds of meditations.

Interest in these practices arose at the end of the XIX century. So in 1888, E.P. Blavatskaya wrote “The Secret Doctrine”, a work that has the subtitle “Synthesis of Science, Religion and Philosophy”. The doctrine of E.P. Blavatskaya set out to unveil the unified basis of all religions, to indicate to man his rightful place in the universe, to affirm the universal divine principle – the Absolute, according to which the Universe, not being created, unfolds of itself, from its own Essence (Blavatskaya, 2004).

The continuation of Blavatskaya's ideas was made by E.I. Roerich, the author of fourteen books of "Living Ethics" – the religious and philosophical teachings of Agni Yoga, which is a synthesis of all world religions and the yogi. Agni Yoga united the occult and theosophical tradition in the West and the Eastern esoteric practices and justified the reincarnation of the immortal soul. The purpose of the teaching was to stimulate the evolution of mankind to ever higher forms of cosmic being of the infinite universe.

K.G. Jung was fascinated by mystical practices, sincerely trying in his studies to find all the real and mystical connections. Considering the psyche and everything that connected with it (including the immortal soul and God) really cognizable, he sought to scientifically justify it. With his ideas, Jung had a significant impact on the development of modern philosophy and esotericism.

Esoteric ideas underlie the concepts of many professional psychologists, such as S.V. Kovalev, L.V. Klykov, N.I. Kozlov, M.S. Norbekov, A.G. Sviyash and others, interested in self-knowledge, self-development, self-improvement, etc. So S.V. Kovalev develops ideas of the transpersonal psychology of S. Grof, studying the religious experience and altered states of consciousness, combining modern concepts of neuro programming with traditional spiritual practices of the East. L.V. Klykov deals with the study of the phenomenon of man, through the synthesis of consciousness and its products: religion, metaphilosophy and existential experience.

There are new esoteric concepts, the which authors are quantum physicists (V. Zeland "Transference of reality"), the existence of "supernatural" is recognized by well-known mathematicians, for example V.A. Voevodsky, Russian and American mathematician, laureate of the Fields medal 2002, narrating his mystical experience (Podosokorskiy, 2012). 

Even doctors are beginning to show interest in the traditions of oriental medicine and esoteric practices. Interest in these practices is steadily increasing both in Europe and in Russia, and this is natural in the light of the expansion of ideas about matter. European medicine has always worked with the real form of matter, but the discovery of the field, as a form of matter, an alternative to matter, has provoked interest in Asian medical systems that act primarily on field forms of matter. This is the basis of the Qigong system with its energy flow along the meridians, and the concept of chakras, and other systems of the East.

The alternative environment, presented in the work of M. Petrosyan, "The House in which ..." (1991-2009), named by the author the "Inside of House", belongs to the same model. This virtual environment was created by several generations of boarding school children for children, which parents refused. The Inside was created for teenagers themselves, whom the Big World (or Outwardness) did not accept. Inside of their real Gray House, they created a virtual Inside – a place where they can act, decide and take responsibility for their decisions, a place that educators cannot control, because they do not even know about it. It looks like a fairy-tale environment – there are fairy-tale creatures, elves and angels, the blind can see, and legless "carers" can walk. You can get into this environment only when you are in a state of altered consciousness. But at the same time, the Inside is not a product of individual subjectivity. It is common for everyone with access to it, which makes it a product of the collective unconscious House.

Such "products of the collective unconscious" can also be found in other literary works, for example, by Max Fry. Fry has a number of story cycles that are not even related by a common character. Different characters living different lives are named by the same name. But the author connects them as probabilistic models of the same personality. For example, Max from the cycle of Echo books is one of Max's probable destinies from the "Encyclopedia of Myths", which in turn may be one of Max's probable realities from the "Complaint book". Probabilistic models of environment here are not just an artistic device that ensures the commercial success of "continuations". This is an illustration of the infinity and multi variance of a single human life. And if the epic about the adventures of Sir Max in the Echo can be understood as a journey of consciousness, like a journey into a dream world that is much closer than we used to think then the next cycles of Max Fry are a more versatile model of environment.

"The Encyclopedia of Myths" uses the image of Key-keeper, who opens the doors between the worlds. When Max comes to his house, the House at the crossroads of the worlds, the Key-keeper Frank cannot open the door for him. It can only be done by Max himself. But when Max becomes a Key-keeper, the door is opened not by him anymore, but by his companion. The city she created is similar to the city of Max's dream, and he turns out to be their common world open to those wishing to enter. "Complaints book" is a narrative about nakhchas that have reached immortality by living alien destinies or their own "unrealized" realities. Nakhis are people with paranormal empathic abilities. Their talent allowed them to live the lives of others, while weakening the emotions of their donors. Nakhis are fed periodically, contriving to "catch the emotional field" of a personality complaining about fate at the moment of hard experiences. Their "key" is the man's acute desire to avoid such experiences. Nakhi willingly "save" a person from painful emotions and at the same time from all others, experiencing it all for him. Thus, the Max Fray models are borderline between the first and second types. They demonstrate the transition from one type to another, from the virtuality to the virtual environment through the collective unconscious.

The third model of virtuality is the technogenic one, a product of the information society. This is a virtual environment, expressed through the sensually-emotional perception of consciousness. For example, watching movies in 3-D, 4-D, 7-D or immersing in computer environment with a virtual helmet and gloves. It also includes various games, realized through the Internet in real time, or on-line games.

The technogenic model of virtuality is illustrated in fantasy novels and feature films. On the technogenic virtual environment they begin to actively write and make films, starting from the second half of the twentieth century. Since this time, this model has managed to undergo an internal evolution. At the beginning of technology, the individual consciousness was influenced through the memory (F.K. Dick, "We'll Recall Everything to You", 1966), the stories of both films "Total Recall" (1990 and 2012).

In later works, the context of social interaction becomes an activity background. For example the Deeptown (S. Lukyanenko, "Labyrinth of Reflections", 1997) created by international corporations "Microsoft" and "IBM" as an analogue of the platform of virtual-computer communication. Instead of visiting sites, users went to different buildings. Their representation in virtual environment was opened by restaurants, banks, corporations and many others (Popov, 2007). Instead of forums users went to special moderated clubs for different types of communication, capable of satisfying a wide variety of human needs. Deeptown is an exhibition of the "Imaginary Self" and "Desirable Self" (though sometimes carefully masked by the "Real Self"). The entrance is monitored by the IP addresses used, the staying is limited by the threshold of the human psyche capabilities, when exceeding the computer, which provides input through the "deep-program" of immersion, is automatically disconnected. In the event of a system failure, the exot from the "Depth" is carried out by professionals ("divers"), able to enter and exit the virtual environment independently. Deeptown in science fiction is presented as a way of modeling social interactions, which consequences can be transferred or not by the user to the objective environment. And the environment of the Deeptown is created as an image of a collective consciousness, consisting of interacting individual consciousness.

The authors of the American science fiction trilogy, consisting of the feature films Matrix (1999), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Matrix: The Revolution (2003), Larry and Andrew Wachowski go further: in their work, all human activities are represented as a model of consciousness created by a series of program shells. The story line of the films is based on the events of the future, in which the environment perceived by people as an objective environment is in fact a simulation (illusion) and created by intelligent machines with the aim of subordinating and pacifying humanity. The trilogy contains a number of philosophical ideas, illustrating the possibility of creating a subjective environment for a single human consciousness (solipsism).

CONCLUSION

The materialistic worldview characteristic of the people of the 20th century is gradually changing to the idealistic, but it is little like the objective idealism of medieval culture. Modern ideationality is associated with the development of computer technologies and information networks. 

To date, it is proposed to distinguish between the concepts of "virtuality" and "virtual environment". Under the first are understood the fantasies of the subject, which are not reflected anywhere except his imagination (mainly the traditional fantasy model). Under the second – environment, expressed through sensory-emotional perception, mediated by technical means (technogenic model) or not mediated (model of direct contact).

The technogenic model of virtuality is a product of the information society. This is a virtual environment, expressed through the sensually-emotional perception of a person's consciousness. Technology depersonalizes a person in his virtual world, allowing him to avoid being mediated by a social system, but he cannot achieve real unification with the real world. Technique creates the illusion of this unity, playing the role of an intermediary.

BIBLIOGRAPHY REFERENCES

Blavatskaya, Ye.P. (2004). Short philosophical dictionary. Prospect, Moscow.

Borgosh, Yu.B. (1975). Thomas Aquinas. Mysl, Moscow.

Florenskiy, P.A. (2000). About the orientation in philosophy (philosophy and life sense), Essay. 3(2): pp. 359-488.

Girenok, F.I. (2002). Anthropology of virtuality. Retrieved July 15, 2018, from http://www.polygnozis.ru/default.asp?num=6&num2=309.

Jung, K.G. (2006). Psychology of the unconscious. Kogito center, Moscow.

Khoruzhy, S.S. (2002). To the anthropological model of the third millennium, Philosophy of Science. 8: pp. 108-136. 

Podosokorskiy, N.N. (2012). The mathematician Vladimir Voevodskiy about his mystical experience and “Game, the owner of which is the fear”. Retrieved July 15, 2018, from https://philologist.livejournal.com/9260668.html.

Popov, M. (2007). Fantastic cities. 10 the most fantastic. Retrieved July 15, 2018, from http://old.mirf.ru/Articles/art1733.htm. 

Rusavin, G.I. (2001). Virtuality. New encyclopedia of philosophy. Retrieved July 15, 2018, from  https://iphlib.ru/greenstone3/library/collection/newphilenc/document.

Sorokin, P.A. (2006). Social and cultural dynamics. Astrel, Moscow.

Vernadskiy, V.I. (2008). The biosphere and the noosphere. Ayris-press, Moscow.