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Hyperreality - The Simulation Argument
The simulation theory is a concept that was laid out in a paper published in 2003 by Oxford philosopher and futurologist Nick Bostrom. It is the idea that the world we actually live in is simulated by a computer; to better understand the concept, one can think of it like a very high-quality video game that all of us are characters in, or, through the movie The Matrix, which has become a huge cultural phenomenon since its release. In the paper, Bostrom argued that at least one of the following probabilities is true:
 * 1) ‘The human species is very likely to go extinct before reaching a “posthuman” stage;
 * 2) Any posthuman civilization is extremely unlikely to run a significant number of simulations of their evolutionary history (or variations thereof);
 * 3) We are almost certainly living in a computer simulation.’

The term ‘posthuman’ he refers to implies a stage that transcends that which is human, a stage where people can replace themselves with artificial intelligence and where they can preserve their minds by putting them into computers in order to outlive death. He goes on to say that if future generations have access to enormous amounts of computing power, like so many scientists and futurologists have predicted, then what they might do with the power is to run simulations of their ancestors. He brings forth the hypothesis that if those simulated people are conscious, then the greater part of minds like ours ‘do not belong to the original race but rather to the descendants of an original race.’ If this were true, then we would be the simulated minds rather than the original biological ones. But according to Bostrom, this is not valid until we truly believe that we live in a computer simulation.

Among the many people who agree with Bostrom, one of the most notable personalities is that of Elon Musk. He too believes in the simulation argument, noting that there is a one in a billion probability that we live in base reality. At the Code Conference in California he said there are only two ways to think about the simulation argument, namely that we either are going to ‘create simulations that are indistinguishable from reality or civilization will cease to exist.’ Musk thinks that there is a very small chance that we live in either scenario 1 or 2 as presented by Nick Bostrom; for him probability number 3, that we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation, is the only scenario that makes sense.

Lauren Langman talks about simulation from the standpoint of semiotics by referring back to Jean Baudrillard’s work in which he points out that as we have moved from a society focused on the production of goods to a semiotic society obsessed with the production of meaning, so have the terms use-value and exchange-value introduced by Karl Marx been replaced with the term ‘sign-value’. He argues that in today’s postmodern society the enormous amount of symbols, meanings, simulacra and signs that are separated from objects have replaced what we consider our reality. Hyperreal places like Disneyland, simulated cities such as Los Angeles or Las Vegas, where you have simulations or replicas of major cities and capitals around the world that convey the ‘authentic’ – all of these are helping blur the line between real and hyperreal, or simulation.

The Culture Industry - The Frankfurt School's ideas applied to contemporary environmental crises
In his book Critical Ecologies: The Frankfurt School and Contemporary Environmental Crises, author Andrew Biro explores if and how the Frankfurt School’s critical frameworks can be used to address contemporary issues such as environmental issues. He believes that both of these topics have quite a few similarities, one of them being their resistance to different forms of domination. It is argued that the heightened concern of our society for environmentalism and ecological sustainability is now part of our ‘structure of feeling’, sometimes without our awareness of it. This concern brings about a number of paradoxes that, Biro explains, the Frankfurt School thinkers have offered ways in which to understand and possibly even undo them.

There are three main paradoxes presented in the book:


 * 1) The first one concerns itself with how powerful the human species has become while at the same time being very vulnerable. It explains that all the developments since the Industrial Revolution have enabled us to dominate over nature; but by doing so we have also exposed ourselves to the negative feedbacks that arise from that domination such as global warming or fragile food systems, which will leave us suffering I no time.
 * 2) The second paradox underlines the severe degrees of inequality that we are facing in today’s society. On the one hand we have millions of people who do not have access to basic human rights and amenities, while on the other hand there are incredibly wealthy people and those who run the ‘global markets’ and ‘bureaucratic states’. As proven by Murray Bookchin’s social ecology and a number of eco-feminist debates, there is a very strong connection between ecological devastation and the ‘deepening and strengthening of inequality among human beings.’
 * 3) The last paradox introduced emphasizes the lack of political will to change the way we interact with and exploit our natural environment. The environmental movement has gained a lot of popularity and support in the last few decades, mobilising a considerable amount of people, but failing to reach organizations and politicians that would be able to actually help turn things around.

Biro explains there are a series of ‘critical ecologies’ that offer ways of understanding how we could wrestle with the paradoxes mentioned above. Some of those ecologies are biocentrism, eco-feminism, eco-socialism, environmental justice, and social ecology. The conversations about and around these topics share the same fundamental idea, namely that in order to address and understand the current environmental crises, there is the need for us to rethink a number of our fundamental socio-political institutions.

A message that the Frankfurt School thinkers have left for this generation is that there is no absolute certainty that the growth in technological capacity may lead to increased domination; additionally, they thought that social and ecological relations on a rational level can indeed exist. The focus, as affirmed by Walter Benjamin, should be ‘not the mastery of nature but of the relation between nature and man.’

Photograph manipulation - Blackfishing
Blackfishing is a term used to describe a trend in which people pretend to be black or mixed-race on social media platforms by altering their appearance by using make-up or by creating different hairstyles such as cornrows, which are associated with black culture. In some cases photos have been manipulated to make the person appear black/mixed-race. The term gained momentum on social media when cultural critic Wanna Thompson started seeing many people, especially celebrities and models, engaging in this ‘trend’.

The whole situation started getting more serious when a picture of Swedish model Emma Hallberg, who everyone believed was mixed-race, surfaced on the internet, in which her skin and hair look very different from her usual Instagram posts. Emma is not the first person to be accused of ‘blackfishing’, however, with the likes of people such as Kim Kardashian, TikTok star Addison Rae or model Jaiden Gumbayan having been called out in relation to the issue.

The negative aspect about the issue
The problem associated with this ‘trend’ is that it is a form of cultural appropriation used by white women in order to ‘capitalise off of impersonating racially ambiguous/Black women for monetary and social gain.’

In a society in which people of colour are not accepted for who they are, and in which people advocate for racial and social equality, online personalities pretending to be someone they are not is unfortunately not a step in the right direction, no matter the reasoning behind the action.

Virtual Influencer - Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing is a marketing strategy especially carried out on social media channels, where brands reach out to influencers with a substantial number of followers, who act as their target group. The relationship between the brand, the product and the influencer has to be as authentic as possible in order for it to be effective and attract the audiences. This new form of marketing has replaced old ones such as TV advertisements, posters or radio adverts.

The amount of money brands are expected to spend on influencer marketing will rise from $8 billion to $15 billion by 2022.

Besides human influencers such as models and celebrities, a new wave of online personalities is taking centre stage when it comes to influencer marketing: virtual influencers. These influencers are meant to appear just like human beings online, having the same behaviours, characteristics and personalities.

The advantages and the appeal towards brands
The reason they have so much appeal towards big brands who use them in their campaigns and advertisements is because brands are able to tailor the influencers to fit their brand identity and align with their values fully since they are created from scratch, on computers. In addition to this, in some real life cases, influencers can be seen as controversial online, with people having different opinions about them. But in the case of virtual influencers, the brands do not need to worry about what they do in real life, behind the scenes of an Instagram post, because they are not real; hence why brands do not need to worry about losing clients or potentially acquiring a negative reputation online.