The idea of virtual reality in the age of information technology. 90’s cyber theories

The idea of virtual reality in the age of information technology. 90’s cyber theories.

Virtuality will destroy reality. P. Virilio

With the spread of computer technology throughout the previous century, philosophical understanding

of the virtual got more incisive. Pierre Lévy is one of the authors who has systematically examined the

notion of virtual and virtualization in connection to the IT revolution. Building on Deleuze's (1968) ideas,

Pierre Levy (1999) investigates the human condition in the modern information society, researching and analysing four stages of existence (Possible/ Real/ Actual/ Virtual), suggesting that the passage from

one state to the other has marked human progress. Levy maintains a link between the virtual and the

real. The virtual, in his philosophical perspective, is an important facet of reality (Levy, 1999).

“The virtual is by no means the opposite of the real. On the contrary, it is a fecund and powerful

mode of being that expands the process of creation, opens up the future, injects a core of

meaning beneath the platitude of immediate physical presence.” (Levy, 1999, p.16)

With a similar view to Deleuze, Levy considers the virtual as something that embodies the potential to be

real, but to him, the virtual is not predetermined. On a contrary, the virtual is seen as a powerful tool for

something to be transformed into something new and creative. This change or passage from virtual to

real is defined as the actualization process, and set virtual as connected to the actual. In this sense,

virtual objects can produce unpredictable effects and a change of identity. Cybernetic theoretician and critic Marie-Laure Ryan defined it as “a form-giving force” (Ryan, 1999, 92).

Levy’s modes of existence: The Real/ the Possible / The Virtual /The actual

Examining the similarities and differences of its four state of existence, Levy argued that both real and

possible are substances and represent ideas. However, they differ from each other, as the real is related

to a concrete manifestation while the possible has the potential to be real but is still ephemeral. The

possible does not exist, is not present. For instance, two objects differ from each other from the fact that

one exists (come into real) and the other not. On the other side virtual and actual are considered as

events, which in philosophical view truly exist, and are set as their representation. Virtual is set as a

potential, not as an act of realisation. Moreover, Levy’s state of existence can be coupled reversely: Real and Actual modes are concrete manifestations while Potential and Virtual are latent. Levy’s position is oriented towards the exploration and explanation of possibility and potentiality of the different modes

of existing.