Weekly Post – Week 8
1: Rajchman talks about the concept of the “virtual home” and the difference between the virtual and the actual. While he stresses that they are not dichotomous, exclusive terms, he doesn’t touch on the notion of the virtual dictating the actual. There is a new practice in architectural and historical communities to create computerized, virtual tours of landmarks and historic sites that no longer exist. In these cases, could it be argued that what we believe as being the “actual” site becomes influenced directly by the “virtual” decisions made by the digital architects?
2: On the reverse side of question 1, Rachjman discusses the “house with the most possibilities” on page 119 (PDF page 5), and states that contrary to the idea of the house being empty, it allows for the greatest number of singular points. When he discusses the virtual house in this manner, I think of MySpace, Facebook, and virtually every website promoting its ability for customization and control. Thus, is the appeal of the “virtual” home – be it a “smart” house or a website one considers a home of sorts – the idea of having control over one’s own space? Is that perhaps the driving force behind human fascination with the concept of the virtual?
3: Maybe this comes from my general understanding of the internet and how I’ve come to conceptualize it, but why is there so much time and effort dedicated to trying to define the “virtual” and particularly against the “actual”. Everything described as “virtual” is as important a part of our lives as physical objects and phenomena, so is this distinction relevant or even useful, particularly in an integrated world like our own?
Definition:
Virtual: Rajchman defines the virtual as the mobilization of possibilities and potential into an organized, if not determined, plan.
Cartesian: Cartesian logic, which I have followed through the course, has a primary role in this chapter as it relates to the separation between the physical and the mental, which in this case I believe to be the “actual” and the “virtual”.