To begin my thoughts about the theme "There is no here here," I'm referencing this site: http://virtualspacetheory.com/. Note the October, 2009 blog entry, "Not a Blog about Metaphysics".
Now, there's some great stuff on the site, and I've only skimmed its surface so far, but if my reality ultimately boils down to how I assemble input, then why make distinctions about the nature of the input? It's the Washington Monument, or a photo of it, or a video of it, or a total-immersion 3D simulation. Sure, the texture and richness of data are different, depending on the media (or the fact of "direct" experience), but in the last analysis I have an image of a particular obelisk in the internal viewing space that I call "consciousness"; what could be more "virtual" than that? How can this not be a metaphysical problem?
Why is this relevant to the curriculum? Because everything that we create in web design is directed toward the purpose of imposing, if you will, a set of images and symbols on an eventual viewer, and it seems useful to have some idea of what's happening. Aren't we in fact sharing virtualities? Where?
As I write, it occurs to me that my own logic contradicts itself: If I deny the distinction between virtual and actual, then there is, in fact, a here here, even now, on this page, where we meet as you read.
Just goofing off.
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