Embodying Metaverse as artificial life: At the intersection of media and 4E cognition theories
In the last decades of the 20th century we have seen media theories and cognitive sciences grow, mature and reach their pinnacles by analysing, each from their own disciplinary perspective, two of the same core phenomena: that of media as the environment, transmitter and creator of stimuli,...
Main Authors: | , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | deu |
Published: |
Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, Belgrade
2022-01-01
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Series: | Filozofija i Društvo |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0353-5738/2022/0353-57382202326U.pdf |
Summary: | In the last decades of the 20th century we have seen media theories and
cognitive sciences grow, mature and reach their pinnacles by analysing, each
from their own disciplinary perspective, two of the same core phenomena:
that of media as the environment, transmitter and creator of stimuli, and
that of embodied human mind as the stimuli receiver, interpreter,
experiencer, and also how both are affected by each other. Even though
treating a range of very similar problems and coming to similar conclusions,
this still has not brought these two disciplines closer together or resulted
in their interdisciplinary approach. They did coalesce in regards to
traditional media such as film, but more points of connection are needed for
untangling interactive and immersive media environments and their effects on
human cognition, action, and perception. With the rise of VR and VR-like
systems, especially as they start to evolve into the Metaverse as their main
platform of interconnectivity, the tissue of the body becomes almost
physically intertwined with that of the virtual surrounding it inhabits
through immersion. Simultaneously, the interest in these disciplines arises
anew, and especially the need to use their concepts in an interdisciplinary
way. This paper’s main interest is to bring these disciplines together in
problematising the position of a physical body and its sensory-motor
capabilities and their development within synthetic surroundings as
Metaverse and anticipate potential downsides of Metaverse’s uncontrolled
growth. We will do so also by looking into Metaverse as an
artificial-life-like phenomenon, following artificial-life rules and
evolving a completely new ‘corporeality’, a body which is completely adapted
to virtual spaces. We call this body the Dry Body, an entity sharing
cognitive resources with the physical body it is not a physical part of, but
has to extend to. |
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ISSN: | 0353-5738 2334-8577 |