Simulacra-Scheme

Simulacra-Scheme

An exploration of Jean Baudrillard’s “Simulacra and Simulation” concepts through Guile Scheme programming. This repository contains code implementations that demonstrate the philosophical concepts of simulation, hyperreality, and the progression of images/signs as described by Baudrillard.

Overview

Baudrillard’s work explores how reality has been replaced by symbols and signs, and how human experience is mediated through simulations. This project uses Scheme’s functional paradigm to model these concepts programmatically.

Key Concepts Implemented

• The four orders of simulacra
• Hyperreality generation
• Simulation vs reality distinction collapse
• The precession of simulacra
• Mise en scène of reality

Project Structure

simulacra.scm

Core implementation of Baudrillard’s concepts

example.scm

Social media simulation showing progress through orders of simulacra

mermaid-generator.scm

Generates Mermaid diagrams from the Scheme models

simulacra-diagram.md

Pre-generated Mermaid diagrams of key concepts

GUILE-NOTES.org

Platform-specific information for Guile Scheme

Mermaid Diagrams

The repository includes Mermaid diagrams that visually represent the key concepts:

graph TD
    A[Original Reality] --> B[First Order: Reflection]
    B --> C[Second Order: Perversion]
    C --> D[Third Order: Masking Absence]
    D --> E[Fourth Order: Pure Simulacrum]
    
    style A fill:#f9f9f9,stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px
    style B fill:#e6f7ff,stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px
    style C fill:#b3e0ff,stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px
    style D fill:#4db8ff,stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px
    style E fill:#0080ff,stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px

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Requirements

• Guile Scheme implementation
• Basic understanding of functional programming
• Interest in postmodern philosophy

Usage

The project includes a Makefile for easy usage:

# Run the social media simulation example
make run-example

# Run the simulacra progression demo
make run-demo

# Generate Mermaid diagrams
make generate-diagrams

Social Media Simulation

The example.scm file contains a simulation showing how social media transforms direct experiences into hyperreality through successive sharing and engagement:

;; First order: A post directly reflecting an event
(define (create-original-post event)
  (make-post 
    (string-append "I witnessed " event)
    0
    0
    'direct-experience))

;; Fourth order: A completely fabricated viral post
(define (create-viral-post)
  (make-post
    "You won't believe what happened! #trending #viral"
    0
    0
    'pure-simulation))

Philosophical Background

The implementation is based on Jean Baudrillard’s seminal work “Simulacra and Simulation” (1981), which explores how society has replaced reality with symbols and signs, and how human experience is increasingly mediated through simulations.

The four orders of simulacra describe the progression from faithful representations of reality to completely detached simulations that have no reference to reality whatsoever.

License

MIT