This lecture discuss the role of avatar in experiential media

1. Avatars?

2. What does Wikipedia say? Avatar (also spelled as avatara) (Sanskrit: अवतार , avatāra), most commonly refers to the incarnation (bodily manifestation) of a divine being (deva) (...). The Sanskrit word avatāra- literally means "descent" (avatarati) and usually implies a deliberate descent into lower realms of existence for special purposes. The term is used primarily in Hinduism, for incarnations of Vishnu whom many Hindus worship as God.

3. Vishnu Vishnu: the All-Pervading essence of all beings, the master of and beyond the past, present and future , the creator and destroyer of all existences, one who supports, sustains and governs the Universe and originates and develops all elements within.

4. How does this relate to technological avatars?

6. Web 2.0: Social Media Databases + Network = Agregation of Content

7. Social Media - Connect People with past and existing physical relationships Exchange of information with each other. I.e. facebook , delicious - Agregation of interest: Community of interest: prosumer, viewser - Non institutionally funded construction of cultural meaning impact real life activities : I.e. Copy Right law - Asynchronous communication: no simultaneous co-presence - Cartesian mind-body relationship: representation of intellectual processes (Shinkle, 2007)

8. Experiential Media MOO and MUDs= Multi-Object Orientation and multi-user role-playing environments. - Synchronous communication : Building of live community of practice - People share experiences and content - Co-create meaning and culture (performances, interactions, etc) - relationship exists in the moment Avatar based : users have a virtual body that exits within a place - Actualization of Technological identity, with real life connections

11. Human and machine avatars -> in common: Move away from semiotic image reading towards an affective (sensorial and emotional based) reading - Meaning not created by preproduced messages * in real time: move from sequencial to parallel * embodied representation: body reunited with the mind * in a space: community * co-creation by participants

12. Conclusion Are we nearing the end of a media cycle? Culture of simultaneous brings us back to pre greek theater time relationships to the world: - Moving experiences back into our bodies - public is a performer - performance: meaning build by avatar relationships - virtual worlds = other place - Time of meaning creation: Simultaneous

13. Singularity

14. Singularity: What does it mean? For most: Shift in the direction of our civilization Intelligent collective: Ai ? Human Collective ? Transhuman future (uploaded consciousnesses)? Posthuman future (symbiosis of human and artificial intelligence)? end of civilization ? Birth of electronic Collective Unconsciousness: mcKenna ? Gods?