在发光世界中“眼见为实”——虚拟现实技术与影像本体论

To See Things for Real in Luminous Worlds:VR Technology and the Ontology of Image

从哲人笔下的“洞穴”,到银幕上的“矩阵”,再到当下头戴显示器里的“元宇宙”,我们“身”处在这类发光世界中,意味着什么?它们的共享特性,被认为是虚拟的“现实”,亦即“非现实”。然而,虚拟现实技术,归根结底只是引入一个“转变”,通过它,人们从一个发光世界得以进入另一个发光世界。“现实”在本体论层面上,恰恰就是影像。这个让我们无法摆脱的本体论状况,指向唯一的一种伦理学态度,那就是:在发光世界中积极生活。

People are often found situated in luminous worlds,from the Cave described by Plato,the Matrix presented in The Matrix tetralogy,to the Metaverse experienced through VR headsets.The shared feature of such"worlds"are said to be that they are all virtual"reality"(or"unreality").However,what VR technologies do,basically,is to introduce a"change"through which people can jump from one luminous world to another."Reality"ontologically is image.This ontological condition from which we cannot escape,points at one ethical attitude,which is,to live actively in luminous worlds.