Becoming Virtual by Pierre Levy, Plenum, 拢16.33, ISBN 0396457881
鈥淗OW would we react if the players on the [soccer] pitch were to puncture the
ball they鈥檝e captured, before dividing it among themselves and eating it?鈥� asks
Pierre Levy in Becoming Virtual. He poses this question in arguing that
the football itself is a virtual thing鈥攐r that its virtual nature is more
significant than the reality of stitched bits of dead animal.
Many readers deal with virtual objects as a matter of course. Only when
challenged by pesky philosophers and the like are we likely to consider
precisely what we mean by the term 鈥渧irtual鈥�. For a start, there鈥檚 the everyday
dictionary definition of the word: 鈥渉aving the essence or effect, but not the
appearance or form of鈥�, as in 鈥淚鈥檓 her virtual PhD supervisor, though I don鈥檛
have the title鈥�.
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Then we have optics with its virtual images and electrical engineering with
its virtual earths. These are 鈥渆ntities鈥� that are not real but which are
extremely useful in explaining observations. And what of virtual particles in
quantum mechanics?
Levy is professor in the department of hypermedia at the University of
Paris-VIII, and steeped in critical theory. His virtuality begins with text
itself: 鈥淪ince its Mesopotamian origin, the text has been a virtual object,
abstract, independent of any particular substrate. This virtual entity is
actualised in multiple versions, translations, editions, instances, and
肠辞辫颈别蝉.鈥�
In Becoming Virtual: Reality in the Digital Age, Levy proposes that
the whole realm of culture is virtual. Following the notorious philosopher
Gilles Deleuze, he insists that the virtual exists. In revolutionary 1968,
Deleuze probably meant this to provoke; in sedate 1998, it is
accepted鈥攙irtual reality is part of our cultural world. Deleuze鈥檚
interesting distinction, which may yet be of assistance in quantum mechanics, is
between the 鈥渞eal鈥� and the 鈥渁ctual鈥�. On the one hand is the realm of substance.
There, that which is possible is latent鈥攊t contains the notion that it,
whatever it is, may become manifest as something 鈥渞eal鈥�. On the other hand is
the realm of events. Here, that which is virtual is latent, exists, and becomes
manifest when it arrives as an 鈥渁ctual鈥� event.
It is significant that the French verb arriver is often translated
鈥渢o happen鈥�. It is a sign of the fluidity of Robert Bononno鈥檚 translation that
this is the only phrase for which I resorted to back-translating in search of
the original French. And it is remarkable that Levy and Bononno are often a
pleasure to read鈥攇iven that Levy鈥檚 underlying theme is the notion of
鈥渄eterritorialisation鈥� proposed by Deleuze (with the late psychoanalyst Felix
Guattari), that money, for example, is 鈥渄eterritorialised value鈥濃�攁n
abstraction of something real, such as land. Any book which reduces the need to
wade through their Anti-Oedipusis a service to sanity.
Levy draws on respectable sources, too. In closing, he summarises the
philosopher Alfred North Whitehead鈥檚 鈥渁ctual occasions鈥�: 鈥淎 stone, for example,
is a society of similar actual occasions, which inherit their data and ways of
reacting from one another. This explains why, over a short period of time, the
stone retains, more or less, the same colour, hardness, etc.鈥� This is not the
only time when Levy risks 鈥渧irtualising virtuality鈥�, and extending his idea to
include absolutely everything (including the real). In this instance, he is
concerned that the substance/event distinction is dualist, and hinting at a
Theory of the Nature of Being. As a card-carrying French intellectual, he is
licensed to take an idea and stretch it until it goes sproing. He is not immune
to technocobblers: 鈥淭opology ,鈥� he writes, 鈥渋s itself the set of qualitatively
differentiated connections or relations among signs, messages, and agents.鈥�
Nit-pickers will be disappointed that there are few such deformations.
Readers who expect an explicit treatment of 鈥渧irtual reality鈥� as popularly
conceived will be disappointed: Levy鈥檚 cyberspace is textual. Everyone else
should read this鈥攁nd enjoy it.