In order to swallow Baudrillard's writing on hyperreality, one must swallow it whole. Don't try to pick it apart, to disprove a single phrase. Just believe in each piece as you go along, and they will seem to add up to a sensible whole. Which seems to mirror his central thesis, that reality only maintains the illusion of being something other than simulation because we believe that it is real.
"Both objects and information result already from a selection, a montage, a point of view. They have already tested 'reality' and have asked only questions that 'answered back' to them. They have broken down reality into simple elements that they have reassembled into scenarios of regulated oppositions, exactly in the same way the photographer imposes contrasts, lights, angles on his subject (any photographer will tell you: you can do anything, all you have to do is approach the original from the right angle, at that right moment or mood that will render it the correct anwer to the instantaneous test of the instrument and it's code). It is exactly like the test or the referendum when they translate a conflict or problem into a game of question/answer. And reality, thus tested, tests you according to the same grill; you decode it according to the same code, inscribed within each message and object likea miniaturized genetic code." [1]
Reality is created by our collective belief, or agreement, about what is real. Yet with the plethora of convincing simulations that abound in today's society, there will continue to be more and more disagreement. The collective "code" of reality will therefore constantly mutate, and what is clearly real today maybe obviously fake tomorrow, or vice-versa.





[1] Simulations, 120-121

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