Reality of the Virtual vs Virtual Reality

Slavoj Zizek suggests to complement the concept of virtual reality as reproduction of reality, with the concept of 

• the reality of the virtual as real effects generated by something which does not fully exist. 

Zizek compares virtuality of the real with reality of the virtual with examples from politics, sociology, psychoanalysis and also physics, which connects to my knols Simulation Technology, Simulations of Wittgenstein and Hyperreality in physics. 

In his discussion of the concept of reality of the virtual, Zizek uses the Lacanian triad of imaginary-symbolic-real applied to the concepts of virtual and real:

• imaginary virtual
• symbolic virtual
• real virtual  

and

• imaginary real
• symbolic real
• real real

which Zizek characterizes, in short, as: 

• imaginary virtual: filtered virtual image of e.g. other people 
• symbolic virtual: beliefs which have to be virtual to be operative, like paternal authority, Santa Claus, democracy. 
• real virtual: to be defined, the jewel of the collection

and, recalling the Lacanian definition of real  = that which resists symbolization,

• imaginary real: images too strong to be directly confronted
• symbolic real: scientific formulas like quantum physics, which work but which appear to be meaningless with regard to our ordinary notion of reality
• real real: core of real, obscene shadow of symbolic real, undertext of e.g. Sound of Music:and and  Shortcuts. 

Zizek recalls the decomposition of Donald Rumsfeld of knowledge into known- knowns, known-unknowns and unknown-unknowns. Zizek then completes with unknown- knowns = things we don't know that we know = unconscious, which he seems to view as a form reality of the virtual. 

To explore the relation between reality of the virtual and virtuality of the real,  Zizek considers Einstein's theory of gravitation connecting mass to curvature of space which can be viewed in two ways: 

• mass defines curved space = real defines virtual = virtual reality
• curved space defines mass = virtual defines real = reality of the virtual

Similarly, Newtonian theory of gravitation connecting mass to gravitational potential, can be viewed in two ways:

• mass defines potential = real defines virtual = virtual reality
• potential defines mass =  virtual defines real = reality of the virtual

as discussed in the The Hen and the Egg of Gravitation with the message that it is not so clear what is most real: mass or gravitational potential. It may depend on our senses.

In psychoanalytic terms the connection between trauma and symbolic space can be viewed as

• trauma deforms symbolic space = virtual reality
• deformed symbolic space generates trauma = reality of the virtual

or in fascism/antisemitism

• Jews deform social space into social antagonism = virtual reality
• social antagonism deforms social space into antisemitism = reality of the virtual

Evidently,  a relation of cause - effect is represented by the order of real - virtual, with the usual way of thinking being that the real preceeds the virtual. But Zizek says that the cause - effect can be turned around, as in the theory of gravitation, in which case the virtual preceeds the real.  Finally, if the cause - effect relation is unclear or irrelevant, virtual reality = reality of the virtual. 

Of course there is a connection to body - soul with

• soul as simulation of body: virtual reality
• reality/body as perceptions created by the soul: reality of the virtual.

The soul is not only a representation of reality, but the soul lives its own life and generates its own reality. Further, there seems to be a connection between reality of the virtual and hyperreality = image without real origin.

In the context of a mathematical model like the Navier-Stokes equations expressing physical laws of balance,

• digital computational solutions of the NS equations are representations of reality = virtual reality
  
• reality is created by analog computational solution of balance laws = reality of the virtual.