the Sims environment
simulation and virtuality
what do we do in the Sims?
set parameters
watch
intervene
react
identify
try to kill our Sims!
what does this
(model) tell us
of social reality?

the Sims environment
for Socrates the body was a problem - needing control
for Plato - a distraction located in a world of shadows
both these are features of the Sims environment - order and virtuality/representation

located bodies for the Sims
located bodies three
the disciplined body
regimes and regulations, algorithms and norms/values
key components of order in a simulation/model
are these the work of society overlaid upon the biological human body?

Michel Foucault and the history of the body
the body is not simply a biological datum
it is a biological-cultural amalgam
the human body itself has a (cultural) history

surveillir et punir - surveillance and punishment
regimes of control and punishment in the modern era
- the workings of the Panopticon

prison - a cultural paradigm
prison - a regime of control and knowledge
the disciplined body - from prison to anthropometrics to eating (dis)orders
the disciplined body is not just about the prison
consider some kinds of intimate knowledge of the person
fingerprints
phrenology
quantification
psychometrics (a basic component of the Sims)
generally - managing and controlling self in the face of others

located bodies three
the disciplined body
located bodies three
the disciplined body
located bodies four
the cybernetic body
cybernetics Ð communication and control in living organisms or machines
material and immaterial flows that are the functioning of the machine or organism
but which are not only contained within it - they connect within and without

located bodies four
the cybernetic body
cybernetics Ð communication and control in living organisms or machines
the Sims as a machine-like amalgam
consider also the online version as cybernetic network

the automaton - a model
- issues of materiality and AI
another cybernetic body - the cyborg
are these a new feature of (post)modernity?
argument -
É we are all cyborgs
(and have been since people acquired culture)
- amalgams of the organic,
inorganic and immaterial flows

located bodies ten
the cybernetic body
its location - in systems of control, information flows, feedback loops
and consisting of dispersed networks and flows rather than discrete entities/persons

Slide 17