For a General Theory of Simulations

From Anthropology to Zoology, from Engineering to Urban Planning, every discipline produces, models and validates knowledge through simulations. Some computational simulations are designed as immersive virtual environments where experience is artificialized. Scientific simulations do the opposite of creating deceptive illusions. They are the means by which otherwise inconceivable underlying realities are accessible to thought: a technology for knowing what is otherwise unthinkable. Simulations are epistemological technologies, and yet they are deeply under examined. They are a vital practice without a vital theory. What would a general theory of simulations look like? In this talk Benjamin Bratton shows what such a theory of simulations would need to account for: shadows, stagings, scenarios, synthetic experiences, models, demos, immersions, ruses, toy worlds, miniatures, and projections.