The Carnival Of Signs In Cyberspace

The uncertainty and virtuality of cyberspace has made it necessary to have a second thought on Baudrillard’s semiotic views, which can be very useful for people to understand the semiotic features of the cyberspace. And various signs in the cyberspace will be examined to find out how signs construct the virtual or hyperreal world of cyberspace and the reasons behind that. In the study, Baudrillard’s semiotic views will be reviewed for help. Baudrillard’s theories are imbued with signs, symbols and uses of semiotic/semiological terms, but his theories haven’t yet aroused much interest of semiotic thinkers or linguistic students. In the semiotic field, whether his theories can be regarded as marginal may also be disputable, who have systematically studied and analyzed the characteristics of signs. However, more recently, Baudrillard’s theories seems to have been paid more and more attention to. Baudrillard’s most famous words like "simulations, hyperreality and implosion" have been more and more frequently used by people to describe the various new situations in the internet era. That’s because he has provided people with a new perspective to view the ways of communication and the consumption mode of the society. By elaborating Baudrillard’s theories of simulacra and simulation and looking into the various phenomena of cyberspace, one can find how the net signs build up an independent world, a hyper-real world. The development of information technology, the social progress and human’s semiotic nature are all account for that world.