The visual content of neural networks as a return to the third-order simulacrum

Pankratova Aleksandra Vladimirovna PhD in Philosophy Associate professor, Department of Design, National Research University “Moscow Power Engineering Institute” 111250, Russia, Moskovskaya oblast', g. Moscow, ul. Krasnokazarmennaya, 13 S, kab. 605 sashaoscar@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

This work is part of a larger study of design as a cultural phenomenon. The logic of the historical development of design leads this phenomenon to the widespread use of the simulacrum as the basis of an iconic form. The paradox of modern design is that currently, due to the active inclusion of neural networks in the creation of visual content, there is a return from using a fourth-order simulacrum to a third-order simulacrum. The present study is devoted to the explication of this process.

The object of the study is the change of the semiotic design system under the influence of neural networks. The subject of the study is a return to the third–order simulacrum in the semiotic system of modern design.

The purpose of the study is to show and try to explain how in the semiotic system of modern design there is a return to the use of a third-order simulacrum.

Theoretical and methodological foundations of the study

The main research method is the semiotic analysis of modern design. This method is based on the methodology of semiotic analysis by R. Barth, presented in detail in the work "The Fashion System" ^[1], where the philosopher considers the semiotic structure of the system, in many ways similar to design. Of course, R. Barth's method is based on the sign structure presented in classical semiotics ^{[2, 3]}.

The research is primarily based on J. Baudrillard's theory of semiosis in hyperreality ^{[4, 5]}. As is known, J. Baudrillard identifies three orders or levels of simulation, which successively replace each other ^{[6, p. 12]}. A simulacrum is a sign devoid of a referent in reality, and this is the main type of sign that is used in modern design.

Also, to describe the processes taking place in modern design, especially when introducing artificial intelligence into modern design, a philosophical concept is used that appeared relatively recently, but is closely related to the processes taking place in modern design – the "philosophy of flat ontologies". This concept is presented in the works of A. S. Vertushinsky ^[7], T. Morton ^[8], V. V. Ryzhenkova (Putintseva-Ardanskaya) ^[9].

According to the philosophy of flat ontologies, being is non-hierarchical, there is no super-object, there are no gradations in the degree of ontology of objects. From this foundation, the proponents of flat ontologies derive the position that a person is no more important in an ontological sense than an inanimate object or a neural network. Such an extremely anti-anthropological position accurately describes the transhumanistic reality into which the modern visual environment is gradually turning. Therefore, while not agreeing with the validity of the philosophy of flat ontologies, it should be used as an ideological expression or description of the processes that dominate design today.

Speaking about the new paradigm in design, we rely on the collection of foreign philosophers "Metamodernism" published in 2022 ^[10].

Other parts of our study of design as a cultural phenomenon are also presented on the pages of the journal "Culture and Art" ^{[11, 12, 13]}.

Results and discussion

In its development, the history of design consistently goes through the stages of semiosis, leading to a complete simulation at the present time. This vector of development of the history of design is determined by both the conditions of origin and the features of design discourse.

The history of design can be counted from the most ancient times, when a person first begins to surround himself with material objects, but it is correct to consider this story implicit, since there is no designer profession yet, and there is no attitude to innovation in culture – a generally recognized condition for the existence of design.

The explicit history of design begins in the 1850s, during the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution is the time of the appearance of a second–order simulacrum – industrial analogues. Humanity is entering the era of mass production, and there is a demand in society for a new practice – aesthetic and ergonomic understanding of things created in an industrial way.

That is, design as a social practice arises when, firstly, the active use of second-order simulacra begins, and secondly, humanity enters a period of materialistic positivist consciousness. Design grows as a practice on the basis of the materialistic bourgeois culture of the nineteenth century.

Since its inception as a profession, the ideology of design has had a vector of rejection of transcendent meanings and work with the surface. This superficiality of the design is emphasized by the researcher of this phenomenon, G. N. Lola ^[14].

Before the beginning of the explicit history of design, the visual and subject environment used mainly two types of signs – iconic signs and symbolic signs.

Iconic signs, from the point of view of classical semiotics, are signs in which the signifier is motivated by the signified. Such signs are used for realistic depiction.

Signs are symbols, these are signs in which the signifier and the signified are not connected, but represent a single, separate integrity ^{[15, p. 29]}. Symbols are signs that can be used to talk about the transcendent. Therefore, this type of signs turns out to be unclaimed in design for a long time. Design is limited to the organization of the surface of the object world and the visual environment, without affecting transcendental meanings.

At the same time, the origin and development of design as a profession is associated with the active use of the third type of signs of classical semiotics – index signs. An index is a sign in which the signifier hints at the signified, it is a weakly motivated sign. It is such signs that the figures of the Bauhaus and VKhUTEMAS, the first design schools, are beginning to actively use. Simplistic forms, geometricism, minimalism instead of decorativeness – all these are indexical sign forms. The index sign is a less figurative sign than the iconic one, and less "deep" in semantic content than the symbol. At the same time, the index sign turned out to be the most suitable for modernist design: simplicity and lack of deep content are convenient and logical when creating a mass product.

That is, since the beginning of its existence as a social practice, design has taken a vector of development towards reducing meaning and reducing reality, the ontological fullness of the objective world. That is why we can say that the history of design is associated with the enhancement of simulation.

A simulacrum is a new type of sign described by J. Baudrillard. It is a sign that has no signified, that does not refer to any referent from reality. It is this type of sign that has become the most used in design, especially in modern design.

The postmodern era is known to be the heyday of simulation. Postmodern design actively uses third-order simulacra. These are logos, corporate styles, advertising, inflatable furniture, utopian design projects, etc. Third-order simulacra are characterized by having a bright, decorative, often detailed signifier that does not refer to any signified. In this form, the design developed for a long time, until the early 2000s.

However, after 2010, there are trends in the design of the transition to a fourth-order simulacrum. A fourth–order simulacrum is a sign that not only has no signified, but also the signifier becomes less noticeable and eventually reduces to zero.

For all the paradoxical nature of such an iconic form, examples can be seen everywhere today in any field of design. First of all, a striking example of a fourth-order simulacrum is modern Internet content design and graphic design. For more than thirteen years, the entire visual environment has been designed in the style of the so-called flat design. A flat design is characterized by a maximum reduction in depiction, simplification of form, elimination of color or minimization of color.

The same tendency to reduce visual and decorative effects to a minimum is observed in object design, interior design, and clothing design. Today, design does not highlight or emphasize the individuality of an object, as in postmodernism, where maximum originality or decorative form in the absence of content was in demand. Modern design levels the object, makes it invisible, the same as the whole environment. Internet resources today are as similar as possible to each other, the graphics of illustrations and identities tend to be the same, clothes hide the figure and hide the person.

That is, design as a phenomenon goes through successive stages of enhancing simulation, leveling reality, and this can be traced by the iconic forms that are used: index sign, second-order simulacrum, third-order simulacrum, fourth-order simulacrum.

At the stage at which the design is currently located, the question may arise about the very existence of the design, or about the transition to a new paradigm that is not related to simulation.

The path of sign formation, which the design followed, led this phenomenon to leveling itself. Design as a fundamentally superficial phenomenon that deals with the organization of the objective and visual environment, but does not affect the ontological foundations of being, developing along the path of superficiality and materialism, came to deny not only the content of the design statement, but also the form. Gradually abandoning any signs of existence, first from the obvious, and then from the signifiers, the design came to the conclusion that there is no design, that smooth and smooth surfaces and the absence of at least some individuality are features of the modern human environment.

If the design phenomenon is not to disappear, then it will probably have to abandon simulation and the use of simulacrum signs. That is why it was possible to expect that a certain new paradigm would begin in the history of design.

Assumptions about a new paradigm in culture have been emerging in scientific discourse in recent years. It has been quite a long time since M. N. Epstein proposed a term for a new period in culture, which is supposed to begin in the coming years – technovitalism ^[16]. According to M. N. Epstein, against the background of increasing technological progress in society, there will be a demand for the return of vital, vital values. That is, culture will begin to move away from the simulation of being and the superficiality of postmodernity.

In 2022, a collection of philosophical texts "Metamodernism" was published, the authors of which, well-known modern philosophers, also postulate the beginning of a new era, which will be characterized by new sincerity, spirituality and the return of the transcendent foundations of being. Accordingly, the term for the new era proposed by the authors of the collection is "metamodernism". There is also a synonymous term in the collection – "perfomatism", which also describes a turn to depth and sincerity in visual culture.

However, despite these optimistic philosophical forecasts, a trend has emerged and is gaining momentum in the visual environment in recent years, which suggests that the period of simulation in culture continues.

This trend in visual culture has become the widespread development, use and understanding of neural network products. The Internet environment is rapidly filling up with graphic products of artificial intelligence.

It is well known that neural networks learn to create images in any style. However, at the moment, hyperrealism has become the dominant stylistic trend, for which neural networks are most often used. Artificial intelligence is much more effective than living artists and designers, creating complex, decorative, rich in details works. If, as mentioned above, minimalism and flat design have prevailed in graphic design to date, then neural networks have given users something opposite – decorativeness, brightness, volume, color, transparency, texture, that is, everything that characterized the postmodern visual environment, but has been almost completely lost in recent years.

The flat design marked the transition to a fourth-order simulacrum, when not only the signified, but also the signifier in the sign began to strive for emptiness. It was the fourth-order simulacrum that could become the logical conclusion of the simulation path in design, since there was simply nowhere for the design to move further. If there is not only the content, but also the external expression of the design statement, then the design itself is not needed. Therefore, after the simulacrum of the fourth order, the transition to the use of another form of the sign should have begun in the design, perhaps a return to meaning and form.

But artificial intelligence has taken a new turn towards simulation. The art of neural networks is a classic example of a third-order simulacrum, as described by J. Baudrillard. Neural networks use a rich graphic form saturated with realistic details, but at the same time these images do not correlate with any referent from reality. The signifiers turn out to be random scraps of information, collective experience, and the signified is emptiness.

That is, the introduction of neural network works into the visual environment had an interesting impact on the development of the design phenomenon. The semiotic structure of the design has made the transition from using fourth-order simulacra back to third-order simulacra.

Thus, instead of completing the semiotic process of simulation development before the transition to a new quality, the simulation looped and returned to the visual environment with new power and new possibilities.

From the point of view of followers of the philosophy of flat ontologies, this process is logical. Within the framework of the philosophy of flat ontologies, it is believed that there is no difference in ontological statuses, a person is no more endowed with being than an inanimate object. Therefore, artificial intelligence is, according to this concept, a full-fledged communication actor, artist and designer. Art and design in the modern world are acquiring a distinct vector of transhumanism, and the philosophy of flat ontologies not only describes, but also justifies this situation.

For design as a cultural phenomenon and profession, a return to the third-order simulacrum and the vector of transhumanism can be fatal factors. Having gone through four levels of simulation sequentially, the design could enter a new paradigm in which simulacra signs that reduce and level being will not be used, but, for example, symbol signs that increment being.

But the simulation process in design has returned to a new circle, to a third-order simulacrum. Moreover, in the performance of non-human communication agents.

Artificial intelligence fills the visual environment with bright decorative content, which, at the same time, does not make sense, does not appeal to the human soul.

The neural network cannot speak the language of archetypes, it cannot refer to the eidos, the idea of a thing. The production of neural networks is an endless reproduction of the typical, random, banal. That is why such a design will continue to work for the needs of the consumer society, as it offers the user exclusively the mundane, comfortable, immanent.

Conclusion and conclusions

The logic of the historical and semiotic development of design is of exceptional interest to the researcher of modern culture. Design is an indicative phenomenon, as it expresses the meanings and trends that determine the life of society in a certain period.

In its historical development, design consistently goes through the stages of semiosis, which reduce the ontological component and enhance simulation. This logic of development is due to the emergence of design in a positivist materialistic paradigm and an initial orientation towards creating a consumer environment, and the same all over the world.

The stage of formation of design as a social practice in the period of modernism is characterized by the use of mainly index signs in design. In the index sign, for the first time, the connection between the signifier and the signified becomes less direct, but at the same time, the index, unlike the symbol sign, does not come out to talk about transcendent reality. The development of industrial production leads to the active use of second–order simulacra in the design - industrial analogues.

The heyday of postmodern design is characterized by the use of a third-order simulacrum as the main iconic form.

The modern period, from 2010 to 2024, was characterized mainly by the use of a fourth-order simulacrum in the design. The fourth-order simulacrum assumes practically no expressive signifier, practically no external form or design. Therefore, at this stage of the simulation, it was possible to assume the end of design as a profession or the transition to a new paradigm.

Some researchers have already begun to postulate the transition to a new, more spiritual and meaningful paradigm in culture.

However, perhaps the proclamation of this transition turned out to be premature, since the active use of non–human agents - neural networks - began in the design.

Neural networks have returned the visual environment to the use of third-order simulacra. The complex rich signifier returned to the design, but the meaning still did not appear. On the contrary, the visual environment has become even more chaotic and meaningless, since artificial intelligence does not generate meanings, eidos, archetypes, but works with fragments of the typical.

This process indicates that the simulation period in the design is not over.