The Death of the Subject in the Social Networks Age, the Perspective of Baudrillard's Fractal Reality

Western Philosophy has been preoccupied with the duality of subject and object and every modern philosopher has engaged with these concepts in accordance with their philosophical paradigms. Rene Descartes coined the modern conception of subject and Emanuel Kant expanded the Cartesian subject and provided a stable and non-negotiable theory of subject. Jean Baudrillard too has engaged with the duality of subject and object, though in implicit terms, through exploring simulation and simulacrum in the the three stages of symbolic, production and hyperreality. According to Baudrillard the image of reality has replaced the objective reality in the age of technological advancements and hyperreality is active to deny this very process. Upon the expansion of mass media in the twenty first century, Baudrillard added a new dimension to his theory: Fractal Reality, which is the result of the proliferation of images and the emptiness of meaning in the post-modern age. With the rise of cellphone technology and social media and endless inflation of images in the last decade, it appears that Fractal Reality has become even more intense. This “inflation,” has caused the dissolution of subject and object and with the demise of this duality, social media has replaced every reality and the subject has lost its meaning. This condition that is the result of the inflation of the endless images in social media may be called “inflated reality.” This concept furthers Baudrillard’s fractal reality and invites this French philosopher to the study of social media culture.