Modelling Realism Digital Media Climate

Modelling Realism: Digital Media, Climate Simulations and Climate Fictions Bogna Konior NYU Shanghai Abstract :KDWLVFOLPDWHÀFWLRQ"+XPDQLWLHVTXDUUHORYHUWKHQDWXUHRIWKLVQHZO\ christened genre, pointing to its activist dimensions and pondering its relationship to realism. In this article, I discuss how digital media studies should enter this debate by analyzing climate simulations as a type of FOLPDWH ÀFWLRQ RQH WKDW OLHV DW WKH FRUH RI DQ\ VXEVHTXHQW QDUUDWLYH retellings. The status of climate change itself as a simulation signals WKDWE\UHOHJDWLQJ´FOLPDWHÀFWLRQµWRDJHQUHZHPLVVWKHRSSRUWXQLW\ WRDGGUHVVWKHODUJHUQHWRIRXUFOLPDWHHSLVWHPHZKHUHÀFWLRQRSHUDWHV on multiple levels. I draw parallels between simulated social scenarios LQFOLÀDQGVLPXODWHGVFLHQWLÀFVFHQDULRVLQFOLPDWHPRGHOVDQGGLVFXVV KRZFOLPDWHPRGHOVDUHOLNHSHWULGLVKHVIRUJURZLQJÀFWLRQDO(DUWKVLQ 5DWKHUWKDQFOLÀEHLQJD´UHWHOOLQJµRIZKDWLVNQRZDEOHWKURXJK´FOLPDWH GDWDµ,GHVFULEHKRZGLJLWDOFOLPDWHVLPXODWLRQVUHO\RQFUHDWLQJDUWLÀFLDO Earths that are worlds unto themselves. It is both through cultural and VFLHQWLÀFFOLPDWHÀFWLRQVWKDWZHPRGHOIXWXUHVFHQDULRV7KLVPRGHOOLQJ DW\SHRI´ÀFWLRQµLVLQIDFWWKHGRPLQDQWPRGHRIUHDOLVPZLWKUHJDUGV to climate change. Introduction There is a telling scene in Jurassic Park, the novel, where entrepreneurs and scientists discuss what makes a dinosaur real:1 “Yes, the dinosaurs we have now are real … but in certain ways they are unsatisfactory, unconvincing. We could make them better…. For one thing, they move too fast…. People aren’t accustomed to seeing large animals that are so quick. I’m afraid visitors will think the dinosaurs look speeded up, OLNHDÀOPUXQQLQJWRRIDVWµ HSXE Before Steven Spielberg’s CGI UHSWLOHVWKHQRYHOJUDVSHGZKDWZDVWREHFRPHRQHRIWKHGHÀQLQJ 1 I should credit Bernhard Siegert for pointing out this passage to me, and thank everyone at Das Internationale Kolleg für Kulturtechnikforschung und Medienphilosophie (IKKM) at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar for generously supporting me in developing this ongoing project. Paradoxa, No. 31 2019-20