Abstract
Extending the discussion of the void of subjectivity, this chapter focuses on the displacement of the void in the Real in relation to the antagonism between physical and digital worlds. The inherent loss of the subject in the Virtual functioning of consciousness is expanded into the privileged position of the physical within the structures of the subject: the persistence of the human over the cyborg. An analysis of the position of avatars in culture, used in cyberworlds, films and art practices, focusing on a case study of Second Life, informs a challenge to the primacy of the physical body. The prevailing physical nostalgia is confronted, leading towards new phenomenal perspectives on the world(s) amid the cyborg development of consciousness in ever-expanding digital spaces.
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Benjamin, G. (2016). The Absent Subject: objet a-vatar. In: The Cyborg Subject. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58449-6_4
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