So since I've been in a weird Cyberpunk phase this last month or so, including just finishing my third reread of Neuromancer this year, I cam across an amazing concept called Second-order simulacra Basically the concept is that a symbol can exist without an original source or object of representation. While this concept has an origin in how history is perceived it is through story telling in Cyberpunk the concept is askewed. Basically the idea is that as cultural memes become more and more organic in their origins eventually knowledge will no longer need original source materials to duplicate and evolve from. Eventually random patterns form into the illusion of knowledge.

The example that caused me to stumble upon this is the Laughing Man from Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex. While this logo



Can be perceived as many things it has no true signifier attached. Its name was (within the story) given after its use. Its text is a quote from Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye." (The name Laughing Man is a reference to Salinger short story) and could contain multiple forms of meaning. Esspecially indicative is that the text ends where it does and doesn't include the rest of the line "or should i?"

Maybe my brain is just tired but the concept of knowledge without origin and a symbol without a symbolized object just seems plausible with how hyperactive our society is becoming.