The move from the second to the third order of simulacra also recalls elements of Sherry Turkle's analysis of child psychology and identity in relation to new information technologies. The second order represents Piaget's theory that children use mechanical objects to deduce principles about the world. The third order represents child development in the age of computer technologies, which can simulate life and whose workings are not mechanically evident; children then resort to psychological explanations of the machines, developing a consciousness of "thinking machines" and cyborgs.
Last modified 18 December 2006