Actual Spectres In Virtual Society

Hauntology is introduced in this essay for observing the nature and characteristics of Internet. Hauntology is a paradigm towards uncertainty which admits haunting as basic hypothesis. It holds a spectral view to explore and recognize the unseen world buried under experience phenomenon, offering guides and helps to people. Essentially, Hauntology is a reflexive criticism of certainty. It is an imbedding methodology.The word spectre mentioned in this essay mainly refers to spectre, fant?me and revenant in Jacques Derrida's contexts. The concept of spectre has achieved the upheaval from common referring to philosophy diction, which is clearly showed in the contexts, from Introduction to Husserl`s Origin of Geometry to Plato`s Pharmacy, then to Spectres of Marx and Adieu to Emmanuel Levinas. As Derrida said, spectrality means non-live and non-dead, non-present and non-absent, non-truth and non-false. It has two characteristics: quasi-transcendentality and unheimlichkeit, which cause spectres to be unrecognized and homeless. Their nature is visor effect—the asymmetry of focus, counting as the essential attributes of spectres.The existing presents attempt to break up spectres through lament, dialogue and wait but either appears to be useless, because spectres follow the logic of difference quite different from general ones. It is non-ontological, weird and untraceable; bases on its symbiosis characteristic which means people will never dissipate spectres root and branch. As the result, a new observing dimension should be introduced and haunting must also be embedded into the concept framework. Hauntology is such a dimension whose aim is instructing people to ask spectres for helps communicate them and live with them.The research of Internet desiderates Hauntology dimension to join in, because Internet itself is out of joint. It behaves as the structure of hyper text and the antinomy between Internet technological concept and its spectral reality. To common people, netizens getting heavily involved in Internet are spectres. These spectres create the visor effect with their different dialects against common people still not involving in Internet, forming a great digital gulf between them. With the population ceaselessly increasing, spectres become common people and common people get spectralized, too. It is a revival of public sphere—a battle between old alienated public sphere and new spectral sphere of Internet. In this revival, there are three attitudes to spectres, as William Shakespeare concerned, simplicity and impertinence as Marcellus/Bernardo, suspicion and adjuring as Horatio and eager to commu- nicate as Hamlet. Zhenglou Zhou-gate, Shufan Zhang-gate and Edison Chan picture-gate are the best descriptions of the former two attitudes, which are incapable to touch the nature of spectres and communicate with them. Only when people got spectalized as Hamlet and thought with the logic of spectrality, spectre`s visor can be wiped off and the ever-haunting world can be truly understood. In sum, in order to learn to live, we should consult the objected spectres. Go and communicate with those spectres, because they haunt everywhere.