Jack Trembath Intermission 5-Story 5

I think Intermission Five and especially Story Five of The Stories of Ibis by Hiroshi Yamamoto begin to argue or cover the validity of virtual worlds and the online identities of the non-human.  When Saika uploaded a version of herself in Highschool to a world in which heroes exist and monsters attack, she stayed in contact with this virtual self and they grew to become good friends.  For Saika in the virtual world, her reality is just as real as someone in the “First World”.  She goes to school, has friends, and rides the train to get around.  There are limits and differences that separate from the reality of the human world.  Saika always feels the urge to not go any further on the train, the bathrooms serve no purpose, people are recognized as extras, and on a larger scale there are people with super power abilities who battle monsters.  All these seem just as much of a reality as someone who functions in the “First World”.  It makes me wonder what happens to video game characters or online worlds when my computer is off, and I’m logged out.  Do those characters function on the web outside of my agency?  Are AI in virtual worlds recognizable as their own being? 
Beyond this notion, the idea of “existing on” in a new virtual world plays into the ideas surrounding the post human.  As a means to continue living, people in this short story create themselves in a virtual world.  This is a more hopeful look at the possibilities of AI and virtual reality: a means in which to continue the human race or at least leave something of the human behind when the human race no longer exists.  The story makes me wonder if the virtual world self is a continuity of the reality self or if it is a copy that exists in a separate way.  Regardless, these virtual worlds are a utopic upgrade of the real world which can’t be shaped and formed.  I think that it is interesting that rather than being able to save the real world (a world that is limited by certain laws), the humans’ last hope is to create a virtual world in which the utopia can be achieved, and justice can be served.
On the other hand, in the intermission, the power of stories and the importance of storytelling is revisited in a new light.  Ibis argues that through telling stories of women, she can role play the characters and better understand their experiences.  The storyteller reluctantly agrees and admits, “a story is nothing more than a jumble of words.  But once it is in the hands of the reader, the soul of the reader and the soul of the protagonist achieve a kind of synergy that transcends the world, breathing life into the story” (159).  This quote aligns with a belief of many postmodern theorists, authors, and artists.  They believe that the intention and the work of the author or the artists matters little until interpreted by the reader or the viewer.  It is the experience of the people that give something power and meaning.
http://writing.upenn.edu/~taransky/Barthes.pdf
This link leads to Roland Barthes’ essay “The Death of the Author” which explains and argues the ideas and concepts of the importance of the audience and reader.   

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