Swallowing the Whale - Three Stages of Media Evolution: From Lacanian Orders to AI Communication

 

From Zizekian Analysis

Introduction

The evolution of digital media has fundamentally reshaped the ways in which individuals interact, construct identity, and produce meaning. Over the past two decades, social media platforms have transitioned from early text-based forums to immersive, audiovisual environments, and now toward artificial intelligence (AI)-mediated communication. This transformation is not merely technological but also deeply structural, reflecting shifts in human perception, representation, and symbolic exchange. To better understand these changes, we can analyze the evolution of media through Jacques Lacan’s three orders: the Imaginary, the Symbolic, and the Real.

Lacan’s framework provides a powerful lens for examining how different platforms function as sites of identity formation, social structuring, and ruptures in meaning. The Imaginary order is the domain of images, self-recognition, and identification; the Symbolic order encompasses language, laws, and structured social relations; and the Real represents what resists symbolization, the gaps and excesses that destabilize meaning. By mapping these three orders onto the changing landscape of social media, we can trace how digital platforms have shifted in their role from structuring human relationships to generating and mediating discourse in increasingly automated ways.

The first stage of this evolution was defined by classical social media, where platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter dominated digital interaction. These platforms corresponded to the Lacanian triad in the following manner: Instagram functioned within the Imaginary by enabling users to craft and refine their visual self-representation; Facebook structured social connections and commitments, reinforcing the Symbolic order; and Twitter, with its constrained format, embodied the Real by facilitating fragmented, subtextual, and often disruptive forms of discourse.

As media became more integrated into everyday life, a second stage emerged, characterized by the rise of video-based platforms. In this phase, the Symbolic order shifted from Facebook’s declarative social structures to YouTube’s programmatic symbolism, where identity and authority were increasingly constructed through serialized audiovisual content. Meanwhile, TikTok took over Twitter’s role as the site of the Real, not through linguistic constraints but through parapractic realism—unintended gestures, glitches, and performative spontaneity that disrupted traditional modes of communication. Throughout this stage, Instagram persisted as the Imaginary space of self-presentation and curated visual culture.

Now, we are entering a third phase, in which AI-driven systems are reshaping the fundamental structure of media engagement. Traditional human-mediated symbolic structures are being replaced by generative AI systems that produce and regulate discourse in novel ways. The Imaginary order now finds expression in AI-generated images through platforms like DALL-E, where self-representation is no longer human-curated but algorithmically synthesized. The Symbolic order is increasingly mediated by AI chat systems such as ChatGPT, which function as automated discourse engines, replacing structured human communication with AI-generated narratives. Finally, the Real emerges in AI-generated music and sound through platforms like Suno, where meaning is no longer constructed through traditional linguistic structures but through an automated, non-linguistic (lalangue) process of synthetic composition.

This three-stage evolution—from classical social media to video-based platforms and now to AI-mediated discourse—illustrates a fundamental shift in the nature of digital communication. Early social media structured human interaction through recognizable symbolic frameworks, while later video platforms emphasized performance, virality, and audiovisual identity. Today, AI-driven media introduces a new dynamic in which digital environments are no longer mere platforms for human expression but active participants in meaning-making. As generative AI continues to develop, the relationship between individuals, technology, and discourse will continue to evolve, raising critical questions about agency, authenticity, and the future of communication in a post-symbolic world.

The following sections of this paper will explore each of these three stages in detail, examining how they correspond to Lacan’s orders and what they reveal about the broader trajectory of media evolution. By understanding these shifts, we can better grasp the underlying forces that shape contemporary digital culture and anticipate the future transformations of human-media interaction.

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Stage 1: Classical Social Media and the Lacanian Orders

The first stage of social media’s evolution emerged in the early 2000s and solidified in the 2010s, as platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter became central to online communication. This era marked the widespread adoption of social networking, where digital interaction was primarily structured around text, images, and short-form posts. During this period, users engaged with social media in a way that reflected and reinforced Lacan’s three orders—the Imaginary, the Symbolic, and the Real—each of which shaped the function and influence of different platforms.

In this stage, social media served as a digital extension of traditional human interaction. These platforms facilitated self-presentation, social bonding, and discourse production in ways that aligned with pre-existing social structures but also introduced new dynamics of engagement. However, as much as they structured identity and communication, they also exposed fundamental tensions and contradictions in representation, power, and authenticity. By examining Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter through the lens of Lacan’s triadic model, we can better understand the mechanisms that drove this stage of media evolution.

Instagram: The Imaginary Order – A Mirror of the Digital Self

Instagram, launched in 2010, became the primary space for curated self-presentation. It functioned as an extension of the Imaginary order, where individuals engaged in a visual economy of identity construction. The Imaginary is the domain of self-recognition, where one encounters an idealized reflection of oneself—a mirror stage that continues throughout life in different forms. In the digital sphere, Instagram provided the perfect apparatus for this process, offering users the ability to craft and refine their visual personas through photography, filters, and aesthetic curation.

Unlike earlier text-based social platforms, Instagram’s primary mode of interaction was image-based, reinforcing an identity formed through stylized snapshots rather than direct verbal articulation. Users did not simply communicate through words but instead constructed a highly selective and idealized representation of their lives, often engaging in aspirational self-projection. The act of taking, editing, and sharing images became a performative process, in which identity was mediated through a network of likes, comments, and followers—external validations that reinforced or challenged one’s imagined self.

This process replicated Lacan’s mirror stage, in which individuals form a sense of self through the recognition of their own image. However, just as in Lacanian theory, this recognition is misrecognized—the self one sees on Instagram is an idealized version, shaped by the demands of digital visibility and social validation. The pressure to maintain a visually appealing identity often led to dissociation between lived experience and online presentation, creating a gap between the real self and its mediated reflection. In this way, Instagram encapsulated the Imaginary order, where identity is shaped through a continuous interplay of projection and recognition, but never fully reconciled with reality.

Facebook: The Symbolic Order – The Digital Network of Meaning

If Instagram was the realm of the Imaginary, Facebook was the site of the Symbolic. The Symbolic order, according to Lacan, is the domain of language, social structures, and rules—it is where meaning is organized through shared systems of signification. Facebook, which rose to dominance in the late 2000s, served as the primary platform for structuring online identity within a network of formalized social ties. Unlike Instagram, which revolved around visual self-representation, Facebook operated through status updates, group affiliations, and explicit declarations of personal and professional relationships.

One of Facebook’s defining features was its ability to function as a digital archive of identity, where users could document their lives in a structured manner. Profiles acted as public records of personal narratives, where individuals signaled their relationships, career milestones, political beliefs, and cultural affinities. Through status updates, “likes,” and group memberships, users engaged in a highly symbolic system of communication, where meaning was established not only through personal expression but through the recognition and reinforcement of social categories.

Unlike the more fluid and shifting self-presentation on Instagram, Facebook demanded symbolic commitments. By listing one’s workplace, relationship status, and affiliations, users inscribed themselves into a structured network of meaning that extended beyond individual identity to encompass social, political, and economic realities. This structured symbolic framework created a sense of digital permanence, as every interaction contributed to the user’s narrative within an interconnected system of signs.

However, as much as Facebook reinforced the Symbolic order, it also revealed its limitations and contradictions. The rigid structure of identity categories often failed to capture the complexity of human relationships and experiences. Furthermore, the platform’s increasing reliance on algorithmic curation meant that symbolic exchange was mediated by external forces, as user engagement was shaped by recommendation systems, targeted advertisements, and content filtering. The more Facebook became a structured marketplace of identity and interaction, the more apparent its artificial constraints became, foreshadowing the eventual fragmentation of symbolic authority in later media stages.

Twitter: The Real – A Site of Disruption and Fragmentation

While Instagram nurtured the Imaginary and Facebook structured the Symbolic, Twitter embodied the Real. Lacan’s concept of the Real refers to what escapes symbolization, what resists articulation and cannot be fully captured in language. Twitter’s format—short, constrained posts limited to a strict character count—created an environment where meaning was often incomplete, fragmented, and implicit. Unlike Facebook, which encouraged structured declarations, Twitter thrived on subtext, irony, and omission, often leading to misunderstandings, viral controversies, and interpretive ambiguity.

The 280-character limit (originally 140 characters) functioned as an enforced interdiction, shaping discourse through constraints that encouraged brevity, wit, and subversive tactics such as subtweeting (indirectly referring to someone without mentioning them). This structure reinforced Lacan’s notion of inter-dit (between-said)—where meaning is not fully spoken but instead emerges between the lines. The Real in Twitter was not the content of the tweets themselves but the gaps, omissions, and ruptures in discourse, where unspoken tensions, anxieties, and power dynamics played out.

Unlike Facebook’s formalized social ties, Twitter fostered chaotic and unpredictable interactions, often leading to sudden viral movements, digital conflicts, and collective emotional surges. The immediacy and ephemerality of tweets contributed to a sense of volatility, where discourse was constantly shifting, and narratives were rewritten in real-time. This instability mirrored the nature of the Real, which disrupts and destabilizes structured meaning.

Furthermore, Twitter’s role as a site of political activism, controversy, and ideological clashes revealed the unstructured and raw dimensions of discourse that other platforms sought to regulate. The rise of cancel culture, meme warfare, and viral misinformation on Twitter highlighted how the Real manifests as an uncontrollable force, breaking through the symbolic structures that other platforms attempted to maintain.

Conclusion: The Limits of Classical Social Media

The first stage of social media evolution structured digital interaction according to Lacan’s orders, with Instagram fostering Imaginary self-identification, Facebook organizing Symbolic social structures, and Twitter exposing the Real through fragmented discourse. However, as these platforms matured, their limitations became apparent. The Imaginary (Instagram) was increasingly detached from reality, the Symbolic (Facebook) became rigid and overdetermined, and the Real (Twitter) grew chaotic and destabilizing.

These tensions set the stage for the next phase of digital media evolution, where the dominance of traditional social media was challenged by new platforms that emphasized audiovisual immediacy, spontaneous performativity, and algorithmic control. This shift, which introduced YouTube, TikTok, and new forms of engagement, marked the beginning of Stage 2 in the transformation of media.

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Stage 2: The Rise of Video and Parapractic Realism

As social media became increasingly embedded in everyday life, the limitations of traditional text-based and image-focused platforms began to surface. While Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter had structured digital interaction through Lacan’s Imaginary, Symbolic, and Real orders, new platforms emerged that shifted the emphasis toward video-based engagement. This transition marked the second stage of media evolution, where the dominant social functions of the earlier platforms were reorganized through audiovisual content.

The defining feature of this stage was the integration of real-time, performative, and algorithmically driven interactions. Unlike the earlier era, where users primarily engaged with static images, text updates, and symbolic affiliations, this phase was characterized by fluid, ephemeral, and participatory media. The rise of YouTube, TikTok, and the continued presence of Instagram (now more video-centric) illustrated how the Imaginary, Symbolic, and Real were remapped in the digital sphere.

Instagram: The Persistent Imaginary – From Static to Kinetic Self-Presentation

While Instagram initially thrived as a curated archive of the idealized self, its function evolved in response to the increasing dominance of video content. The introduction of Instagram Stories, Reels, and Live features signaled a shift from a static Imaginary order to a more kinetic and ephemeral mode of self-representation. No longer confined to polished photos, users now had the ability to showcase raw, spontaneous, and fleeting moments in their daily lives.

However, despite this newfound dynamism, Instagram continued to reinforce the Imaginary in a different form. The mirror-stage effect persisted, but now through short-form video clips and augmented reality (AR) filters, which allowed users to not only present their idealized selves but also to continuously modulate, enhance, and reshape their appearances in real-time. The transition to video did not dismantle the Imaginary function but intensified it, making self-representation even more performative and interactive.

This shift also deepened the paradox of self-representation: while Stories and Reels offered more “authentic” glimpses into a user’s life, they were still carefully curated and algorithmically optimized. The blurred boundary between authenticity and performance became a defining characteristic of this stage. The Imaginary now extended beyond the still image and became a continuous loop of self-reinvention, where individuals navigated an ever-changing landscape of social validation and algorithmic feedback.

YouTube: The Symbolic Shift – From Personal Declarations to Programmatic Commitment

In the first stage, Facebook had functioned as the primary site of Symbolic engagement, where users declared affiliations, relationships, and beliefs. However, as digital life became increasingly intertwined with economic and creative industries, Facebook’s text-based symbolic structures were supplanted by the audiovisual commitments of YouTube.

YouTube represented a new kind of Symbolic order, where users no longer just declared their affiliations (as they did on Facebook) but instead produced structured content—podcasts, vlogs, tutorials, documentaries, and serialized narratives. Unlike the fragmented and ephemeral nature of Instagram and TikTok, YouTube content emphasized durability and depth, creating symbolic authority through sustained audiovisual discourse.

Podcasts, in particular, emerged as a powerful new form of symbolic engagement. They provided a space where individuals and organizations could construct long-form arguments, establish ideological positions, and cultivate communities of discourse. Unlike the short, reactionary exchanges of Twitter or the ephemeral updates of Instagram, YouTube’s long-form structure enabled a different kind of identity construction—one rooted in sustained symbolic engagement rather than fleeting self-representation.

Another key feature of YouTube’s Symbolic function was the rise of creator economies. The monetization of content reinforced the Symbolic order, as engagement was no longer just about social validation but also about economic exchange and digital labor. A YouTube video was not just a post but a structured contribution to an ongoing symbolic marketplace, where creators built reputations, networks, and even businesses around their content.

However, just as Facebook’s symbolic authority was later undermined by algorithmic manipulation and corporate control, YouTube also became increasingly shaped by algorithm-driven visibility, reinforcing a new kind of symbolic authority dictated not by organic engagement but by recommendation systems and watch-time metrics. The Symbolic order thus became entangled with algorithmic governance, as content creators adapted their output to align with the opaque logic of platform algorithms, reinforcing a new mode of structured meaning production.

TikTok: The Parapractic Real – The Emergence of Disruptive Expression

While Twitter had functioned as the previous site of the Real by structuring discourse around constraints and fragmentation, TikTok emerged as the new locus of the Real, not through text-based brevity but through parapractic realism—the unintended, accidental, and often chaotic expressions that define short-form video culture.

Lacan’s Real is what escapes symbolization, resists conscious articulation, and disrupts structured meaning. TikTok’s short, looping videos functioned as a site where speech, gesture, and meaning often diverged. Unlike YouTube’s structured, narrative-driven content, TikTok was defined by spontaneity, unpredictability, and algorithmic serendipity.

One of the key aspects of TikTok’s Realist function was the prevalence of parapraxis—unintended slips, glitches, and misfires that became viral moments. Unlike traditional social media, which emphasized deliberate self-representation, TikTok thrived on accidental moments, unexpected humor, and performative failures. This embrace of imperfection distinguished it from the carefully curated aesthetic of Instagram or the scripted performances of YouTube.

Additionally, TikTok’s algorithm functioned differently from earlier platforms. Whereas YouTube’s algorithm rewarded retention and long-form commitment, TikTok’s For You Page (FYP) operated on an entirely non-linear, hyper-personalized model, where content discovery was not based on explicit choices but on passive engagement patterns. This created an unpredictable, Real-like environment, where virality was often accidental and detached from traditional metrics of social authority.

Moreover, TikTok’s linguistic economy was distinct from Twitter’s textual brevity. Instead of subtextual dialogue (as in subtweeting), TikTok engaged in gestural subversion, where meaning was often carried not through direct speech but through bodily performance, dance, and non-verbal cues. This embodied discourse reinforced a new kind of Realism, where social commentary and identity negotiation were conducted through gesture rather than explicit language.

Conclusion: The Transition from Structured Platforms to Algorithmic Playgrounds

The second stage of media evolution represented a profound shift from text-based symbolic structuring to audiovisual performativity. While Instagram continued to function as the Imaginary, it moved from static images to dynamic, ephemeral content. Facebook’s Symbolic authority gave way to YouTube’s long-form, programmatic engagement, where identity was constructed through ongoing audiovisual discourse rather than declarative statements. Finally, TikTok replaced Twitter as the primary site of the Real, operating through parapractic expression, algorithmic serendipity, and embodied rather than textual discourse.

This stage marked a transition from structured platforms to algorithmic playgrounds, where meaning was no longer dictated by human intention alone but increasingly mediated by platform dynamics. The rise of AI-driven recommendation systems began to reshape engagement patterns, setting the stage for the third and most radical shift in media evolution—where human-generated content would soon be challenged by artificial intelligence as the primary producer of symbolic discourse.

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Stage 3: AI Communication and the Collapse of Symbolic Exchange

The third stage of media evolution marks a decisive break from the previous paradigms of digital communication. Whereas earlier stages relied on human-driven interaction—through curated self-representation, structured social networks, long-form discourse, and spontaneous audiovisual engagement—the rise of artificial intelligence has introduced a radically different form of media production. In this phase, AI-driven systems are no longer just tools for human communication but have become active participants in meaning-making, reshaping the landscape of the Imaginary, the Symbolic, and the Real in ways previously unimaginable.

This shift is not merely an extension of prior trends but a transformation of the fundamental dynamics that govern digital media. Unlike the transition from static images to video, which still relied on human expression, AI-generated content challenges the very premise of authorship, identity, and intention. As AI models such as DALL-E, ChatGPT, and Suno become dominant, the boundaries between human and machine-produced meaning blur, leading to a new kind of post-symbolic communication.

DALL-E: The Imaginary Order – The Fragmentation of the Visual Self

In the first two stages, the Imaginary order was defined by the way individuals curated and controlled their visual identities. Instagram played this role initially, serving as a mirror through which users shaped their idealized selves, and later evolved into a kinetic space for performative identity. However, with the rise of AI-generated imagery, the relationship between self-representation and authorship has fundamentally changed.

DALL-E (also known as Bing Image Creator or Copilot Designer) represents a rupture in the Imaginary, as it enables users to produce hyperrealistic or entirely fantastical images with no direct connection to their own self-representation. Unlike Instagram, where individuals presented curated versions of themselves, AI-generated images can fabricate entirely new identities, personas, and aesthetic worlds, detached from any personal referent. This marks a departure from the traditional mirror stage—where individuals recognize themselves in an external image—to a dispersal of the self across an infinite array of synthetic visual possibilities.

The ability to generate images on demand reduces the role of the individual as an originator of visual meaning, shifting the Imaginary from a space of self-projection to one of pure simulation. Users no longer create images to reflect themselves but instead prompt AI to generate representations that fulfill aesthetic desires or narrative needs. This is a crucial transformation: the Imaginary order is no longer rooted in the human gaze but in the machinic hallucination of AI models.

Moreover, AI-generated images disrupt the traditional constraints of the Imaginary—there is no longer a fixed relationship between the subject and their representation. The idea of a stable visual identity collapses, giving way to an endless recombination of aesthetic fragments. This fracturing of self-representation introduces a new kind of alienation, where individuals must navigate a space where the Imaginary is no longer a reflection of the self but a simulation of possibility.

ChatGPT: The Symbolic Order – The Automation of Discourse

The Symbolic order, which previously structured meaning through social networks (Facebook) and long-form audiovisual discourse (YouTube), is now increasingly mediated by language models like ChatGPT. This transition is perhaps the most profound shift of this stage, as AI-generated text challenges the very foundation of human communication: intentionality, authorship, and linguistic exchange.

In the previous phase, YouTube had taken over the Symbolic function from Facebook by becoming a platform where individuals constructed meaning through structured discourse, programs, and serialized narratives. However, the advent of AI-generated text introduces a new kind of symbolic mediation—one where human participation is no longer a requirement. ChatGPT and similar models function as autonomous agents of discourse, producing text that simulates human conversation but lacks subjective intention.

This introduces a paradox: the Symbolic order, which was historically built on human speech, contracts, and structured communication, now operates through algorithmic synthesis rather than lived experience. Unlike previous media structures, where individuals actively shaped discourse, AI-generated text creates the illusion of meaningful dialogue without human agency. The Symbolic field is no longer constructed by direct social interaction but by statistical prediction, eroding the traditional role of discourse as a site of negotiation and meaning-making.

Moreover, the widespread use of AI-generated language has significant implications for authority and legitimacy in discourse. If meaning can be algorithmically produced, what happens to the credibility of authorship? The increasing reliance on AI for generating essays, articles, customer service interactions, and even legal and medical texts suggests that the role of human discourse is shifting from creation to curation—from producing meaning to selecting among machine-generated outputs.

This shift also impacts the way individuals relate to language itself. In traditional Symbolic structures, language serves as a mediator of the self and the social order. But in an AI-dominated space, language is no longer an organic extension of human expression but a tool of synthetic generation, leading to a post-symbolic landscape where communication is abundant but lacks intrinsic human depth.

Suno: The Real – The Dissolution of Linguistic Boundaries

If TikTok represented the Real in the second stage by enabling parapractic, spontaneous gestures and unintended expressions, AI-generated music platforms like Suno represent the next evolution of the Real. Unlike TikTok, which still relied on human bodies and performances, Suno creates a purely machinic Real, where meaning is entirely de-linked from human expression and linguistic coherence.

Suno and other AI-driven audio models (such as Udio) generate music and lyrics in ways that disrupt conventional linguistic structures. Unlike ChatGPT, which still adheres to the rules of human grammar and syntax, AI-generated music operates at the level of lalangue—a Lacanian term describing language before it is structured into meaning. This represents a new form of sonic Realism, where AI produces speech-like or musical sequences that mimic expression without necessarily signifying anything specific.

This transformation is critical because music has historically functioned as an affective and symbolic medium—a space where emotion, identity, and collective meaning converge. However, AI-generated music, which can create endless variations of styles, voices, and compositions without human intention, introduces a radically different relationship between sound and meaning. The traditional connection between composer, performer, and audience is severed, leaving a space where sound is generated without subjective desire or artistic intent.

Furthermore, Suno and similar AI audio platforms operate beyond linguistic and cultural boundaries, generating cross-language interpolations that exist outside the constraints of any single linguistic system. This aligns with Lacan’s concept of lalangue—the raw, pre-symbolic aspect of language that is closer to sound and rhythm than to structured discourse. AI-generated music is thus a direct manifestation of the Real, as it embodies pure sound without the anchoring of personal experience or structured symbolic meaning.

Conclusion: The Post-Symbolic Landscape and the Future of Meaning

The third stage of media evolution marks a fundamental departure from previous modes of communication. Whereas earlier digital platforms mediated human expression, AI-driven media produces meaning autonomously, altering the Imaginary, Symbolic, and Real in unprecedented ways.

1. DALL-E fragments the Imaginary by removing the link between self-representation and personal identity, replacing it with synthetic visual simulation.
2. ChatGPT automates the Symbolic, transforming discourse into a field of algorithmic text production, where authorship becomes secondary to AI-generated synthesis.
3. Suno embodies the Real by creating post-linguistic expressions of meaning, where sound exists outside the constraints of human articulation.

This phase marks the emergence of a post-symbolic media environment, where human intention is no longer the primary driver of discourse. As AI continues to evolve, the question remains: what role will human agency play in meaning-making when media production is no longer solely in human hands?

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Discussion: The Collapse of Human-Centered Media and the Emergence of Post-Symbolic Communication

The three stages of media evolution—classical social media, the rise of video-based platforms, and AI-driven content generation—illustrate a trajectory that moves away from human-centered meaning-making toward a more automated, algorithmic, and machinic form of discourse production. This discussion will explore the implications of this transition, the challenges posed by AI-driven media, and the theoretical consequences of a post-symbolic landscape, where human communication is increasingly shaped by non-human agents.

1. The Fragmentation of the Imaginary: From Identity Construction to Synthetic Representation

One of the most profound shifts in this evolution has been the displacement of human self-representation by AI-generated images. In the early stages, platforms such as Instagram provided a space for curated identity performance, where individuals controlled their own visual self-expression. The second stage saw the acceleration of performative identity through ephemeral video content, reinforcing the Imaginary’s fluid and evolving nature.

However, in the third stage, AI-generated imagery disrupts this process by removing the necessity of personal authorship. With platforms like DALL-E, users no longer craft their own representations but instead generate synthetic images on demand. This marks a fundamental rupture in the relationship between self and image, as identity becomes dispersed, fragmented, and detached from any singular origin.

This shift has several consequences:

Erosion of Authenticity: As AI-generated images become indistinguishable from human-created ones, the distinction between the “real” self and the artificial representation collapses. What was once an extension of the self (a photograph, a curated feed) is now an algorithmically generated hallucination, diluting the concept of authenticity. 

Aesthetic Homogenization: Since AI models are trained on pre-existing cultural datasets, they often reinforce and replicate dominant aesthetic trends, leading to a paradox where users seek originality but receive variations of the same algorithmically favored visual patterns. 

Identity as a Prompt: Instead of constructing their identities through experience, individuals now “prompt” their identities into existence, treating self-expression as an interactive command for a machine rather than a lived, embodied process.

Thus, the Imaginary order is no longer a mirror but a simulation, where personal representation is mediated through computational generation rather than human perception.

2. The Automation of the Symbolic: From Discourse to Algorithmic Language

The transformation of the Symbolic order in AI-driven media is perhaps the most radical shift in meaning-making. Previously, language and symbolic structures functioned as systems of negotiation, social contracts, and identity positioning, from Facebook’s declarative affiliations to YouTube’s structured discourse. However, AI-generated language, as embodied by models like ChatGPT, has fundamentally altered the role of discourse.

The Symbolic has traditionally been the realm of structure, rules, and meaning, yet AI-generated text undermines the authority of linguistic production in several ways:

Meaning Without Intentionality: Traditional human discourse is grounded in intention, context, and intersubjectivity. AI-generated text, however, lacks subjective intention—it is statistically generated rather than meaningfully authored, producing an illusion of coherence without lived experience. 

The Saturation of Text: With AI able to generate infinite amounts of text, the value of discourse is diluted. If words can be endlessly produced without labor, effort, or thought, what separates meaningful speech from noise? This raises questions about credibility, authority, and originality in a world saturated with machine-generated language.

Displacement of the Human Voice: As AI increasingly mediates business, legal, and creative communication, the traditional role of language as a human-centered act is diminishing. The Symbolic, once an exclusive space of human interaction, is now co-populated by non-human agents, forcing humans to engage with machines as equal participants in discourse.

This transformation suggests a post-symbolic condition, where human agency is no longer the primary structuring force of language. Instead of producing meaning, individuals curate, refine, and fact-check AI-generated language, shifting their role from authors to mediators of machinic discourse.

3. The Real in AI: The Disintegration of Meaning Through Synthetic Sound

The Real has historically been the order that resists symbolization, appearing in the form of gaps, disruptions, and unconscious slips. In the early digital era, Twitter captured this through fragmented discourse, subtext, and unintended linguistic ruptures. TikTok later extended this into the gestural realm, where meaning emerged through bodily expressions, spontaneous moments, and algorithmically curated serendipity.

In the AI-driven stage, platforms like Suno introduce a new kind of Real—one in which speech, sound, and expression are generated independently of human linguistic structures. AI-generated music and sound function as a form of lalangue—a proto-linguistic expression that operates at the level of affect rather than symbolic meaning.

This has several critical consequences:

Detachment from Human Intent: AI-generated music can evoke emotion and affect without being anchored in a specific human experience or cultural context. This creates affective resonance without authorship, leading to music that “feels” meaningful but lacks a direct human reference point. 

The Breakdown of Genre and Style: Unlike traditional music, which develops within historical and cultural contexts, AI-generated music is a composite of pre-existing patterns, detached from any single lineage or artistic movement. This results in sonic artifacts that exist outside the logic of historical continuity, disrupting the traditional way we categorize and understand music 

Hyper-Production and the Devaluation of Sound: Just as AI-generated text saturates discourse with excessive language, AI-generated sound produces an overabundance of music, reducing the scarcity and uniqueness of musical creation. When music can be instantly generated, what distinguishes a meaningful composition from a disposable audio file?

This phase of the Real introduces a new kind of rupture—one where language, meaning, and sound are no longer confined to human structures. Instead, AI-generated expression becomes an autonomous force, producing affective and linguistic experiences that bypass traditional signification.

4. The Emergence of Post-Symbolic Media: A Crisis of Meaning?

The cumulative effect of these transformations leads to an unprecedented shift in how meaning is produced and consumed. If the Imaginary is algorithmically simulated, the Symbolic is automated, and the Real is machinically generated, then what role do humans play in meaning-making? This raises profound questions:

What is the function of language in a world where discourse is machine-generated? 

How does identity persist when self-representation is no longer personal but synthetic? 

What happens to art, music, and culture when creativity is algorithmically reproduced at scale?

This shift suggests that we are entering a post-symbolic era—one in which the traditional role of the subject in structuring meaning is increasingly displaced by artificial systems. Rather than expressing themselves, individuals are now curators of machine-generated meaning, navigating a landscape where media production is no longer solely in human hands.

Conclusion: The Future of Meaning in AI-Driven Media

As AI continues to integrate into media production, we face a future where human-centered communication is no longer the default mode of discourse. The collapse of traditional Imaginary, Symbolic, and Real structures does not mean that meaning disappears, but rather that it is reconfigured through a new interplay between human and machinic agents.

The key question moving forward is whether this transition represents a liberation from human limitations or a crisis of meaning itself. Will AI enhance human expression by augmenting creativity, or will it erode the role of intentionality, making human discourse increasingly redundant? The answers to these questions will determine the trajectory of digital communication in the coming years.

(1: Social media and the three registers, 2: Sosyal Medyada Üç Nakış: Hayali, Simgesel, Gerçek, 3: Yapay Zeka ve Üç Nakış: Hayali, Simgesel, Gerçek)