Explain Baudrillard's concept of simulacra and simulation.
Simulacra are not merely copies of reality; they are the very 'generation by models of a real without origin or reality.' Simulation, then, is the process by which these models, these signs detached from any original referent, create our perceived reality. We move through stages: first, the sign is a reflection of a profound reality; second, it masks and perverts that reality; third, it masks the absence of a profound reality; and finally, it bears no relation to any reality whatever – it is its own pure simulacrum. This leads to a hyperreality where the distinction between the real and the imagined disappears.
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