The Vision Machine and Computer Simulation Exploring New Horizons in Virtual Photography

The black hole M87 image represents a turning point in contemporary photography. The techniques used in its creation (Bouman, 2019) redefine the ontology and epistemology of photography, making the transition from the retinal to the diagrammatic regime (Dondero, 2021). Moreover, the M87 image is a synthetic photography which combines various data captured by several radio telescope-sensors, visualising them on the basis of the theoretical model of black hole. The M87 synthetic photograph does not aim to replicate the visible or offer a direct sensory experience. Instead, it exists in the domain of virtuality (Lévy, 1998). This is primarily because the data cube that organises and synthesises the data is virtual, derived from a theoretical-computational model (Eugeni, 2021). Additionally, the M87 image is virtual because it represents one of the many potential visualisations of the logic-mathematical model that underlies its creation. Consequently, the simulation and emulation of perceptual processes in the M87 image enable the comprehension of phenomenal reality without direct interaction. This transformation shifts the role of the body from a translator of sensory experiences to an interlocutor-receiver of a synthetic-algorithmic model (Accoto, 2022). As a result, an epistemic gap arises between experimental and simulation methods (Lenhard, 2019) , as well as between physis and logos (Coquet, 2007). Therefore, if the image as a manifestation of the sensory experience of phenomenal reality dissipates, giving way to experiences of mathematical-computational thinking that redefine our worldview (Parisi, 2022), then what epistemological horizon (Idhe, 2002) comes to define the M87 image?