“The term that has come to be widely used to define and conceptualize this growing confusion and fusion of the realandimagined is hyperreality. There is an interesting relation between the prefixes of the terms hyperreality and postmodernity. Both post- and hyper-, as well as the related prefixes meta- and trans-, carry with them the notion of a movement beyond an existing state, although each takes on additional meanings with regard to this movement. Post- and Meta- connote “after” and also a significant change in location, position, condition or nature. Trans- is more stricktly “across” but can refer to a change in condition as well. Hyper- adds to this a sense of speeding up, often with the hint of excess. In the debates on the new modernity of the contemporary period, each one of this prefixes has been used (postmodernity, metamodernity, hypermodernity, transmodernity) to connote subtle variations on the same theme. Similarly, arguments can be made to use such terms as post-reality, metareality, and transreality instead of hyperreality. But like postmodernity, hyperreality has entered into popular and academic usage (and misusage) and remains the generally preferred term.”

Edward W. Soja, Postmetropolis. Critical Studies of Cities and Regions Raise Your Voice divx (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2000); p. 325