Our hypothetical history would show the movement beyond structuralism into poststructuralism. Now, the search for transcendental signifieds would be suggested as impossible or irrelevant, and philosophers such as Derrida and Foucault would provide us with new ways of seeing, which allow us to deconstruct and reexamine the hegemony of an instructional message. Baudrillard would focus our attention on simulation, or using his own preferred word, the simulacrum, and show that in fact it is difficult to know what is real and what is imaginary. Indeed, Baudrillard would argue for the "precession of the simulacrum," in essence a deconstruction in which reality itself is deconstructed as we enter a world of '.'Virtual" reality in cyberspace, a world that can be constructed through the application of computer technologies. Other strands would enter our thinking, too. A recognition of multiple ways of viewing would arise as we see the resurgence of cultures, and the rejection of the concept of empire. Ironic interplay of text would result as we become aware of the slipperiness of signifieds. Some critics would pull in one direction, others in other directions. A faint sense of the chaotic arises, and 0 seems about to fall in shambles. Yet, phoenixlike, out of the deconstruction comes reconstruction. We seem to start over, yet we are on a higher level, somewhat Re Bruner's spiral curriculum. We approach all technologies with a healthy skepticism, recognizing on the one hand the benefits of such progress, but coupling that recognition with a wariness, and a careful search for alternatives. We recognize now that an instructional message is not the same for all learners or even for all teachers. The pragmatist sees use-value. The constructivist sees how meaning is made. The critical theorist sees an ideological hegemony.