According to Donna Haraway, author of Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature, 'The boundary between science and fiction and social reality is an optical illusion. We are all chimeras, theorised and fabricated hybrids of machine and organsim, in short, we are all cyborgs.' (Cassell and Jenkins 1998: 256)
'The term cyborg is derived from 'cybernetic' and 'organism'-a fusion of the organic and high technology' (Luckman 1999) The Cyborg is a direct result of the convergance of new media technologies and human interaction with the interface in combination with the ongoing development of [Virtual_Identities | virtual identities]] 'A Cyborg is a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fiction.' (Haraway 1991:149) It is part machine, part human being.
Donna Haraway writes about the Cyborg as being a kind of 'defiance of gender' and recognises it as signicificant for representing a need for 'new ways of operating, rather than relating to others, in a postmodern world where partial subjectivities are the norm rather than the aberration.' (Luckman 1999:2) The Cyborg, 'conceptualised as a model for socialist feminist praxis by Haraway in 'A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology, and Socialist Feminism in the 1980s' (Luckman 1999:2) and Cyberfeminism (Plant 1995) is a 'creature of the global web, the internet, and as we move into what Jean Baudrilliard (1983) has called a 'hyperreal' world, identity is increasingly hyperreal or virtual as well.' (Carlson 2001)
'Ever since Mary Shelley introduced Frankenstein's monster, the part-human, part-animal, part-machine, the public consciousness has been fascinated by the cyborg.' (Carlson 2001: 305) Examples of cyborgs are found in films such as Blade Runner, RoboCop, Terminator, Aliens, Artificial Intelligence and Star Trek: the next generation, where the part-person, part-machine is struggling to be free. (Carlson 2001)
'The postmodern cyborg moves back and forth across identity borders. The cyborg is a metaphor for 'shapeshifting subjects who exist at the boundaries and interfaces between outside and inside, between subjectivity, body, and technology, able to adapt to a heterogeneous and rapidly changing environment.' (Carlson 2001) 'Postmodern cyborg subjects also inhabit a cultural landscape in which identities are blurred, multiple languages are spoken, and different cultural traditions and rituals rub up against one another.' (Carlson 2001)
The future of the cyborg is a fascinating question. It remains to be seen whether the fusing of the human mind and body with the machine will advance in some radical way over the next generation. The cyborgian body reveals itself in every day life: 'dentures, gold plated teeth, prosthetics, wheelchairs, vision implants, laser surgery, cosmetic plastic surgery, bionic technology and other assistive devices, all of which have exceeded the nineteenth century's wildest dreams in their development.' (Tenner 2004) The portability and power of the mechanisms human beings are able to carry with them or have implanted in the body is perhaps an indication of the future of the combination of nature and the machine. 'Spectacles may be able to transmit the emotional states of users so that a speaker can detect a group's interest or boredom', (Tenner 2004) computers might be as easily carried as cell phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs) now are, and viewed through special eyeglass displays.' (Tenner 2004)
There has been in recent years a 'curious cyborgian shifting of the balance of power in the human hand from the index finger to the thumb.' (Tenner 2004). C.P.E Bach was responsible for 'elevating the role of the thumb in playing the keyboard 250 years ago.' (Tenner 2004) This strange shift in power in the late twentieth and twenty first century human hand is a result of the advancement in pen and pencil like computing devices. Technology and the human being are converging and 'changing each other.' (Tenner 2004) Further to this, a study conducted by researcher Sadie Plant has shown 'that mobile-use (see Youth Culture and New Technologies - Mobile Phone Convergence) is producing a generation of young people with more powerful thumbs.' (Talbot, M: 2003)
The most distinctive feature of the cyborg is that 'they do not require an 'other' to define itself.' (Carlson 2001) 'The cyborg is viewed as a highly charged sexual entity.' (Luckman 1999) Cyberfeminist discourse views the cyborg as possessing 'pleasure (erotic pleasure in particular) and desire at their core.' (Luckman 1999) 'Cyborgs are inextricably linked to enhanced corporeality, sexuality and strength. As Haraway suggests, the Cyborg is a 'liberation from the taken-for-granted character of identity categories' (Carlson 2001) and emancipation against rigid economic and gender roles. (Tenner 2004)
See mediachannel.org for further effects determined by technology and Cyberdemocracy
Laura Keneally 21:00, 8 Oct 2004 (EST)
Bibliography
Carlson, D. (2001). Gay, Queer, and Cyborg: the performance of identity in a transglobal age. Discourse: studies in the cultural politics of education, 22(3), 297-309.
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Haraway, Donna. (1991). Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. New York: Routledge.
Haraway, Donna. (2000). How like a leaf: an interview with Thyrza Nicholas Goodeve. London: Routledge.
Hartley, J, (ed). (2002). Communication, Cultural and Media Studies: Key Concepts (3rd ed). London: Routledge.
Gray, C, H. (2001). Cyborg Citizen. New York: Routledge.
Luckman, S. (1999). EnGendering the Digital Body: Feminism and the Internet. Hecate Vol 25 Issue 2 Queensland University of Technology Library Database: http://global.factiva.com.gateway.library.qut.edu.au/en/eSrch/ss_hl.asp(accessed October 8, 2004).
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Talbot, M. (2003). My Son, the Cyborg The New York Times Queensland University of Technology Library Database: http://global.factiva.com.gateway.library.qut.edu.au/en/eSrch/ss_hl.asp (Accessed October 8, 2004)
Tenner, E. (2004). Thumbs Up a New Digit, Digitally Empowered. Free Inquiry. Vol 24 Issue 4 Queensland University of Technology Library Database: http://global.factiva.com.gateway.library.qut.edu.au/en/eSrch/ss_hl.asp (Accessed October 12, 2004) (Accessed October 10, 2004).
