Guiding Question:
2. ‘The machine/organism relationships are obsolete, unnecessary’ writes Haraway. In what ways have our relations to machines been theorised?
1) Cyborgs, We?
This article has collected different definitions about cyborg. From some science fictions, cyborg is “anything part animal, part machine that’s too advanced for present technology”. From Wikipedia, cyborg is “an organism that has both artificial and natural systems”. From American Heritage Dictionary, cyborg is “A human who has certain physiological processes aided or controlled by mechanical or electronic devices”.
However, the etymology of cyborg is not simply machine + organism, but is Cybernetic + Organism. Cybernetics is just like the steersman who controls the boat. The steersman controls the boat, and the boat interacts with the steersman. Their interaction and feedback let them become a cybernetic organism, cyborg. Just like the example that mentioned in the Further Reading of that article, if I want to put the cursor in a right position, so I have to look at the cursor on the screen and move the mouse on the table until it is in a correct place. This is a kind of feedback and interaction between me and the computer.
This article brings a clear idea of how machine + organism become a cyborg. It is not only simply combining by part machine and part body then becomes cyborg, but it’s through the interaction and feedback between machine and organism, so this article helps me in explaining Haraway’s statement in studying the circularity of interaction between machine/organism.
Reference:
- Somma, Ryan. "Cyborgs, We?." http://ideonexus.com/. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2011. http://www.ideonexus.com/2008/07/30/cyborgs-we/.
Further Reading:
- "Virtual Reality and Human Computer Interaction - University of Reading." University of Reading Top Ranking University for Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2011. http://www.reading.ac.uk/sse/about/cyber/cyber-vrandhci.aspx.
2) We Are Cyborgs
The author of this article, Joanna Zylinska, discussed we can now no longer see technology as just an external tool, it had actually become a condition of our functioning in the world.
In her article, she mentioned a techno-artist, Stelarc. He had implanted an extra ear on his arm as a way of exploring what he terms “alternate bodily architectures”. From interviewing him, Stelarc argues that he hadn’t seen the body as purely biological. And we should not think there was once a “pure” body. All of us have somehow been contaminated since we entered the technological age. That’s why he isn’t try to argue there is an evolution of human to post-human, we are actually being cyborg when we born. Technology is an inseparable part of both “human” and “body” at the beginning.
The idea of there isn’t any “pure” body is perfect for explaining Haraway’s statement. The machines/organism relationships are, obsolete, unnecessary, because there isn’t any “pure” body under Stelarc and Joanna argument. However, this idea has a little different between Haraway’s cyborg manifesto, Haraway argues that the concept of cyborg brings human to a post-human era, but Stelarc does not. This will lead a further interesting discussion in my essay by discussing if we are cyborg from we born or we are being a cyborg in this digital age.
Reference:
- Zylinska, Joanna. "We Are Cyborgs Relentless." Home Relentless. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2011. http://www.relentlessenergy.com/features/view/we-are-cyborgs#more.
3) Cyborg Barbie, unable to perform gender roles
Haraway’s cyborg manifesto confusing the traditional dichotomous boundary of machine/organism, there is now no more a clear line to distinguish machine and organism. In addition, the manifesto further confuses other dichotomous boundaries like gender opposition, men/women.
This article states that under the cyborg manifesto, even the Barbie, an ideal female sexual body, is now can be argued as genderless.
In 2010, Mattel released a newest Barbie doll, Barbie video girl. It has a camera implanted in her chest and a small LCD screen at her back. Children can record video from Barbie’s point-of-view. The author states that Barbie Video Girl is now a cyborg, because she is visually representing an organic being, and now she infused with technology, copper wires and circuit boards.
Moreover, Barbie’s gender roles are fragmented and far removed from real-world gender roles, since she represents both masculine and feminine role at the same time. She is outgoing, party beach-going, career-driven professional, but at the same time she is domestic, she cooks, cleans and like a princess. So her gender roles of “woman” are blurred. That’s why the author thinks she is a cyborg (visually but not essentially).
It is an interesting argument, not only on how a mass ideal female sexual body can also become genderless by confusing the dichotomous boundaries, but also the machine/organism relationships can in use on Barbie, a doll (only visually organism being). So do people abuse the cyborg theory or the definition of machine and organism is now becoming more and more confuse? This will be a great start in exploring it from this article.
Reference:
- "We, the Borg.: Cyborg Barbie, unable to perform gender roles." We, the Borg.. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2011. http://www.wetheb.org/2011/01/cyborg-barbie-unable-to-perform-gender.html.
4) Supa Dupa Fly: Black Women As Cyborgs in Hiphop Videos
In Steven Shaviro’s essay, he discussed a famous Black Rapper “Missy Elliott and Lil' Kim are invaded by, and fused with, machines. The videos thus raise questions about identity and otherness, and about power and control”.
From the media, we can always study different messages. From the music video of Missy Elliott "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)", we are asked to think about how we are being transformed in this technological era.
In Shaviro’s essay, he argues that, cyborg implantation is a sort of transformations of identity, and this is irreparable, no hope of return. Unluckily, becoming cyborg is something that we suffer or endure, rather than something we can freely choose (or not) to perform.
This is true that, when we getting in a technology era, we cannot live without the help of technology, and we have no hope to get return to a “pure” body, which I have mentioned in the second recourses. So machine/organism relationships are actually obsolete in this technology era, because we cannot choose not to be separate with machine in nowadays. This helps to prove Haraway’s argument.
Reference:
- Shaviro, Steven. "Supa Dupa Fly: Black Women As Cyborgs in Hiphop Videos." N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2011. http://www.shaviro.com/Othertexts/MissyKim.pdf.
5) The creation of the cyborg citizen – children, cyberspace and 21st century challenges
By Croissant, “human-machine synthesis [can be] seen as the next stage of human development.” Also, by Haraway, “body, gender and culture are interwoven in technology, - we are all Cyborgs.” The development of cyberspace confused the identity of ourselves, also confused the distinction between what is the human and what is our tools.
The writer, Patrik Hernwall, believes that our senses, competences have been changed in the second media age. So he brings a question, that is what is the role/identity of the child in the second media age, they create oneself, or to become someone.
Also, he argues that in 21st century people become a cyborg citizen, because “the human that has incorporated the technology and its affordances with its own essence”, that means the technology is now become a natural aspect (prosthesis) of ourselves. And since technology empowers someone, it empowers people who can possess, make use and access to it. So computer is now no limited as being our tool. The information and communication technologies might even become “arenas for social experience” and the chat then becomes an “identity playground”.
This article suggested a great hypothesis in presuming the role of cyberspace and our role under the theory of cyborg. Cyberspace is always contains power, especially under the cyborg theory, machine and organism cannot be clearly distinguish, cyberspace become more powerful than before. So this hypothesis helps to make a clear explanation in the role of cyberspace and our role in this digital age.
Reference:
- Hernwall, Patrik. "The creation of the cyborg citizen – children, cyberspace and 21st century challenges." N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2011. http://www.nada.kth.se/kurser/kth/2D1624/PDF/Litteratur/CyborgCitizen_Hernwall.pdf.
By Cheng Hoi Yan, Cindy
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