We are using computer everyday. We live in technological world, but have we consider ourselves as cyborg? To investigate this issue, I am going to discuss what is cyborg, how cyborg is a transgressive figure and how gendered cyborg related to the world in this short essay.
What is cyborg ?
What is cyborg? “Cyborg is a cybernetic organism”, Hrarway said.[1] However, many scholars commented cyborg do not have fixed definition, it is very hard to define. Cyborg, which is Cybernetic- Organism, that means apart is human and apart is technology. Technology become part of our life, we will live difficult if we live without machine. As the importance of technologies, so it formed the blurred line between human and cyborg. In Cyborgologist 101, scholar commented that, “The image of the cyborg challenges the notion of "pure human"”. [2] because our daily lives become increasingly connected to technologies, so we all may conside as cyborg. Applied to sport and film, it is easily to know the boundary of cyborg and human is decreased.
Blurred line between human and cyborg:
In cyborg bodies in medicine, Samuel Dokko explained how technology integrate with human to form a close relationship. It provides many examples to illustrate the blurred line between human and cyborg. Technology provides comfortable life to human, especially for the disable, they enjoy normal living style through the technology. In the article, it explains “cyborg is added many strength, speed and increase mental capacity, cyborgs are praised and glamorized to be super humans.”[3] People who live depend on machine can be considering as cyborg, therefore, cyborg lived around us. Limb prostheses help the disable maintain movement and normal function, glasses help them to correct failing eyesight, and ear horns provide disable maintain their hearing[4], let them hear the beautiful sound. So through this, it is easy to know we lived with cyborg or nearly we become cyborg. From this we see the line between technology and human become blurred. The word of “human” may be disappeared in the future. “By the late twentieth century, our time, a mythic time…we are cyborgs.” Donna Haraway stated. [5] She said there are no human on the world anymore, we all consider as cyborg. Improvement of human nation is depend on the development of technology, it proved the line between human and cyborg become blurred and blurred.
Cyborg is transgressive figure:
According to David Sibley that the term cyborg was developed in Cold War[6], such a very long history, the nature of cyborg is always change and change, so there are not fixed definition. In his point of views, cyborg, such boundary transgression, cyborg is transgress the traditional ideology, “ the tradition of racist, male-dominant capitalism, the tradition of progress, the tradition of reproduction of the self from the reflection of the other.” Haraway said.[7] It is too ridicule if we think without boundary. For example: in the very basic knowledge, female and male. We have this concept from we were young. We go to toilet decided by our gender, that means all of these practices are decided by social norms. If we do not have the boundary concept, then boys and girl go into the same toilet, is it very funny joke? Boundary is very important concept in the social life, which organize our action and though, so cyborg is recognize as transgressive figure.
In Woman, feminism and Media by James Hogg, who states that we are cyborg now. He explained this concept to us by “cyborg refer to everywhere and multiplying, and they are increasingly difficult to define.”[8] Cyborg is increasingly important and familiar to us, many thing can regards as cyborg so line between human and cyborg blurred. James had raised a very new idea, there are no human in this world, there are only cyborg, and cyborg were being gendered in this hierarchy society.[9] That conclude as we all are cyborg, our action and thinking are just affected by the social norm and ideology. There are no human being in the world, but there are only femininity and masculinity. No sex but gender. It is a quite strength idea and opinion, but it is very difficult for us—human to accept this idea. We cannot accept cyborg substitute human, especially for the traditional people, if we don’t recognize as human, then who we are? And what should we act? Can we live without emotion? So in the aspect, cyborg is a transgressive figure.
Gendered cyborg:
From Anne Balsama’s, who has specific idea toward cyborg. The appearance of cyborg is very likely with human but have different characteristic, this machine rise from human unconscious, so it regards as the product of cultural fear.[10] The characteristic of human are emotion, weak and uniqueness, on the other hand, cyborg see as rational, durable and obey. Therefore, cyborg have similar appearance with human but extreme different characteristic. To note that cyborg and human have one common feature, which is about the duty. Maybe cyborg is born from cultural fear, so human have set some ideology into it. An example explains in this readings: In the terminator, a male cyborg as killing machine which full of violence, horrible and anxiety. This cyborg is full of masculinity, technology and science, very similar with male human in the real world. The other case from the reading is related to the female cyborg duty, tomorrow’s eve written in1886, the cyborg is represented quite natural as ordinary woman, female cyborg portray as housekeeper, nursing a baby and like piano. Again which is very likely with woman duty in the world. Some female cyborg regards as an object of man’s desire.[11] In this sense, female cyborg is subordinate to male cyborg. Gender stereotype occur in the cyborg world too. It is a curious question for us to think about how cyborg take off this stereotype? cyborg is born from cultural fear in this hierarchy society, so the female and male stereotype must be very clear, however, cyborg sometimes regards as technology so is it necessary to set sex and gender onto it, is it necessary to add the ideology on cyborg?
To conclude, cyborg, a kind of human and machine, around us everyday and we may be cyborg, however, there are not a fixed definition of it. Everything can be cyborg, in the same time “ human” is disappeared. Cyborg also regards as transgressive figure, it transgress our social norms, our though and practices. In fact, who are we? We are human, who have emotion and feeling or we are cyborg. Surely, the decision is depend on each judgment, but we are not eliminate the term “human” will be disappeared in the future.
Reference:
[1] Donna Haraway, "A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century," in Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (New York; Routledge, 1991) http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Haraway/CyborgManifesto.html
[2] “Cyborgology 101”, SJSU. 28 feb 2009. http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/butryn/whatisa.htm
[3] Dokko, Samuel. “Cyborg bodies in medicine”, Andrew cichowski, 2007. 28 Feb 2009. http://www.cyborgdb.org/dokko.htm
[4] Dokko, Samuel. “Cyborg bodies in medicine”, Andrew cichowski, 2007. 28 Feb 2009. http://www.cyborgdb.org/dokko.htm
[5] “Abject Cyborg Woman.” 28 Feb 2009. http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/ati/Monsters/M6/shaw%20paper.pdf
[6] Porush, David. “ The rise of cyborg Culture” Pensselaer Polytechnic Institute. 28 Feb 2009. http://www.pum.umontreal.ca/revues/surfaces/vol4/porush.html
[7] Sibley, David. “ Cultural Geography” I.B Tauris & Co Ltd. 2005. 28 Feb 2009. <http://books.google.com/books?id=IRqRL9J0f9UC&pg=PA207&dq=how+cyborg+affect+the+world&lr=&hl=zh-TW#PPA209,M1>
[8] H, James. S, Thornham. “ Woman, Feminism and Media. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. 2007. 28 Feb 2009. <http://books.google.com/books?id=JLHmYOUVJ9QC&pg=PA137&dq=cyborg+woman+in+mass+media&lr=&hl=zh-TW#PPA137,M1>
[9] H, James. S, Thornham. “ Woman, Feminism and Media. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. 2007. 28 Feb 2009.
[10] K, Gill. J, Linda. W, Kathryn. “ The gendered cyborg” Routledge 2000. 28 Feb 2009. <http://books.google.com/books?id=7FaUVl6H4SYC&pg=PA149&dq=cyborg+and+human&hl=zh-TW#PPA152,M1>
[11] K, Gill. J, Linda. W, Kathryn. “ The gendered cyborg” Routledge 2000. 28 Feb 2009. <http://books.google.com/books?id=7FaUVl6H4SYC&pg=PA149&dq=cyborg+and+human&hl=zh-TW#PPA152,M1>
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