The document discusses the concept and definitions of cyborgs from various perspectives. It notes that the term originated from a merging of "cybernetic" and "organism" to refer to a person whose abilities are enhanced by technology. There is no single agreed upon definition of cyborgs, and the implications of integrating humans with machines are debated as having both utopian and dystopian consequences. The transition to becoming posthuman raises questions around who maintains control over the process and what it means for human identity and autonomy.

1. Cyborgs: the
Body, Information an
Technology
(Murphy, A., & Potts J.,
Culture and Technology
Michelle Thomas

2. Edgar Allen
Poe 1843
“a person whose physiological functioning is aided by or dependent up
a mechanical or electronic device”
“For the exogenously extended organizational complex
functioning as an integrated homeostatic system,
unconsciously we propose the term „Cyborg‟
•Cyborg – Indefinable?
”a fictional or hypothetical person whose physical abilities are
extended beyond normal human limitations by mechanical elements
built into the body.”
A cyborg essentially a man-made system in which the control
mechanisms of the human portion are modified externally by
drugs or regulatory devices so that the being can live in an
environment different from the normal one]
The concept of a man-machine mixture was widespread in
science fiction before World War II. As early as 1843 Edgar Allan
Described a man with extensive prostheses in the short story
The Man That Was Used Up".
Oxford
Definition
Other dictionary
definitions
Clynes and
Klyne 1960
New York
Times 1960

3. FACT: „Cyborg is a
merging of the words
cyber and organism or
merging of organic and
cybernetic
FACT: Term appeared
due to HCI or Human
Computer Interaction
Cyborgs: A global debate
• The definition of cyborg is debated in many
fields: medicine, art, technology, religion
but more prevalent are the conversations
over context and implications.

4. Haraway’s definition:
„a creature of social reality‟
AND
„a creature of fiction‟
Harawy‟s defining ambiguity
is bought about by an
unknown future and implications
Cyborgs: Why the Debate?
• The constant blurring of boundaries in our
definition of cyborgs brings about dystopian
and utopian theorists

5. •Question 1:
• Why can we not agree about what a cyborg is?

6. DYSTOPIAN
• Many foresee doom in
the form of
fear, entrapment, souless
ness and a lack of moral
responsibility.
• Stelarc: “I see technology as an
evolutionary energizer.. The first
phase of technology contained
the body, whereas now
miniaturized technology can be
imparted in the body…the end
of evolution is at hand”
UTOPIAN
•Cyborgs: Utopian Vs Dystopian
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7. • “Our best machines are made of sunshine, they
are all light and clean because they are all light
and clean because they are nothing but
signals, electromagnetic waves, a section of the
spectrum and these machines are eminently
portable, mobile.. the ubiquity and invisibility of
cyborgs as precisely why these sunshine-belt
machines are so deadly. They are as hard to see
politically as materially (1991b_153 – Haraway)
• Information exchange has always
been constant in our society but the
notion of cyborgs brings about a
new age
•Another dimension: Information as
cybernetics

8. A new god
Our spirit
Basic
necessity of
life
An Addiction
An Affliction
Joining with
us in the
posthuman
form
•What is information becoming to
us?

9. • “when computers were virtually real
machines, women wrote the software on which they
ran. And when computer was a term applied to flesh
and blood workers, the bodies which composed
them were female.” (Sadie Plant, 1997)
•The Age of Posthuman
• There will be no autonomous individuals as such.
Leaving gender an uncertain future.(Katherine
Hayles)
• „autopoises‟ living individuals
part of a system constantly
reinventing itself.( „autopoiesis‟ )
- Humberto Maturana and
Francisco Varela

10. • Who is in control of this transition to posthuman?
•Haraway’s
“The Cyborg Manifesto”

11. •Implications: Are we rendering
ourselves redundant?
• Are we outmoding our body
• Bringing on genetic disasters
• Nanobots invading our bodies
• Bringing on devastating forms of warfare
• Intelligent machines dismissing ourselves or even worse feeding
upon us.
• Over population – population control and food shortages
• Genetic screening – “ Human genome project 2000‟
• Doctrine of science in all the advancements such as DNA
technology becoming profit based

12. • Will there be regrets?
• The human race has forever gained technological ground only to
regret taking steps with confidence without being absolutely sure
of the consequences.
• When the computer was invented no one was actually sure what it
was to be used for.

13. •Finding the path between utopian
and dystopian

14. •
•Question 2
• Can becoming cyborg really mean to engage with
our information culture meaning our conscious choice
to have a second online presence and modifying
ourselves both with information and technology?
• QUESTIONS: