thanks for your warnings and support:) yes i agree, they can be
recontextualized and this is usually what art does. but when you
recontextualize you start to use a particular concept with a new
context/meaning, this may lead to the fact that other connotations are
completely/partly ignored and the new meaning cannot be shared with a
lot of people who are not familiar with this new definition. this type
of exclusive recontextualization may end up in misunderstandings and
this is why i was trying to define what i understand from the concept of
cyborg. following the previous discussion, i see not everybody uses
"cyborg" with the same meaning/approach.
when i think of the notion of cyborg, i come up with miscellaneous
notions of various degrees of hybridity, humanity, technology,
symbolism, conceptual approaches and so on:
- clone (creating pre-programmed-DNA'ed humanoids that are ready to
perform any order)
- bionic (artificial human-like biological formation, more strength for
super-human needs, maybe something like the benevolent arnold
schwarzenegger in terminator 2 - in the role of savior or threat)
- robot (physical entities that do not have to look exactly like humans
physiologically; R2D2 in star wars, transformers or robots used in car
factories - more precision and speed in production but increase in
unemployment)
- android (physiological, mental and logical dimensions all together;
still looking like humans, maybe something like superman)
- parasite (conscious exploitation/deployment of an existing biological
body; e.g., a malicious chip that controls your mind or a benign chip
that monitors your health)
- drone (unconscious state; completely human (hashasheen) or a clone, or
an android)
- mechanical add-ons for extra functionality (doctor octopus of
spiderman series or stelarc's exoskeleton)
- HMU aided virtual reality / augmented reality situations
- the cosmos formed around the concepts of symbol, representation,
embodiment, reincarnation, rendering, delegation, imitation, icon,
simulacrum, model, pretence and finally the important notion of "avatar"
as elif ayiter was acutely pointing to during our ride to our university
campus today
- and many others things that can be added...
so, i guess we have to be clear when we use the word of cyborg and
specify what dimension(s) we include in our expression. there are surely
very creative uses of cyborg/cyborg-like processes and creations, yet, i
do not think it is misleading to point to the dichotomic nature of
cyborgness in order to foster consciousness in what we are conceiving.
best regards
murat
<<< +90 532 473 8970 (gsm mobile)
<<< muratgermen@gmail.com
<<< http://www.muratgermen.com
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<<< http://www.camgaleri.com/en/sanatci.aspx?id=27
On 7/15/09 4:06 PM, fmarineo@libero.it wrote:
> Dear Murat,
> I couldn't agree more on what you say, that in movies, as well as
> in many mainstream technological narratives,
>
>> a super-human condition ("cyborg"
>>
> condition can be considered one) is usually used to
>
>> introduce superiority...
>>
>
> and that cyborgs'
>
>> ... degree of cyborgness defines their power.
>>
>
> But I also
> agree with Roger when he writes that new technologies can be recontextualised
> and reappropriated, and that these re-employments must necessarily happen from
> the inside (the networks being the same - see Haraway again).
>
> However, I
> believe that creating the dichotomy of human vs. cyborg can be misleading.
> Actually, I think that the cyborg condition is not opposed, or subsequent, or
> superior, to the human condition. I wouldn't even link the cyborg condition and
> its emergence (except on a theoretical level, of course) to what's new in
> technologies, but to the technological aspect of every technology, which is to
> say to the ever-happening entaglements of the social and the technological.
>
> When we consider the cyborg as a further step, or as the abandonment, of our
> human condition, we fall in the trap of imagining a human condition existing
> independently from our conceptualizations. As if what we intend as
> ..." the
> basic human condition..."
> were the same for everyone, everywhere, in every
> time.
> In this respect, the cyborg condition can be extremely different from
> the posthuman or, even more, the transhuman condition. Whereas behind most of
> the post/trans-human narratives I still perceive the autonomy and individualism
> of the liberal Western subject (self-control, teleology, freedom of expression
> and so on...), I find that the cyborg condition stresses what is always already
> different inside the human and between human and non human actors. It's
> another, embodied, contingent and situated way of reading what we can do with
> ourselves, when we perceive ourselves as part of a network of connnections.
>
> Here is what Katherine Hayles writes about her "very cyborg" idea of the
> posthuman condition:
> "When the human is seen as part of a distributed system,
> the full expression of human capability can be seen precisely to depend on the
> splice rather than being imperiled by it" (From "How We Became Posthuman", p.
> 290).
>
> Federica
>
>
>
>
>
>> On 7/13/09 7:02 PM, roger malina wrote:
>>
>>> Murat
>>>
>>>
>>>
> yes both military technologies and computer game technologies
>
>>> are driving
>>>
> much development related to cyborgs, the more interesting
>
>>> work of course
>>>
> being in the serious games area
>
>>> i get uncomfortable with the political
>>>
> generalisations - how are artists
>
>>> contributing to 'the basic human
>>>
> condition' by creating other ways of
>
>>> imagining /perceiving/feeling using
>>>
> technological
>
>>> apendages/extensions/hybridities ?
>>>
>>> i agree that the
>>>
> motivation that drives technologies=such as military
>
>>> ones= determines
>>> the
>>>
> direction that the technological development takes, but at the same time i
>
> am enough of an optimist to feel that artists through their work can
>
>>> create
>>>
> recontextualisations
>
>>> that then determine the cultural appropriations
>>>
>>>
>>>
> sundar sarukkai in his on line text on science and the ethics of
>
>>> curiosity
>>>
> quotes an
>
>>> eastern proverb that fits" "the nature of the task of the "ought'
>>>
> is
>
>>> the other-directedness of the "is"
>>>
>>> artists projects are so grounded
>>>
> in the 'is' of being' that they i
>
>>> think can redirect technologies
>>> in ways
>>>
> that are life enhancing
>
>>> so again yasminers=it would be great to have more
>>>
> examples artists who are
>
>>> creating work relevant to the cyborg issue in its
>>>
> cultural context.
>
>>> Joseph Ingoldsby directed us to
>>> http://web.mit.
>>>
> edu/museum/exhibitions/robots.html
>
>>> Robots and Beyond:
>>> Exploring
>>>
> Artificial Intelligence at MIT
>
>>> where we see examples of artificial
>>>
> intelligence work
>
>>> with robots
>>>
>>> one of the interesting areas it mentions
>>>
> is underwater robots
>
>>> http://seagrant.mit.edu/research/current_research.
>>>
> php?CAT=exp
>
>>> there is an interesting undersea robot that can image
>>>
> plankton
>
>>> using holographic imaging
>>>
>>>
>>> Incorporation of a compact
>>>
> digital holographic plankton camera into
>
>>> gliders and drifters
>>>
>>> PI(s):
>>>
> Cabell Davis, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
>
>>> Project Summary: In
>>>
> this project, the researchers are developing a
>
>>> compact, low-power,
>>>
>>>
> holographic imaging system that can be used on gliders and drifters and
>
>>>
>>>
> designing software/hardware solutions for on-board image processing
>
>>> and
>>>
> automatic
>
>>> identification of plankton from holograms. This research will
>>>
> allow
>
>>> autonomous collection
>>> of high-resolution spatio-temporal data on
>>>
> plankton size and taxonomic
>
>>> composition-––
>>> a fundamental need in the
>>>
> study of aquatic ecosystems. This type of
>
>>> sampling will help
>>> solve the
>>>
> problem of sparse taxonomic data in biological oceanography.
>
>>> in order
>>>
> to control climate change to acceptable levels we need to
>
>>> understand the
>>>
> oceans,
>
>>> their processes and ecologies= we can imagine cyborgs that are
>>>
> humans
>
>>> with connectivity
>>> to flocks of data collection devices to give
>>>
> each of us better
>
>>> awareness of the the environment
>>> our senses dont allow
>>>
> us to connect to
>
>>> roger
>>>
>>>
>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>>
>
>
>>> From: Murat Germen<muratgermen@sabanciuniv.edu>
>>> Date: Mon, Jul 13, 2009
>>>
> at 1:16 AM
>
>>> Subject: Re: [Yasmin_discussions] ETHNIC CYBORGS
>>> To: YASMIN
>>>
> DISCUSSIONS<yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr>
>
>>> hello all,
>>>
>>>
>>>
> the new military technologies and the type of soldiers it creates can
>
>>> also
>>>
> be subject to this discussion maybe. i am not a militaristic
>
>>> person at all
>>>
> but wars, it seems, constitute indispensable part of
>
>>> human history
>>>
> unfortunately. as there are amazing gaps between the
>
>>> ways people live, eat,
>>>
> consume and finally die; there is a similar
>
>>> inequality in fighting
>>>
> conditions. with the support of special drugs
>
>>> (like LSD in vietnam war and a
>>>
> lot of others in recent ones), special
>
>>> vision gadgets, special garments,
>>>
> multiple body attachments, sci-fi
>
>>> type rifles and very nasty / unfair bombs
>>>
>
>
>>> interactive-multimedia-simulation-educated soldiers turn into cyborgs
>>> i
>>>
> guess. and since they exist only in certain armies, they can be
>
>>> considered
>>>
> ethnic cyborgs. the originally poor periphery people sort
>
>>> of turn into
>>>
> legionnaire-avatars of certain cultures in order to make
>
>>> a living and
>>>
> finally end up being temporary "kings" (à la warhol) to
>
>>> the point of
>>>
> torturing locals in the context of a war-destroyed
>
>>> "other" culture. but
>>>
> interestingly enough, these legionnaire-cyborgs
>
>>> also fail at one point at
>>>
> the corps-à-corps combat and finally leave.
>
>>> so maybe there is still hope for
>>>
> the basic human condition...
>
>>> regards to all
>>> murat
>>>
>>> <<< +90 532
>>>
> 473 8970 (gsm mobile)
>
>>> <<< muratgermen@gmail.com
>>> <<< http://www.
>>>
> muratgermen.com
>
>>> <<< http://www.flickr.com/photos/muratgermen/
>>> <<<
>>>
> http://muratgermen.wordpress.com/
>
>>> <<< http://www.camgaleri.com/en/sanatci.
>>>
> aspx?id=27
>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>>
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