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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