:)

My problem with cyborgs

I know I'm about to get slaughtered on this post, but i really can't see the creation of "cyborgs" as this great shift toward equality. From what I understand in the Haraway piece, cyborgs can help us break the tyranny of Western dichotomies, right? I disagree. I can't see how we're ever going to break free from the constraints of the linguistic structure that sets up and allows for the dichotomies. Identities are shifting, sure, but their shifting from one thing to another. Hybrids simply take old things and sew them together.

Think about the T-1000 in The Terminator 2. He had the potential to change into anything, but could actually only shift into something he had *touched.* I think that's very telling.

I'm starting to think of major structural/identity shifts as something akin to Stephen Jay Gould's concept of evolution. I know I'm dumbing it down, but from what I understand, Gould thinks that a whole bunch of change occurs all at once due to radical environmental stress, out of which some modifications stick and move forward.

I think the same thing happens to our cultural structure. A radical event happens, such as the invention of the printing press, or the Internet, which sets the stage for change. So far, so good, and I doubt the left would disagree with me so much. However, I seriously doubt they'd agree with this: Whatever change happens occurs in spite of our best efforts, and is quite possibly accidental.

Sure, the printing press allowed for people to more easily disseminate ideas and increased literacy, thus setting the stage for the Enlightenment. But I think we only understand the mechanism in hindsight. I think it just kind of happened. As McLuhan would say, the medium changed things, not the message. I'm not entirely sure how much control we have over what "cyberculture" will do to us, and if we're thinking we're in control, we may do ourselves harm.

The thing about cyberculture that really bothers me (as you can see in previous posts) is that we're essentially at the mercy of programmers. Those who know, understand, and can manipulate the code are the ones in control. Computer code is the new Latin (or French, depending on your epoch.) And there, probably accidentally, is where I think the next major structural shift will come from. It's probably already happening, but we won't know the results for the next fifty years or so.

Where does this leave us? I have no idea. But I think, if I want to stay true to the stuff I just typed, maybe I should go back and start studying Pong.

See y'all in class.

posted by Sue @ 2:47 PM