Revelations of the Cyborg

From Robo Culture Wiki

Revelations of the Cyborg: By Kristen Nater

The field of cyborgology, as its scholars refer to it represents a vast interplay of notions which both conflict and yet in other ways coexist; notions of technology, robotics, metal and plastic as well as flesh, fluid, bone and the real. Some of these notions reside both in fear but also in amazement and awe of the possibilities that future technologies hold for the human race. In many ways notions of cyborgs reside in our subconscious as both the fear and amazement of our metaphoric relation to the technologies we have become so dependent upon. Ethical considerations are also relevant when practices of DNA and body modification procedures become more and more a reality. Questions regarding the extent, to which scientists and corporations should be allowed to manipulate, patent and orchestrate the existence and bodily functions of both human and animal subjects. Experimentation and research in cyborgology will without a doubt continue as the thirst for sustaining human existence and the fulfillment of human greed ceases to vanish. Experiments are not just altering human bodies themselves but even the building blocks of human physiology, the human genome itself.

So what then are the various components that make up what we understand as the cyborg? In fact the term cyborgs originating from the field of cybernetics incorporates not just one field of scientific study or ideology but enlists the resources of many. The key question that still remains, what is a cyborg, is still a difficult one to answer. This paper does not attempt to absolutely answer this question, but attempts to explore the realm of the cyborg through analyses of several examples of cyborg technologies. These technologies range from past research to current innovations. This paper will explore what a cyborg could be, but also how the term is being used by modern society for the ongoing development of all facets of human existence. In undertaking such a broad focus it is the ultimate goal of this paper to address some of the underlying cultural effects the notion of the cyborg potentially creates. This paper also explores the creation of a cyborg culture that exists in mainstreams film and television media. The cyborg then becomes not just the fictional characters from movie screens but is the meshing of both technological and social systems to become our way of living, thinking, and ultimately our way of existence of which all humans, willing or not, are a part of.

The cyborg is known in Western culture as a combination of something living combined with some sort of technology. A cyborg could be anything ranging from something as simple as someone who wears eye glasses or a vaccination for a disease, to something as complicated as a patient with an artificial organ or a fighter pilot wired to a jet cockpit (Gray, Mentor, Figueroa-Sarriera, 1995). The possibilities are truly endless in determining what specifically qualifies someone or something as a cyborg, and it is for this reason that there is potentially no totally encapsulating definition for what a cyborg is. The emerging realization that one may come to be that humans have become so immersed in they technologies they use that they are all in one way or another cyborgs in some sense of the term. The populations of most developed countries are in many ways in an almost constant state of technological employment of some sort. Whenever a computer is operated or something is rung through at the grocery store, television is viewed, glasses are put on, and there is always some connection with technology. To take this argument one step further what Gray, Mentor, and Figueroa-Sarriera go on to mention is that civilization itself and the development and use of the city makes us all in fact cyborgs (1995). The city could be argued, aside from the use of furs for clothing and clubs for protection, the city was in fact the first machine designed for living (Gray et al, 1995). This first machine for living provided a platform and momentum that has spawned a perpetual cycle of innovation and creation of new technologies that has never ceased (Gray et al, 1995). Our current human existence from that point on became in a way, intertwined with technology, as humans are a product of technology and technology a product of humans (Sloterdijk, 2000). Whether it is the child who gets inoculated for a disease, or the person who is on life support in an ICU, society exists within the information networks that encapsulate our globe are all intertwined with the technologies that have allowed for their existence. Is it possible then to say that in a modern technologically advanced and acclimated society that if one is not a cyborg, they are in essence, non-existent?

Let me relate to another argument presented by Gray, Mentor, and Figueroa-Sarriera in their Cyborg Handbook (1995). They state that a cyborg, in the modern sense of the word, can exist in primarily four ways the first is the restorative function. In the case of an accident victim it would be the restoration of a lost limb or organ to keep the body functioning (Gray et al, 1995). The second would be the normalizing function which restores that person or animal to its previous state; this state would not be just the restoration of some function of the body as in the first possibility but a total restoration the entire body or system (Gray et al, 1995). The third would be a reconfiguring function which could be for example the possible changing of the human body so that humans may better function in space or in environments different than our own (Gray et al, 1995). This third function originated experimentally with NASA’s efforts in space travel and will be discussed further on. The final possibility would be enhancement of a human or animal to increase its inherent performance in some fashion (Gray et al, 1995). These four possible functions outlined by Gray et al have categorized cyborgs in only one possible fashion unique to their own research however common in general theme; the combination of organic and inorganic (1995). The four categories which Gray et al allude to are in a general sense the typical response to the fantasy notion of the cyborg; the melding of man and machine for purposes of improving or changing the physical body. Although the specific focus of Gray et al’s research is no doubt valid, their interests rest nonetheless in the anxieties of the human body and its amalgamation with technology. Their categorizations do however provide a way for us move closer to a definition, or at least an understanding of the cyborg manifest itself in contemporary society. The distinguishing lines between the organic and inorganic may still be blurred. The marriage of man and machine is now bound together in coexistence controlled through a common language, cybernetics (Gray et al, 1995). The logic is simple, both man and machine operate in terms of language, language that facilitates existence and function for both. As technology expands and man with it, the language of cybernetics grows as well, the common thread of language as integral to the whole of the system as the function parts that use it.

As we see the inseparability between man and machine becoming more and more evident, another issue may be brought to light, ethics. Ethics is typically brought into question when we as the organic feel the boundary for inorganic integration has crossed the imaginary threshold of acceptable and comfortable. It is only when this threshold is crossed do we see things such as living cadavers in the medical field (Gray et al, 1995). A living cadaver is the result of someone who dies but whose body is kept on life sustaining equipment after the individual has been determined clinically deceased, or the appearance of death. Clinical death or cessation of blood circulation means that the heart no longer beats however though artificial means their bodily tissues can be kept in healthy condition. Their body is kept arguably alive however consciousness is believed to have ceased. The “deceased’s” organs are used in either transplant procedures or for medical research purposes. This usage of the human body not only blurs the line between whether this person is now wholly organic or inorganic but also whether this is ethically justified (Gray et al, 1995). The once “living” human has now become literally become the cyborg, a once organic being sustained through its dependency and coexistence with inorganic processes?

Although the actual physical combination of organic and inorganic material remains a valuable tool for understanding the interplay of cybernetics in society the role of popular culture may perhaps offer a more lucrative and possibly even more insightful understanding of the cybernetics through the imagination of the popular. With the constant influx of new technological possibilities, such as the impending possibility of cerebral connections to computers, how will these innovations impact on our phenomenological understanding of the world, comprehend new sensations (Gray et al, 1995)? In order to understand new experiences we can use cyborg stories, and meanings to help guide our feelings and experiences (Gray et al, 1995). These “cyborgian” stories help us to better understand the technologically driven society we now live in. Some of these stories have been with us for quite some time such as Marry Shelly’s Frankenstein and some newer like the Terminator by James Cameron (Gray et al, 1995). These stories and others such as Gene Rodenberry’s Star Trek the Next Generation (STNG) allow for society through culture and media to better understand itself and the possible future. Space travel would not be so easily understood within society if it were not for programs like STNG and films like Star Wars (George Lucas). These films and television programs provide insight into what the future holds for society and facilitate the comprehension of the inherent anxieties these new technologies foster. In a way popular media act as somewhat of a buffer between the real and the fictional, and between fear and amazement. The introduction technologies like stem cell research do not sound quite so drastic or as intrusive when one can watch people being transported through space thousands of miles away. These popular media also offer the potential to spawn creativity within society in turn fueling the need and motivation for further development. That development in turn perpetuates the ongoing progression of our global society as a whole. The children who grow up watching programs like Star Trek may in turn grow up to be engineers and scientists, their wildest dreams eventually becoming realities. Adversely those same popular media also encapsulate the fears of society whose grasp and desire for technology is not yet uniform. The fears of what we may come if technology slips beyond societal control (Gray et al, 1995). Fears much like that which is presented in the Terminator movies, where the machines have come back in time, not only to change the future but also to ultimately control it.

Despite the cultural understandings of cyborgs, developments in technology are also progressing that understanding, changes that are influencing the ways in which governments and major corporations operate and in turn mold our futures as citizens. In 1963 NASA created its own study on cyborgs (Gray et al, 1995). NASA’s commitment to the combination man-machine technologies dates as far back as its origins as an organization (Gray et al, 1995). NASA’s original techno-science division was initially derived from the United States Military’s research into the perfect man-machine weapon. (Gray et al, 1995). Society’s fascination with these man-machine technologies has flourished in the imaginations of its people.

NASA’s involvement in human augmentation technology is most noted by the work of Manfred E. Clynes and Nathan S. Kline, who proposed solutions to augment the human body for more efficient space travel (1960). Clynes et al. stated that it would be more efficient for lengthy space travel to augment the human body and adapt it to the space environment than to bring an earth environment the human (1960). This is largely due to the fact that space travel would involve long periods of travel amounting to even thousands of years in order to reach certain destinations and so normal body functions would be simply manipulated or changed in order to facilitate more efficient space travel (Clynes et al, 1960). These manipulations could include the halting of the need for breathing; the slowing of the metabolism using hypothermic control; devices inserted into the body to distribute pharmaceutical agents to control bodily functions; the oxygenation and carbon dioxide removal from the body through the use of chemicals and so on (Clynes et al, 1960). This is just one example of government research that was and likely is still being conducted by a society fanatically fixated with the need to consistently advance and improve our functioning as a collective, as individuals and as a species. Another example was the Associate Pilot system developed by the United States Air Force and other private defense contractors (Strategic Computing Second Annual Report, 1986). The technology is a computer run environment that jet fighter pilots interact with allowing them to make split second decisions that are informed and strategically accurate to mission goals, combat priorities, and other various factors (Strategic Computing Second Annual Report, 1986). This allows the pilots to make effective decisions by eliminating lower level ones and constantly prioritizing new information for the pilot (Strategic Computing Second Annual Report, 1986). The technology does not take away the need for the pilot but acts like virtual crewmembers on the flight with the pilot (Strategic Computing Second Annual Report, 1986). The possibility of this type of technologically driven efficiency produces an indispensable advantage to the militaries that have the money purchase them. These technologies are yet another example of how technology is designed to operate in unison with human operators in a very complex but symbiotic relationship. The differences between this technology and say a home computer is vast but the end function is still to provide some form of aid for the human through the use of another inorganic technology.

The abilities of the inorganic to function in unison with the organic are not limited simply to electronics or computer technology. There is also considerable research and experimentation in the bio-medical fields as well. Some of this research is becoming so advanced that it could be used in the near future to improve our sense of smell, hearing, sight, our ability to produce organic electricity, and perhaps even to produce telepathic radio waves (Silver, 1999). Other research completed in 1997 was the successful replication of an artificial chromosome in dividing cells through successive generations of rats (Bowring, 2003). If this technology were reproduced in humans, geneticists would be able to change the human genome and operate it like a computer program, able to change its function freely (Bowring, 2003). Robotics engineer Hans Moravec believes that there will be a shift from the biological engineering of humans to the computer aided genetic engineering in which we will see the use of nano-bot technology which is considered to be much more stable and efficient. These small robots would operate inside of cells at the atomic level to perform whatever genetic function is desired (Moravec, 1988). These are part of the seemingly endless array of examples of how through both culture technological developments our global society is becoming more and more integrated with technology.

Now what does all this mean? As time progresses the distinctions between the organic and inorganic will no doubt become nebulous, as technology continues to develop and society along with it. Through popular media we can attempt to understand the changing world in which we live and hope to create an understanding of the future. Although a concise definition of cyborg was beyond the scope of this paper, the goal of providing further insight and discussion on how and why the cyborg exists within contemporary society was not. Until a time travel technology is developed or we are able to see into the future no one will ever truly be able to see what the future holds or whether there will even be a future, however one thing is likely for certain and that is the continual development of technologies which further propagate the amalgamation of both “man and machine”.

Sources 1. (Strategic computing Second Annual Report. DARPA. February 1986) in Gray, Chris, H, and Mentor, Steven, and Figueroa-Sarriera, Heidi, eds. (1995). The Cyborg Handbook. London; New York: Routledge. 2. Bowring, Finn. (2003). Science Seeds and Cyborgs: Biotechnology and the Appropriation of Life. London: Verso. 3. Clynes, Manfred, E, and Kline, Nathan, in Gray, Chris, H, and Mentor, Steven, and Figueroa-Sarriera, Heidi, eds. (1995). The Cyborg Handbook. London; New York: Routledge. 4. Gray, Chris, H, and Mentor, Steven, and Figueroa-Sarriera, Heidi, eds. (1995). The Cyborg Handbook. London; New York: Routledge. 5. Moravec, Hans. (1988). “Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence”. Harvard University Press, p. 180. 6. Silver, Lee, M. (1999). Remaking Eden: Cloning, Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humankind? London: Phoenix. 7. Sloterdjik, Peter. (2000). “Anthropo-Technology”. New Perspectives Quarterly, vol. 17, no. 3, Summer, p. 18.