Response 3 – EthanC

The Cyborg Manifesto

The Cyborg Manifesto discusses the inherent natures of humanity, and how the development of technology subverts it. For instance, it speaks of the duality of gender- male and female, X and Y. But what if there were a Z? Something that existed outside of that duality? How would that be defined, how would it be accepted, socially, or culturally?

We’re rapidly approaching this reality- the distinctions between humanity and technology blur with each passing day. In some ways, this is obvious and apparent- a physical meshing of technology with our own biology, in cases of synthetic, controllable limbs. In other ways, technology has more covertly become a part of us- employing self-affirming search engine algorithms that influence who we are via what we know, or the development of increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence wrought for mere mundanity.

The advent of the cyborg, the manifesto seems to posit, can act as the deathknell of dualisms- that the cyborg represents spectrum. I don’t necessarily believe this entirely, as I stated in the past lab, believing dualism to be a product of a more inherent and primordial tribalism that will prove more difficult to root out, but the idea that humanity will become evaluated on a spectrum is one that I find sound.

Black Mirror

This is not an assigned resource, but I find it to be very relevant to the topic of ‘autobotography’, and some of the thoughts discussed in the Cyborg Manifesto.

Black Mirror is a modern television program produced by the BBC. It can be described as a modern Twilight Zone, with a focus on the implications that rapidly developing technology may have on culture. While each episode features this main throughline, the manner in which it is explored can differ vastly- one episode depicts a mascot character, a blue bear, that successfully becomes a political figure through the usage of media and popular streaming sites like YouTube to discredit and disparage his political opponents, becoming a likeable figurehead of an authoritarian regime (as if that could ever happen).

In another instance, individuals receive a technological implant that records everything they see, hear, say, and do, with perfect clarity- none of the muddiness of traditional memories. While this initially seems like a potentially positive thing, having the ability to perfectly recall any event in your life is akin to having perfect, photographic memory, it becomes intensely problematic as the character, in a dark and traumatic moment, recalls something terrible that happened to him again and again- with perfect, impeccable accuracy, as if he were reliving it again and again.

This goes to show that these concepts aren’t just being discussed in the realm of academia- it’s something that people think about, and if the tone of Black Mirror is any indication, something that they worry about.

As it stands, in a capitalistic society, it’s difficult to prevent the development or proliferation of a product that might raise moral or ethical questions, because the authority of the free market is, essentially, unquestionable. With the development of these kinds of technology, we’re breaching new and unexplored grounds, and we might only discover the negative effects of them when it’s too late to do anything about it.