Homo cyborg: fifty years old
Abstract
While the term “cyborg” is only 50 years old, the process that has produced cyborgization is much older: the evolution of the human. Humans have evolved to modify ourselves and our environment, especially through evolving culture and the technologies it creates. Culture is part of nature. Today’s mundane i-cyborgs, military drones, intimate human-machine merging and genetic engineering are a result of this; which in turn produce feelings of uncanniness, hubris, and fear. Contemporary politics must take this complex dynamic into account if we are to secure a sustainable, survivable, future for ourselves and our descendents. Social experiments such as Burning Man are a prefiguration of the kinds of (self) conscious techno-social creativity needed.Downloads
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