Self.net tute wed@11
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Week 12 reflection
Monday, October 25, 2010
Week 10 article and thoughts
Reflective Post
While I found the amount of information on the blog confronting and tedious, the ability to read peoples presentations before they presented, refer to their information after they have presented, and the ease of sharing links to pages/things talked about in the tutes was much greater. I found this to be one of the most interesting units not only for its content, but for the fact that tutes were practically recorded, so while I was sick at home I could still find out what had happened in the tutorial.
I feel like I need technology, from a chair to a computer and mobile phone, but would never have considered myself a cyborg. After this unit, I have questioned what a cyborg is and whether I am one, but I am yet to find a definitive answer. I guess that might be part of it- the fact that I am so attached to technology that I can't recognise it.
I really enjoyed the unit and the tutorial discussions, the ease of communicating with the tutorial group and getting information, but found it sometimes difficult to remember what weeks to post on the blog, and what to post. Once I realised the blog's importance to my degree and, in a way, my weekly routine, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Thanks!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Reflective Post
Before I began this unit I had never thought of myself as a cyborg and while I still don't like view myself as one, after our many discussions over the semester, by definition I am a cyborg. I wear glasses, contact lenses and have had braces and I am able to modify how I look with the help of technology. I have an online community of friends, some of which live on the other side of Australia but with whom I speak daily. I like to view my online persona as simply a reflection of who I am in the offline world but admit that through online communities I am able to modify the way people may potentially perceive me. I do feel a reliance on technology through my ability to access information and people whenever and wherever I choose, so perhaps whether I want to admit it or not, it has become an extension of who I am.
Overall I really enjoyed this unit. I thought the content that was covered was interesting which made preparing for assignments and tutorials more enjoyable then some of the other units I have participated in. The unit really made me challenge the original views that I held towards some of the topics covered in our tutorial debates, in particular out discussion on the ethics of pornography and cyber-rape. I think these sorts of discussions are very relevant to today's society as technology is advancing at ever increasing rate. Attitudes and laws surrounding internet-use are taking a while to catch up so I think it is really important to form a societal discourse on some of these issues. Anyway I wish everyone all the best of luck for exams!!
Jasmine :)
Week 12 Reflective post.
Week 12 Reflective Post
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Week 12 Reflective Post
Friday, October 22, 2010
Week 12 Reflection
I found the tutorial blog to be useful for preparation, reflection and interaction. Getting a sneak peek of what people wanted to talk about in their tute presentations made tutes more inviting, and being able to comment on people's posts later on gave me enough time to think more about the topic before I shared my opinions. I also thought it was really good to be able to read each other's work to gain more perspective (and maybe just to not feel like I was the only one having to slave over assignments)!
On the Cyborg Question
I know I'm dependent on technology in a lot of ways, but at this point, I don't see "cyborg" and "human" as being mutually exclusive. I understand that the machine/organism dualism is breaking down because of developments in biotechnology and artificial intelligence. But even then, I see myself as having a close relationship with technology, rather than experiencing symbiosis or convergence. I actually see "cyborg" not as a separate ontology but as a condition we all possess simply because it is a necessary consequence of living in the era that we do. I don't think we are turning into another species altogether because it's not we're able to reproduce with a machine. (But that's just how I try to keep distinctions clear in my head.)
On the Unit
Overall, I thought the unit was really interesting and well-organised. I particularly liked the workshops because they provided a setting for small-group as well as whole-class discussions, and that doesn't happen in most of my other units. Plus, the activities were really engaging!
Thanks for this semester, everyone :) It was a pleasure meeting you all!
Blogs, good or bad for make learning well?
How did I find the blog?
Overall I found the blog both fun and interesting, as well as a time consuming, frustrating and an ultimately redundant learning tool. It was fun as I’d never blogged before so having part of my unit being assessed in this manner meant I had to learn how to use this software, no biggie, because I enjoy learning new things. Interesting in that discussions had in tutes could flow over into this arena and continue, regardless of room time constraints and class clashes.
The time consuming part of doing this blog comes in where the internet is having difficulties, so it takes ages to load, or I’m not near a computer and have to wait until I’m near one to do my work. Or in the case of putting a post up or responding to a post, continuously checking it for responses, and being disappointed in the apparent lack of interest in some topics, and heated debates in others. In the case of the latter, not checking it for a day or two can mean whole conversations happen and conclusions reached without the chance to have input.
The blog was redundant in my mind how ever, since we already have discussion boards that can be utilised in the same manner on WebCT. Perhaps the funky colour backgrounds engender further discussion in a way that WebCT doesn’t. Or is that we are encouraged to use the blog since it is a part of our assessment process? Forced participation sounds a bit harsh, but the more people interacting gives a richer experience in the blogosphere so may be a good way to go.
I didn’t find it easier to say something in the blog than in a tutorial, the only differences really being that I don’t have to wait for someone to finish talking before I can have my turn with the blog. On the same note though in a tute there is instant response to my utterances whereas the learning environment of the Blog can either happened really fast or really slowly. A plus for the blog is that I can Hyperlink, a tool which I’d not known how to use up until now, and which I’m having great fun using, to prove my points, or add illustration to an argument. These are things which I can say in a tute but I believe visual images help people to understand a topic so much more.
Either way I have found that units where discussions are continued on outside of the class room give greater understanding of subject matter, than those who have cobwebs in the halls of their discussion boards. Surely though, more information can be exchanged so much quicker and easier than on a blog, when done with a face to face conversation. I’m curious to know about the experiences of people who use blogs on a regular basis and how they found this blog. I personally don’t blog, and don’t follow blogs, mostly because I find the constant checking to see if any new posts are up really frustrating. I have better things to do with my time. Plus I get bored quickly if I don’t see any progress. I liken it to being chained to technology, always needing to be with it, even if it doesn’t need you.
Am I a Cyborg?
I don’t consider myself a cyborg, although we are greatly advanced from our ancestors technologically speaking, the same can be said of most generations of man, in comparison to the ones that came before. It’s just that now we’re getting to the stage of creating things on a smaller level with finer detail. If however in our lifetime they do come up with a viable option for cybernetic limbs, I would certainly consider them and become fused with technology permanently. I'm keeping a close eye on developments in the field.
Likes/dislikes about the unit in general
I really enjoyed this unit in every way. It was taught on a subject about which I am fond, and gave me new ideas and perceptions of things that I interacted with on a daily basis, but didn’t give a second thought about. I’m still reeling over the idea of ethics in cyberspace. The first 3 movie snippets that were shown in workshops were from movies that I’d really enjoyed, and helped me to understand the ideas discussed in the lecture on a whole new level, and to help others in my group to understand the background of the scenes shown and apply new points of view on things of which I really enjoy.
Sometimes the tutorial didn’t seem to have enough time, other times the tute didn’t seem to be moving at all. This second one may have been due to the topic, or perhaps no one read the readings that week, or perhaps the questions being asked just weren’t engendering responses from the students. I’d had times where I enjoyed the readings and had one or two things I wanted to say, but the questions being asked weren’t relevant. So it’s either a case of putting it down in the Blog, or steering the tute away from the presenter to talk about that interesting point. Politeness would generally stay my hand from the second option, unless boredom won out and I’d say it anyway.
Donna Haraway- She still confuses me. So much of what she says comes across as techno-babble to me. I can see that she’s had some really interesting ideas, but I think I need a translator to help me understand most of them. I suppose that's where this unit comes in, branching out from her ideas and expanding on them through out the semester.
This unit was awesome, and I don't know of any changes that will improve it, other than perhaps more class time. Thanks everyone for your input and making this unit such a rich experience.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Last Words
Some fo the issues that we have discussed I had not even considered, for example being raped on the internet or the introduction of racial discrimination to the internet, until we discussed them within this unit.
I really enjoyes that the lectures and workshops (particularly) followed the same idea as the tutes and gave "real" examples of "real life" issues. This unit overall has been an incredible eye-opener.
I find that I now think about my use of technology more, and feel almost powerless at how much of life revolves around it - I feel as though there are no alternatives anymore than to be saturated by technological devices.
Do I think I am a cyborg? When I looked at this question at the beginning of the semester, I had already thought in my head that I would be answering "No". However, throughout the unit my ideas surrounding the term "cyborg" have changed, and I can't help that think we are all increaisngly becoming cyborgs. We find it more and more difficult to distinguish ourselves from our technologies, and can't imagine living life without them. I had never thought of technology as an extention of myself, but this unit has made me relaise just how much I'm becoming a cyborg.
In terms of blogging for the unit, I had never blogged before EVER, so it was intersting to be trying something new at uni. I quite enjoyed the idea that you could plan and structure any arguments you wanted to make, and had as muhc time as you pleased to think of what to say - no moments were passed by with someone else making anew point - I could sayexactly what I wanted to.
It does however, as I see other people have mentioned, become a time consuming process to continually check and update the blogs. Not time-consuming enough though to be a negative impact on any other work I have been doing.
I also really liked that using the blog meant we could all post links to things that were relevant. Since the internet is such a huge resource, it was good to make use of it.
I would definately recommend this unit to others interested in a contemporary and digitally enhanced look at women's studies.
Byeeeee!
Caitlin Ede
Week 12 Reflection!!
I never really knew why people blogged and expressed their every thought. However, after actually blogging myself, I have realised that one can become quite involved in the blogging process, where after reading what other people have to say, I am encouraged to post my own opinions.
Blogs are definitely effective as a learning tool. People like myself, who don't talk as much as they should in tutorials, have the opportunity to express themselves in this forum. I often have many ideas in tutorials, however as discussions become heated and people change topics, I am often unable to convey my thoughts about each idea expressed.
Blogs have also been very effective in teaching me firstly how to use blogs and hyperlink etc. But also the required blogging (as set out in the unit outline) has forced me to post and respond to comments, where I have become more interested in the topics of discussion and the blogging process in general.
Do I regard myself as a cyborg?
I do not regard myself as a cyborg, because I don't consider myself to be a hybrid of machine and organism. Although I am constantly using technology, such as my phone and computer, I do not think that these technological items are an extension of myself. I think that as technology continues to become more advanced, we will become more obsessed with it and eventually we will all become cyborgs. However, I am not at that stage yet! Maybe students who are undertaking this unit in 20 years time will all say that they are cyborgs!
Good luck with all your studying and exams! The holidays are not far now!
Caitlin.
Week 12 reflection: seeya later alligator!
The lectures have been my favourite part of this unit, particularly the week on media resistance and culture jamming, as well as one of the earlier lectures on race and gender (with the clip from M. Butterfly). I also think that the use of examples of work from contemporary artists such as Stelarc and Piccinnini hs been a really useful and interesting way of expanding upon more complex theories of posthumanism and the cyborg.
I also really enjoyed the weekly readings because the topics seemed really relevant to how we are living today (and will possibly be living in the future), and it is definitely much easier to understand and relate to readings thathave some significance to our own lives. Also the readings were never too long which was great!
My least favourite part of the unit would have to be doing a tut presentation, but this is just something that I should really get over!
How did the blog work for me?
I think that the idea of having a blog an an extra learning forum is a great idea. It proved useful for me in that I had the time to gather my thoughts together in a way that made some sense, rather than being put on the spot in tutorials. I also found to be a useful way of remembering tut discussions and furthering these discussions through the integration of images, video clips and articles.
Cyborg?
Up until yesterdays tutorial discussions, I considered myself a cyborg due to the fact that I find it hard to function without technology, and seem to be always checking my phone for the time, date, texts or missed calls without even realising that I am doing it. Now after yesterday I am no longer sure. I agree with what a few people said about not really liking the label cyborg, as to me it does sound quite futuristic - ie people walking around with Stelarc-like contraptions as arms. Maybe if the label was substituted with something less revolutionary, more people would be willing to consider themselvs cyborgs?
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Week 12 Tutorial Post: Post-Human Conclusions
Below is my tut presentation for tomorrow.
It revolves around what actually is post-humanism and what it entails
Hayles begins by asserting that the body is human form perceived from outside a cultural perspective. Embodiment is the experience from the inside.
Hayles suggests that body is in fact a term that means little. Her argument is that Western liberal humanism should be done away with. The Cartesian mind/body dualism does not hold. In the vein of Derrida and post-modern literary theory (and a little of Nietszche) everything boils down to relation.
“Propriocetion” the sense that gives us the feeling we in fact occupy our bodies rather than possess them.
Body arises from a dynamic flux of culture, biology, evolution and technology. Hayles resists the idea of some masculinised and patriarchal post-humanist thought idea that we can download our consciousness into virtual information.
Embodiment requires that we are already changing from information rich environments. She suggests that technologies have always co-evolved with the brain.
Her examples are the neuron growth as effected by information technologies and video-games as our keyboards and video-game controllers become parts of our body-interface, or mindbody as she calls it.
More radical examples include the Lamprey experiment, where cultured brain tissue interacts with robotic parts, the growing use and development of neural implants and pervasive computing.
For Hayles cognition involves the environment, this she calls the “extended mind”.
She also asserts that language is a parasite in symbiosis with us. We developed language and it has developed our neural arrays at the same time. We are inseparable from it.
Hayles cites the artist Maturana’s viewpoint is that we only perceive reality. This perception is based in reality itself. He goes on to suggest that simulation technologies are a continuation of western patriarchal military domination.
Hence the art projects Hayles makes reference to (Traces, Einsteins Brain, and nØtime) all play with this idea. They are concerned with tying virtual worlds to real world phenomena such as the moon cycle, peoples’ motions and the stock market. They create feedback loops where in input creates an effect, which will further stimulate input. The idea is to demonstrate to the viewer (and at the same time the subject) that there are no fixed objects, no unchanging contexts.
There is no autonomy, no freewill, rationality, individual agency, identification of consciousness as identity. We relate in order to exist.
Questions:
If our brains have coevolved with technology over time does this make us all cyborgs? Furthermore which other species become cyborgs? Dolphins? Apes? Monkeys? Cuttlefish?
If existence is relation, and there is not ultimate locus of cognition, does the term human mean anything at all? Is post-humanism therefore a perspective on the human condition? Furthermore does this imply internal contradiction?
Speculative Fabulations for Technoculture’s Generations (Donna Haraway)
Haraway strarts her discussion on colonial memory. She suggest that decolonisation is a further western application of colonial techniques. We should now be caring for the land in harmony with ancient techniques and relation standpoints as opposed to trying to patch over the damage we have done with new-fangled postcolonial techniques. She suggests that this is not true reconciliation.
Haraway suggests that western thought is future-orientated, the present just a stepping stone to that future. The past is the past and we go forward from there. Indigenous thought is ancestor facing, with descendents coming up to take over responsibility. One has responsibility to both the past and future.
Haraway interprets Piccinnini’s art as reconciliatory. There is a link to introduced species and the efforts to conserve endangered species. Salvation is a western idea, a return to wild times and is ultimately using decolonisation to patch the damages of colonisation. We should instead care for the environment as we act. Ethics as continual responsibility, not clear cut moral actions.
The protector species that Piccinnini creates are playful and serious embodiment of that idea. They are the use of modern techniques to achieve a more ancient standpoint of interaction and relation to the environment to protect it. Piccinnini also asks on the subject of our future kin and creations that we made them but are we able to love them? Or are they to go the way of introduced species. Haraway makes the point that indigenous culture treats indigenous and introduced species without special differentiation. They both become part of the environment.
Technocultural people, she suggests, (and we are all technocultural) must learn to situate themselves facing ancestors of many different kinds and bearing the responsibility for those who come after.
The unbridgeable dichotomy of traditional and the modern is a myth.
Is Haraway’s argument of the post-human, as a need to adopt ancient kinds of “seeing” congruent? Or is it self-contradictory in its refutation of post-colonialist ideas?
Adios Amigos - Saying goodbye to Self.Net Identity
Week Twelve Refective Post.
It was only in one other unit studied during my time at university where I had posted on a community blog. The unit was an art history unit, entitled, Art and Games: From Dada to Data. Like this Women’s Studies Unit, the blog was designed to act as both an extension of the tutorial sessions and also a space in which people could comment on topics of interest which may be relevant to the unit.
While blogs may offer a broader opportunity for people to express themselves and also enables them time to process and structure their thoughts, I do find them to be quite time consuming. Unlike a real-time conversation where response in communication must be prompt, a conversation within a blog is a slow and drawn-out process. Wouldn’t it be much better to have the same conversation in a face-to-face situation where bodily expressions may be exchanged and thoughts teased out? And while the blog offers an opportunity to express thoughts in a highly constructed and materialised way, I do not believe it betters communication or conversational skills. In fact, I believe that as we rely on, and become accustomed to a blog to be the space in which we interact and express our thoughts and opinions, that our person-to-person interactions and our ability to interact and socialise, diminishes.
As far as learning purposes are concerned however, the blog does offer an opportunity for those less inclined to speak in a tute or workshop to speak and offer their contributions and opinions. So in this way, the blog is very much a democratic and open space. However, I don’t think, at least in my experience, that the conversations which take place on the blog extend into a real-life conversation. That which is posted on the blog, tends to stay only within that space. Conversely, conversations which take place in real-life, stimulate, and provide the foundations for the blog. So it would seem the blog does not stimulate conversation, but rather that conversation stimulates and provokes the blog. Reasons for this it would seem, could be found in the separation between the blogging world and the real world. The two exist as separate entities, different realms, which are constituted by their purposes and necessities.
For these reasons, I do not consider myself a cyborg but merely a student participating in the necessary assessment criteria. My body has not been altered and my cognitive processes remain the same. I may be participating within technology, but I myself have not been technologised. I remain the same.
Blake Chitty.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Signing Off: A Reflection and Evaluation
What I did not like about the blog was in some cases low quality of discussion. For a blog to work and truly be taken seriously, it must have a give and take relationship, people will only post on the blog if they know what they post is going to be read and going to be responded to. In terms of this blog, I would often post material only to have one or two, or in some cases no comments, and, if I didn't enjoy blogging so much, may have been disheartened by such low levels of interation in some cases.
Am I a Cyborg now?
What I most liked/disliked about the unit?
My one change for the unit would perhaps be to extend the time allocation for tutes. To have up to 3 people presenting on, in some cases, 3 different readings all in 45 mins with discussion was often a challenge, and I would probably like to see tutes consist of 1.5 hour tutes like they do in upper level English units, or maybe make a better use of the online blogs when it comes to tute presentations. I also think it would be really cool if we could arrange to maybe have a lecture or a workshop within Second Life, as the topic of Second Life came up a lot.
Week 12 Reflection & Evaluation
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Webliography: Paddy Then
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Computers and the Communication of Gender
Elizabeth Lane Lawley’s article is an exploration of feminism within the field of technology, focusing on virtual creation of gender. She outlines certain trends, how the digital generation has changed our reliance on technology, how the internet is sexualised more so for women, and how this disturbs male supremacy, leaving critics and analysts, predominately male, ruffled and prone to warning. The article also looks at differing views, from Jan Zimmerman’s view that women can gain control by being part of the development of technology, however argues that this does not give importance to grass-root movements and the power of users. Lawley sees the flexibility of transforming identity as a freeing task, one that is no longer restricted to the physical body and one that may help to dissolve gendered bias. As a paper that was written first in 1993, with its latest page modification set at 2008, it is perhaps not the most current piece in existence, yet it is a useful study as a pre-existing text of a growing gender/technology theory, I would suggest this report be used as the key in arguing the guiding question. The author is an assistant professor of Information Technology at the Rochester Insititute of Technology in New York.
Online Technology and Networking Some Gender Perspectives
Hari Srinivas’s paper for the most part, is a broad view of technology and networking, and to a certain level, looks at what this means for women in the workplace. It states its focus is based primarily at the small and medium enterprises working in the Japanese, Indian, Venezuelan and South African technology networks, and unfortunately, seems rather generalised and somewhat out-dated, with references to half-forgotten browsers such as Netscape. Nonetheless, it does bring up some good points about technology, that in “terms of television, radio or newspaper, the vast majority of participants are passive”, and how with digital communication, women have a more active platform on which to work on. Srinivas states that it is the lack of access that has created disadvantage between the genders, and drives it as the centre of her argument. This piece would work better as a side-text to use, or perhaps as research to better augment the essay.
Gender perspectives on health and safety in information processing
Ruth Pearson’s article observes health and safety in association to technology, and makes specific mention of attitudes towards women in view of data entry. She warns that women are in danger of reverting to a lower class basis again, as more and more women work technologically menial tasks, rather be involved in the development process. The article also looks at health risks, that rumour women suffering more from RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) and birthing issues. This would make a good point for how the physicality of the body and the social connotations of how feeble women are still dominating women issues. Pearson herself is a lecturer at The University of East Anglia, UK, and in the research field of information technology and gender analysis. As a text, this report is a online version of a pre-existing publication, and holds more than just one scholar's opinion as the website in which it is attached to, holds the entire book volume, which may also present useful information.
A Gender Perspective to ICTs and Development
The report by Anita Gurumurthy focuses on women who have little opportunity to access technology, and its main objective seems to be a encouragement of how women can overcome the odds. The emphasis of the piece is on ICT (Information and Communication Technology), and how policies within companies are gendered, and brings up suggestions as to how to overcome gender opposition overall. Gurumurthy has some fascinating examples of how women have risen to use technology, such the Women to Women video and Akshaya e-program, though there is little about men in general. However, it must be noted these are only small examples, they don’t point to an active revolution or awareness. For this to be used in an essay, it might be cautious not to place too much weight on Gurumurthy's argument, and instead use the positivity as an example. The site in which the piece comes from is a online documentation of world summit issues, mainly centering on German-based topics, which the site is hosted by.
A gender perspective on Internet use: consequences for information seeking
Ann Britt Enochsson’s article is an assessment report on findings based within a Swedish classroom, looking at how attitudes towards the Internet and technology differ between boys and girls. As a case study, it looks at a specific example of how children are gendered to technology at a young age, and outlines how social expectations influence the use of computers, coming to the conclusion a lack of IT education for girls. She also discusses how it is perceived that the use of internet for young girls is intrinsically linked with the media and sexuality, a concern of parents who may restrict assess within the home sphere. This article would support the guiding question’s attitude of masculine control and female participation, as Enochsson uses select questioning as part of her research, by asking a boy and a girl the same question and comparing the difference in vocabulary and understanding. While it is a restricted glimpse into a large field of research, and perhaps the lack of statistics underpin her argument, the source provides a fascinating look at how early gendered indoctrination begins. However, it might be said that this should be a supplement, rather than the focus of the essay.
References
Enochsson, AnnBritt, 2005, "A gender perspective on Internet use: consequences for information seeking" http://informationr.net/ir/10-4/paper237.html, accessed 15/10/10.
Gurumurthy, Anita, 2003, "A Gender Perspective to ICTs and Development", http://www.worldsummit2003.de/en/web/701.htm, accessed 15/10/10.
Lawley, Elizabeth Lane, 1993, "Computers and the Communication of Gender" http://www.itcs.com/elawley/gender.html, accessed 15/10/10.
Pearson, Ruth, 1995, "Gender Perspectives on health and safety in information processing" http://www.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu37we/uu37we0v.htm, accessed 15/10/10.
Srinivas, Hari, 2008, "Online Technology and Networking: Some Gender Perspectives" http://www.gdrc.org/gender/ait-paper.html, accessed 15/10/10.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
wk 12: reflecting on our own little blogosphere
I think doing the blog is a great opportunity for those who don't always get to say things in tutes to go crazy, the internet really should be used in education for people to gain confidence in their opinions and just to stretch the way they think in general. Basically I think the internet is a great space for creative thinking. At least before it becomes the horrible filtered place that Stephen Conroy wants it to be.
I've really enjoyed all the passionate tute discussion we've been having all year, also the readings are great - it's so nice to have clear, interesting and most importantly not over 30 pages long readings.
Do I regard myself as a cyborg now? I'm not sure that I do, I've found contributing to a blog really interesting but I think being a cyborg requires a greater connection.
Oh and I've been listening to these three great songs while writing this so felt like sharing the musical joy (how is it that this word is suddenly appearing in speech all the time?) But here we go: Will Stoker and the Embers - see the King; Seams - We are not your neighbours; and Sneaky Weasel Gang - Visionary.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Plastic Bodies
On the front-cover of a certain tabloid magazine, I saw two juxtaposing images of a 'real' body (that is, free from cosmetic surgery) and a 'fake' body (one heavily altered through plastic and cosmetic surgery). Both bodies were deemed to have "killer curves" and considered to be beautiful and attractive. The article more specifically however is asking which is more 'perfect'. Ideas of perfection aside however, I was curious as to whether or not those bodies altered through cosmetic surgery are considered to be cyborg? Or does a cyborg need to be more robotic and electronic to be considered so? Is any altered body a foreign and unnatural body? Comparatively, are male body builders such as Arnold Schwartzaenegger, who strive for the perfectly chiseled and proportionate muscular body, often enhanced by using anabolic steroids, considered cyborgs of some sought? if not, why not?
Cheers,
Blake.