1) Moravec Hans, Robot: Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind. Harvard University Press, 1999.1-14.
(Accessed:5/8/2010)
Hans Moravec is a member of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie University and is known for his writings on the ramafications of technology on humans.
“Escape Velocity”, the first chapter of the book, introduces the idea that robots are overtaking humans in terms of productivity. He predicts that human-machines relations will change radically, as machines will overcome their flaws and they will “increasingly design, diagnose and repair themselves”(p2).
Having previously written a book called Mind Children in 1988 with similar allegations on the potential of machines, the credibility of his predictions are in question as the previous predictions he made did not happen.
Robot Books.com, Interview with Hans Moravec ( Nov 1998)
(Accessed 5/8/2010)
The strengths of this source include the wide range of data he uses to back up his arguments and exemplify his theory that machines can and will displace humans. Also, due the date of publication, some of the theories he argues can be validated by the latest advancement in technology.
Although it is an adequate resource for research, it is not an easy read. For example, there seems to be little connecting his sudden reference to a tribe in the Amazon jungle and his argument on how machines can affect humans.
The complete version of the source is not available online. The hardcopy version should be used for further research.
2) Clark Andy. Natural Born Cyborgs : Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence. Oxford University Press, 2003. 59-88.
(Accessed: 5/8/2010)
Andy Clark, professor of philosophy at the University of Edinburg, writes about what it means to be human now as the relations between human and machine deepen and unfold.
He suggests the idea of “Plastic brains, Cyborg Minds” (p59) in chapter three as a way to explain the relations. Essentially, Clark aims to annihilate any fear resulting from the idea that we are actually cyborgs.
He argues that our minds work in ways that allow for the usage of technology and the creation of it. He supports his theory with results from his experiments and examples from our everyday lives such as.
A strength of this source is the accessibility of it to the everyday reader as Clark uses layman terms and experiments we can easily identify with, such as how our fingers have become more nimble from texting, to validate his theories.
It is important to remember this source is written from a philosophical aspect.
The full version of this book can be found online.
3) Wajcman Judy. Feminism Confronts Technology. Pennsylvania State University Press, 1991. 1-26.
(Accessed: 4/8/2010)
Judy Wajcman, Research Associate at the Oxford Internet Institute and respected author, writes about the relationship between technology and gender. In chapter one, “Feminist Critiques on Science and Technology”, she theorises that the relationship between the two is a complex one that permeates all boundaries.
She compares the differences and similarities between past and present debates on feminist attitudes towards technology. She believes that technology has the ability to create divisions or the power to elevate the positions of women in society.
The disadvantages to women, brought up by her, introduce the negative aspect of our relations to technology and machines. This contrasts with Moravec’s and Clark’s arguments that technology and human relations with it should not be feared and offers an alternative viewpoint. The source comprises content that is highly useful for research but it is not very accessible to the majority of audiences due to the amount of jargon used.
There are no online resources for the complete version of the book. It would be a better solution to use the hardcopy version for research.
4) Haugeland John. Artificial Intelligence: The Very Idea.The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1985. 167-212.
(Accessed: 5/8/2010)
John Haugeland (1945-2010) was a professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago. Chapter five, “Real Machines”, is on artificial intelligence, what it is all about and theorises that there is a significant similarity between the computing process of machines and the human thought process.
He questions whether our thought process can be developed further with the help of machines. He also points out potential problems that are linked to the advancement of artificial intelligence.
The source is generally well written and easy to understand. As it was published in 1985, some of the arguments in the book have been made common knowledge or validated through scientific experiment. Depending on your argument, this could work to your advantage or disadvantage.
There are no online resources for the complete version of the book, it would be a better solution to use the hardcopy version for research.
5) McCorduck Pamela. Machines Who Think. A. K Peters Ltd, 2004.
523- 533.
( Accessed: 5/8/2010)
Pamela McCorduck is a well-respected writer and journalist in the field of artificial intelligence. She is one of the pioneers when it comes to writing on artificial intelligence.This book is a reprinting of her book Machines Who Think, that was published 25 years ago. The updated version of the book chronicles the history of artificial intelligence with recent advancements in the field added in.
In relation to the human-machine relations question, the “Timeline: Evolution of Artificial Intelligence”, serves more as an account and a source for examples of how technology has been integrated into human life rather than a source for theories of the human-machine relationship.
The strengths of this source include its detailed, clear and well-chronicled history of artificial intelligence. The content is appropriate for research work and it is generally well written as the author’s extensive knowledge on the background of the topic shows.
As there are no online resources for the complete version of the book, it would be a better solution to use the hardcopy for research.
References
1) http://www.amazon.com/Robot-Mere-Machine-Transcendent-Mind/dp/0195136306#reader_0195136306
2)Professor Saul Osuna, home page:
http://www.profesaulosuna.com/
http://www.profesaulosuna.com/data/files/ROBOTICA/ROBOTICS%20EBOOKS/Natural-Born%20Cyborgs-Minds,Technologies,and%20the%20Future%20of%20Human%20Intelligence.pdf
3) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0271008024#reader_0271008024
4)http://books.google.com/books?id=zLFSPdIuqKsC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
5)http://books.google.com/books?id=H_DYzqybMLIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=john%20haugeland&source=gbs_slider_thumb#v=onepage&q&f=false
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
Webliography - Miguelle Concepcion
QUESTION: "The machine/organism relationships are obsolete/unnecessary" writes Haraway. In what ways have our relations to machines been theorised?
"Man-Computer Symbiosis" by J.C.R. Licklider
This paper is a link from the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is suitable for scholarly research because it is from this credible source, it lists a considerable number of references and is in the form of a scientific report. As its title suggests, this paper explores the possibility of human and machine symbiosis. It outlines past theories that deem the gap between the organic and the mechanic bridgeable. Since the paper was written in 1960, some of its insights into the future refer to a time that has already passed. Nevertheless, it is useful because it presents the evolution of the relationship between humans and machines, beginning with their ontological separation, progressing with varying degrees of their combination and ending with their complete union. It depicts symbiosis as beneficial for two reasons. Firstly, because it gives the machine some formulating freedom, the whole unit would solve technical problems better. Secondly, symbiosis would allow machines to operate in “real time.” It elaborates on the possible functions and prerequisites of this anticipated symbiosis, and in the process, sheds light on the specific ways that humans and computers interact. This would be useful for this particular essay because a number of views on the machine/organism relationship are explored, especially their tight coupling.
"Intelligence and Representability" by Louis Armand
This article was taken from the website of CTHEORY, an online publication that describes itself as “an international peer-reviewed journal of theory, technology, and culture.” Its author is the Director of Intercultural Studies in Charles University, Prague, and has written books that are related to the topic that this article deals with. It is thus a valid online resource for a research essay. The article critically analyses the writings of Alan Turing, who proposed in 1950 that if human subject and a machine subject were unable to be distinguished through their textual responses, then the machine could be considered just as capable of thought. He argued this at a time when intelligence was understood to be the exclusive domain of humans. Armand draws the readers’ attention to the idea that human intelligence is partly defined by its recognisability, which means that computers that can display what is recognised by humans as intelligence, could be considered as possessing this trait. As a result, this article opens up the possibility that the distinctions between human and machine are blurred, thereby destabilising the very dichotomy of machine/organism. The article would be useful because, unlike the previous paper—which still assumes these categories in the hope of combining them—it exposes the fact that the maintenance of the binary opposition between organism and machine produces complex questions and debates surrounding the very concepts of “human,” “intelligence” and “machine.”
"When Machines Outsmart Humans" by Nick Bostrom
This article was written by the director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University, and it was also published in a scholarly journal, namely, Futures. As such, it is suitable for academic use. The article tackles artificial intelligence as a possible reality in the future. It outlines the requirements for artificial intelligence and makes observations that attempt to determine the proximity of the realisation of artificial intelligence to the present day. However, what makes this article particularly useful is that it brings to light the range of human approaches to technology. For instance, it articulates the fear of creating a greater-than-human intelligence while admitting that artificial intelligence would profoundly accelerate progress in other areas. Also, it is notable that Bostrom makes the point that artificial intelligence would not simply be a tool as conventional machines are because it has the potential to operate independently. This fact leads us to question any theory that asserts that the nature of machines is purely instrumental, and compels us to relinquish some of our control over what we have created or initiated. An essay on the given topic would benefit from this article because it critically investigates the prospect of humans engaging with machines that can be regarded as equal, if not superior, to them.
This article was originally published in the Systems and Synthetic Biology journal, and online access was offered by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, an organisation based in America that is committed to expanding knowledge in the fields of molecular biology and genetics. Although the orientation of this paper is scientific, it gives insight into how “living” and “non-living” have been culturally understood. It reveals that although the idea of vitalism—the claim that the principles that regulate living beings are entirely distinct from those that regulate the non-living beings—has largely been abandoned, there still remains a culturally accepted boundary between them. The paper goes on to define organisms and machines, and discuss the four points of difference between these categories: composition, origin, development and purpose. Following this, entities that can be described as “artificial organisms,” such as synthesised cells, as well as “living machines,” like advanced robots, are considered from different scientific approaches. The article reveals that even those who refuse the theoretical conception of the cyborg cannot deny the existence of these hybrids, created in laboratories, which blur the line between organism and machine. The overall implication made by this article is that new theories about living and non-living matter must be generated in response to developments in synthetic biology. This effectively gives support to Haraway’s statement that relationships that presuppose a clear division between organisms and machines are “obsolete” because the categories themselves are becoming obsolete.
This essay was taken from the website of a woman who holds a PhD in literature, with gender issues as one of her specialisations. It was originally written for an academic conference in Germany, and cites other works from scholarly publications. The article is different from the previous ones because it does not directly deal with the differentiation of an organism and a machine; rather, it establishes that a person’s gender has an impact on his or her relationship with technology. Nestvold critiques the division that has traditionally been made between “men’s technologies” and “women’s technologies” and uses examples to show that feminism has generally been suspicious of technology in the past. She portrays Haraway’s cyborg as a movement towards a feminist discourse that does not render technological advancement as promoting gender inequality or reinforcing restrictive boundaries. Cyberspace is presented as a technology can free people from the gender roles assigned by their sexed bodies, suggesting that one can create a “self” outside the physical, organic body. She also acknowledges, however, that there are very real limits to the liberating potential of cyberspace, which includes the social unacceptability of gender passing and the fact that there are more men than women using participating in online networks in the first place. All points considered, this source would be useful when crafting a response to the given topic because it introduces the idea that the way humans relate to machines is not uniform but contingent and dependent on gender.
Bibliographical Form:
J.C.R. Licklider. “Man-Computer Symbiosis”, (March 1960) http://groups.csail.mit.edu/medg/people/psz/Licklider.html (accessed 1 September 2010).
Louis Armand. “Intelligence and Representability”, CTheory, (16 November 2005) http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=496 (accessed 4 September 2010).
Nick Bostrom. “When Machines Outsmart Humans”, (2000) <http://www.nickbostrom.com/2050/outsmart.html (accessed 6 September 2010).
Anna Deplazes & Markus Huppenbauer. “Synthetic Organisms and Living Machines: Positioning the products of synthetic biology at the borderline between living and non-living matter”, (10 October 2009) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2759422/ (accessed 6 September 2010).
Ruth Nestvold. “’Male’ Technology, Feminist Dystopias and the Promise of Cyberspace”, (July 2001) http://www.ruthnestvold.com/cyberspace.htm (accessed 7 September 2010).
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Webliography: Skin and Future Embodiment
1. 'Why should our bodies end at the skin?' asks Donna Haraway. Discuss the idea of skin in relation to how we might imagine our future embodiment.
‘Stelarc’s post-evolutionary performance art: Exposing collisions between the body and technology’
Aitor Baraibar's article explores the blurring of the boundaries between technology and body through the performance art of Stelarc. She concludes that the underlying message in Stelarc’s work is that the body will become overpowered by technology and ultimately diminish unless we realize its potential to be extended and manipulated through technology. Bodily extension relies upon an understanding of the skin as extendable in itself, a useful rather than oppressively rigid entity that can be ‘stretched’ (Baraibar 1999: 161) and pierced (Baraibar 1999: 160) by technology in order to become one with technology. So rather than a future embodiment beyond the skin with skin made to be obsolete, this article provides useful insights into imagining a future embodiment where skin and technology become indistinguishable from one another as the border between the two blurs. We will become cyborgs.
While the author is reputable and the article is published in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal, we must take into consideration that it was published before much of the discourse on the relationship between the human body and technology became prominent in scholarly circles [1]. Hence, it will become more enlightening if read alongside recent sources on the subject so that Baraibar’s arguments can be validated in light of technological and scholarly advancement.
‘Skin Aesthetics’
Leora Farber argues that skin becomes a playing field for tensions between submission and agency based on western ideals of how women’s skin should look and be defined (particularly through slimness and youth). Importantly, Farber suggests that the crafting and manipulation of our own skin through bodily control [2] changes the margins of the body and ultimately causes us to become cyborgs (Farber 2006: 248-249). Furthermore, the human skin is compared to a fabric garment, as technology (particularly cosmetic surgery) and western ideals causes the skin to become commoditised, constructed, manipulated, fragmentised, discarded and sewn back together (Farber 2006: 248). Although this metaphor of the skin as garment is concerned with the here and now, we could also apply it to imaginings of future embodiment. Will an extension of the body continue to be based upon naturalizing this extension through such practices as artificial skin that emulates human skin? Or will we make visible the mechanical nature of bodily extensions in an attempt to foreground our “cyborgized” existence?
‘The Corporeal Body in Virtual Reality’
Craig D. Murray and Judith Sixsmith argue that a sense of user embodiment in virtual reality is made possible through ‘the sensorial architecture of the body, and the malleability of body boundaries’ (Murray & Sixsmith 1999: 336), so that embodiment in virtual reality can be achieved even when a visual representation of the human body does not exist. Rather than removing the idea of the body altogether, however, Murray and Sixsmith suggest that one can be embodied in non-human bodies, such as anthropomorphic forms and prosthetic limbs. While this article deals minimally with the idea of skin in itself, it becomes useful in relation to the research question in that it applies a different way of thinking about embodiment as going beyond the human body yet still needing to exist in some form of body.
We have to put the article in context, however, and remember that its less radical opinion towards future embodiment is perhaps attributed to its earlier publishing date in comparison to the other articles that I mention here.
'Bodies, embodiment and ubiquitous computing’
Lea Schick and Lone Malmborg argue that embodiment is becoming distributed and shared as a result of the increasing technological emphasis on ‘sociality, context-awareness, relations, affects, connectedness and collectivity…’ (Schick & Malmborg 2010: 63). They apply Deleuze’s concept of The Fold (Deleuze 1988/1993: 6) to explain how technology enfolds the body, and the body unfolds into technology, rendering the skin as border obsolete as it too unfolds into technology (Schick & Malmborg: 67). The metaphor of The Fold seems to allude to the skin itself (i.e. Skin-fold) and becomes a useful concept for imagining how human and machine become one as the boundary breaks down between technology/body and inner/outer body.
While the very recent publication renders this article temporally relevant, the writing itself is particularly verbose and confusing. A number of examples are mentioned but are not explained further. Hence, the article will become more useful when read in conjunction with background information on central examples, particularly the idea of interactive textiles.
‘Getting under the skin, or, how faces have become obsolete’
Bernadette Wegenstein's article draws upon popular culture, popular science, and theoretical and cultural studies to evaluate the increasing representation of the inner body over the outer body as a result of a redefining of the posthuman bodily borders (Wegenstein 2002: 252). Of particular importance to the essay question is Wegenstein’s discussion of the collapse of the boundary of skin as marker of the outer body (Wegenstein 2002: 238-246). She argues that current representations of the body transform the skin from a rigid boundary into what can be compared to a ‘garment’ that can be removed and ‘worn’ like clothing (Wegenstein 2002: 242). So the skin no longer belongs to a specific body, thus allowing embodiment to be extended beyond the individual and into other bodies.
The article is written by a reputable scholar, and is published in an academic peer-reviewed journal, therefore rendering the material appropriate for the research task. The inclusion of images, the drawing together of a multiplicity of fields and the relation of examples to popular culture/popular science, renders this an engaging article that is relatively easy to digest and is accessible to a wide readership.
Reference List:
Baraibar, A 1999, ‘Stelarc’s post-evolutionary performance art: Exposing collisions between the body and technology’, Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 157-168. Available from: informaworld. [6 September 2010].
Farber, L 2006, ‘Skin Aesthetics’, Theory, Culture & Society, vol. 23, no. 2/3, pp. 247-250. Available from: Sage Journals Online. [6 September 2010].
Murray, CD & Sixsmith, J 1999, ‘The Corporeal Body in Virtual Reality’, Ethos, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 315-343. Available from: JSTOR. [8 September 2010].
Schick, L & Malmborg, L 2010, ‘Bodies, embodiment and ubiquitous computing’, Digital Creativity, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 63-69. Available from: Informaworld. [8 September 2010].
Wegenstein, B 2002, ‘Getting under the skin, or, how faces have become obsolete’, Configurations, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 221-258. Available from: ProQuest 5000 International. [8 September 2010].
[1] As Baraiber says so herself on p. 158.
[2] Through practices such as exercise regimes, eating disorders and cosmetic surgery.
‘Stelarc’s post-evolutionary performance art: Exposing collisions between the body and technology’
Aitor Baraibar's article explores the blurring of the boundaries between technology and body through the performance art of Stelarc. She concludes that the underlying message in Stelarc’s work is that the body will become overpowered by technology and ultimately diminish unless we realize its potential to be extended and manipulated through technology. Bodily extension relies upon an understanding of the skin as extendable in itself, a useful rather than oppressively rigid entity that can be ‘stretched’ (Baraibar 1999: 161) and pierced (Baraibar 1999: 160) by technology in order to become one with technology. So rather than a future embodiment beyond the skin with skin made to be obsolete, this article provides useful insights into imagining a future embodiment where skin and technology become indistinguishable from one another as the border between the two blurs. We will become cyborgs.
While the author is reputable and the article is published in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal, we must take into consideration that it was published before much of the discourse on the relationship between the human body and technology became prominent in scholarly circles [1]. Hence, it will become more enlightening if read alongside recent sources on the subject so that Baraibar’s arguments can be validated in light of technological and scholarly advancement.
‘Skin Aesthetics’
Leora Farber argues that skin becomes a playing field for tensions between submission and agency based on western ideals of how women’s skin should look and be defined (particularly through slimness and youth). Importantly, Farber suggests that the crafting and manipulation of our own skin through bodily control [2] changes the margins of the body and ultimately causes us to become cyborgs (Farber 2006: 248-249). Furthermore, the human skin is compared to a fabric garment, as technology (particularly cosmetic surgery) and western ideals causes the skin to become commoditised, constructed, manipulated, fragmentised, discarded and sewn back together (Farber 2006: 248). Although this metaphor of the skin as garment is concerned with the here and now, we could also apply it to imaginings of future embodiment. Will an extension of the body continue to be based upon naturalizing this extension through such practices as artificial skin that emulates human skin? Or will we make visible the mechanical nature of bodily extensions in an attempt to foreground our “cyborgized” existence?
‘The Corporeal Body in Virtual Reality’
Craig D. Murray and Judith Sixsmith argue that a sense of user embodiment in virtual reality is made possible through ‘the sensorial architecture of the body, and the malleability of body boundaries’ (Murray & Sixsmith 1999: 336), so that embodiment in virtual reality can be achieved even when a visual representation of the human body does not exist. Rather than removing the idea of the body altogether, however, Murray and Sixsmith suggest that one can be embodied in non-human bodies, such as anthropomorphic forms and prosthetic limbs. While this article deals minimally with the idea of skin in itself, it becomes useful in relation to the research question in that it applies a different way of thinking about embodiment as going beyond the human body yet still needing to exist in some form of body.
We have to put the article in context, however, and remember that its less radical opinion towards future embodiment is perhaps attributed to its earlier publishing date in comparison to the other articles that I mention here.
'Bodies, embodiment and ubiquitous computing’
Lea Schick and Lone Malmborg argue that embodiment is becoming distributed and shared as a result of the increasing technological emphasis on ‘sociality, context-awareness, relations, affects, connectedness and collectivity…’ (Schick & Malmborg 2010: 63). They apply Deleuze’s concept of The Fold (Deleuze 1988/1993: 6) to explain how technology enfolds the body, and the body unfolds into technology, rendering the skin as border obsolete as it too unfolds into technology (Schick & Malmborg: 67). The metaphor of The Fold seems to allude to the skin itself (i.e. Skin-fold) and becomes a useful concept for imagining how human and machine become one as the boundary breaks down between technology/body and inner/outer body.
While the very recent publication renders this article temporally relevant, the writing itself is particularly verbose and confusing. A number of examples are mentioned but are not explained further. Hence, the article will become more useful when read in conjunction with background information on central examples, particularly the idea of interactive textiles.
‘Getting under the skin, or, how faces have become obsolete’
Bernadette Wegenstein's article draws upon popular culture, popular science, and theoretical and cultural studies to evaluate the increasing representation of the inner body over the outer body as a result of a redefining of the posthuman bodily borders (Wegenstein 2002: 252). Of particular importance to the essay question is Wegenstein’s discussion of the collapse of the boundary of skin as marker of the outer body (Wegenstein 2002: 238-246). She argues that current representations of the body transform the skin from a rigid boundary into what can be compared to a ‘garment’ that can be removed and ‘worn’ like clothing (Wegenstein 2002: 242). So the skin no longer belongs to a specific body, thus allowing embodiment to be extended beyond the individual and into other bodies.
The article is written by a reputable scholar, and is published in an academic peer-reviewed journal, therefore rendering the material appropriate for the research task. The inclusion of images, the drawing together of a multiplicity of fields and the relation of examples to popular culture/popular science, renders this an engaging article that is relatively easy to digest and is accessible to a wide readership.
Reference List:
Baraibar, A 1999, ‘Stelarc’s post-evolutionary performance art: Exposing collisions between the body and technology’, Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 157-168. Available from: informaworld. [6 September 2010].
Farber, L 2006, ‘Skin Aesthetics’, Theory, Culture & Society, vol. 23, no. 2/3, pp. 247-250. Available from: Sage Journals Online. [6 September 2010].
Murray, CD & Sixsmith, J 1999, ‘The Corporeal Body in Virtual Reality’, Ethos, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 315-343. Available from: JSTOR. [8 September 2010].
Schick, L & Malmborg, L 2010, ‘Bodies, embodiment and ubiquitous computing’, Digital Creativity, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 63-69. Available from: Informaworld. [8 September 2010].
Wegenstein, B 2002, ‘Getting under the skin, or, how faces have become obsolete’, Configurations, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 221-258. Available from: ProQuest 5000 International. [8 September 2010].
[1] As Baraiber says so herself on p. 158.
[2] Through practices such as exercise regimes, eating disorders and cosmetic surgery.
Webliography: cinematic science fiction
If science fiction is a genre that imagines our future, what happens to gender and race? (You can apply this question to literary or cinematic sf)
Hegel and the Impossibility of the Future in Science Fiction Cinema
Todd McGowan’s article explores science fiction cinema’s apparent capacity for imagining the future. The article discusses this possibility using the philosophies of Hegel and his interpretation of Kant (2009:31). While noting the possibilities that science fiction cinema offers in its many versions of the future, it ultimately concludes that science fiction is irrevocably located within its own time and place of creation (2009:17-9). Science fiction film, McGowan argues, creates an image of the future in order to remind us of our ability and (perhaps) the need to change it (2009:17). McGowan also analyses science fiction’s potential to reveal the workings of present ideologies, marking this as the power of the genre (2009:20). The article also discusses the paranoid aspect of the genre in recognising an “Other of the Other” in other words one who manipulates the original ‘other’ (2009:30). It is this greater ‘other’ that McGowan argues, utilising Hegel’s philosophies, which saves the viewer from acting on what is presented in film (2009:29-31). It provides a “barrier” between the audience and the subject (2009:30).
This article pertains to the ability of science fiction to imagine the future while it is also useful in separating science fiction as a genre. By defining its difference from other genres it enables a boundary or standard to be created and referred back to within the essay.
The Post-White Imaginary in Alex Proyas's I, Robot
Brayton’s article focuses on the representation of race in the film I, Robot, and the significance its black protagonist. Race within the film is demonstrated in the dichotomy between this protagonist and the ‘white’ male robots (2008:74). Brayton argues that this portrayal demonstrates a hope for “racial reconciliation”, whilst also separating and in a sense acquitting the viewer from racism in the present (2008:72). He likens the army of white robots to fears of white colonialism, emphasizing this point by noting the black protagonist’s distrust of this ‘white’ army (2008:75). The article also briefly discusses the portrayal of gender within the film, noting the central female character’s coldness in relation to her capacity as a scientist (2008:82). Suggesting that this portrayal demonstrates her need to be saved not only from the rampant robots but also “from science itself” (2008:82).
In referencing this article I would make the argument that science fiction is a genre that allows racial tensions to play out, in an environment that is distinct enough from the present one that we are able to more easily recognise how differences, such as race, work. I would also link this to the first article and its argument on how science fiction reveals the strict nature of ideology.
Not Exactly "of Woman Born": Procreation and Creation in Recent Science Fiction Films
George’s article discusses the portrayal of gender and race in the 1990s science fiction films Gattaca, Species and Mimic. The discussion of Gattaca notes the film’s focus of reproductive technology, not in assisting the mother but in improving “the product” (2001:178). Whilst also warning against this technology in creating a nightmarish vision of a new form of racism (2001:179). The analysis of both Species and Mimic is quite interesting as, according to the article, they entertain different representations of women and their apparently maternal instincts. The article demonstrates how Mimic’s female scientist’s apparently feminine compassion render her as sympathetic to the viewer, with her decisions portrayed as natural especially in comparison to the cold male scientist of Species (2001:181). Conversely in Species the maternal nature of the female-alien hybrid is presented as monstrous, becoming the “archaic mother figure” that the article, citing Barbara Creed, recognises as threatening to men and the realm of technology (2001:180). The dangers of technology are demonstrated in these representations, while George notes how the strength of humanity is emphasized in the destruction of those technological creations of Species and Mimic (2001:181).
I would use this article in demonstrating the science fiction genre as acting as a cautionary tale for technological advances in the future. Packaging these Frankenstein-like fears, of creation overcoming creator, by utilising society’s preconceived notions of race and gender.
"There is No Unauthorized Breeding in Jurassic Park": Gender and the Uses of Genetics
This article explores the portrayal of genetic reproduction in both the film and novel of Jurassic Park and the film Gattaca. Kelber-Kaye and Briggs argue that the negative portrayal of “unnatural” reproduction and the focus on traditional types of motherhood and femininity in these films point towards a return of women to the home and to these gender specific roles (2000:110). The Alien film franchise is also used to argue that the “monstrous” female or the “monstrous feminist” present in within the franchise and in other science fiction cinema are a manifestation of men’s fears of women and their interaction with technology (2000:94-6). The authors attempt to demonstrate that this particular film genre is often a “guide to the more conservative cultural narratives of the present” (2000:93). The discussion of Gattaca, in part, notes the lack of women within the film, while their characters are seen as emphasizing the need for this return to the “natural” heterosexual family that requires reproduction without the benefit of technology (2000:110). Within this discussion it is recognized that the removal of women from technological access and “reproductive choice” is portrayed as right and natural within these films (2000:111).
This article is interesting in noting the tendency of some science fiction films to present or push towards idealized images of the (nuclear) family. It is also useful in demonstrating the fears of society surrounding technological reproduction, something apparently of the future, creating horrific universes to reassure the audiences in the present.
Coded Discourse: Romanticising the (Electronic) Shadow in The Matrix
Haslam’s article investigates The Matrix as a cyberpunk film, focusing on its notions of embodiment and the post human. The article seeks to discover whether the film actually reproduces “dominant ontological biases, specifically surrounding gender and race” instead of embracing the bodiless nature of the genre (2005:93). Presenting one critical reading of the film as a “narrative of African American resistance” Haslam also notes how this kind of narrative also benefits that of the “white hero” (2005:96-9). Focusing on the depiction of gender, the article argues that the strong female characters contradict gender roles, while also demonstrating the hero’s occasional “lack of power” (2005:101-3). In the later films of the trilogy, the article notes how the strong female romantic lead ultimately embodies the typical ““self-less” woman” (2005:106). In conclusion the article argues that much of humanity still remains enslaved within the Matrix, with the dominant class still in power (2005:106-7).
This article is useful in terms of its highly critical reading, while also demonstrating how science fiction films are open to many interpretations.
Brayton, S 2008, “The Post-White Imaginary in Alex Proyas's I, Robot.” Science Fiction Studies, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 72-87. Available from: Ebscohost. [7 September 2010].
Briggs, L & Kelber-Kaye, J.I. 2000, “"There is No Unauthorized Breeding in Jurassic Park": Gender and the Uses of Genetics”, National Women's Studies Association Journal, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 92-113. Available from: Project Muse [8 September 2010].
George, S. A. 2001, “Not Exactly "of Woman Born": Procreation and Creation in Recent Science Fiction Films.” Journal of Popular Film and Television, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 176-183. Available from: Ebscohost. [6 September 2010]
Haslam, J 2005, “Coded Discourse: Romancing the (Electronic) Shadow in The Matrix”, College Literature, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 92-115. Available from: JSTOR [9 September 2010].
McGowan, T 2009 “Hegel and the Impossibility of the Future in Science Fiction Cinema”, Film-Philosophy, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 16-37. Available from: <http://www.film-philosophy.com/index.php/f-p/article/view/36/21>. [7 September 2010].
Saturday, September 4, 2010
TweetBookSpace
Hello everyone.. let's talk social networking.
In modern times, you need only notice the recent making of a Facebook movie produced by Kevin Spacey to gage the significance of the ubiquitous social network. After this week’s tutorial on social network sites however, a number of issues seemed to warrant extrapolation, namely the paradoxically decentralising yet thoroughly complimentary effects these networks have had on other ‘networks’ or sociological frameworks. Specifically, the proliferation of these networks and the supposed ‘freedoms’ they afford us in connecting us with friends around the world - in light of the purely capitalistic motivations of these sites in placing cookies on users computers, tracking information and interests in order to personalise advertisements for us - seems contradictory.
Having perused a few sites to gauge the gravity of these countervailing interests, I’ve tried to wrestle with the underlying point of it; that is, if there even is one. As canvassed by Danah Boyd in the first reading: Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life’, there are many different ‘publics’ to which we may refer in society and in the cyberworld. When looking at the effects of social networking sites in recent years however, is the transgressive nature of these publics: note the surreal nature of Twitter’s importance in the Iranian protests following the 2009 Iranian presidential election, when the US State Department requested that Twitter delay scheduled network upgrades that would take the website offline during busy Iranian Twittering hours (see here for a fleshed-out discussion of the positive and negative effects of social networking sites just to get a feel for exactly how many issues there are beneath the simple veneer).
Whatever the determination of all of these intangibles however, it may be said with some certainty that while our online identities are increasingly an extension of our hopes, our dreams, our bodily presence is inexorably absent from these virtual realms (Boyd 2007). The significance of this, I believe, is both in its liberation from the physical but also by its tendencies to disrupt our perceptions of the virtual/physical continuity: there still seems to remain an ineffable sentiment of social networking being divorced from ‘reality’. Hence, perhaps why the snooping parents in the cyberworld in Jane Long’s article from the readings, are just that and not the predatory lurkers they would appear to be if they were physically peering after their children after school’s out. However, the technological Gods that be will no doubt remedy this and it will no doubt be a $1.99 app usable only on the iPhone 4.
So no, there is no definitive answer. Yes these networks were founded for capitalistic gain and propagate solely because of advertising dollars, but the same can be said for news media and an overwhelming majority of services on offer in society. Watch this space... for a long long long time and maybe one day we’ll at least move on as a species from pointless and abusive facebook wall posts towards some small realisation of the true Utopian potential of all of this unadulterated interconnectedness.
Andrew
In modern times, you need only notice the recent making of a Facebook movie produced by Kevin Spacey to gage the significance of the ubiquitous social network. After this week’s tutorial on social network sites however, a number of issues seemed to warrant extrapolation, namely the paradoxically decentralising yet thoroughly complimentary effects these networks have had on other ‘networks’ or sociological frameworks. Specifically, the proliferation of these networks and the supposed ‘freedoms’ they afford us in connecting us with friends around the world - in light of the purely capitalistic motivations of these sites in placing cookies on users computers, tracking information and interests in order to personalise advertisements for us - seems contradictory.
Having perused a few sites to gauge the gravity of these countervailing interests, I’ve tried to wrestle with the underlying point of it; that is, if there even is one. As canvassed by Danah Boyd in the first reading: Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life’, there are many different ‘publics’ to which we may refer in society and in the cyberworld. When looking at the effects of social networking sites in recent years however, is the transgressive nature of these publics: note the surreal nature of Twitter’s importance in the Iranian protests following the 2009 Iranian presidential election, when the US State Department requested that Twitter delay scheduled network upgrades that would take the website offline during busy Iranian Twittering hours (see here for a fleshed-out discussion of the positive and negative effects of social networking sites just to get a feel for exactly how many issues there are beneath the simple veneer).
Whatever the determination of all of these intangibles however, it may be said with some certainty that while our online identities are increasingly an extension of our hopes, our dreams, our bodily presence is inexorably absent from these virtual realms (Boyd 2007). The significance of this, I believe, is both in its liberation from the physical but also by its tendencies to disrupt our perceptions of the virtual/physical continuity: there still seems to remain an ineffable sentiment of social networking being divorced from ‘reality’. Hence, perhaps why the snooping parents in the cyberworld in Jane Long’s article from the readings, are just that and not the predatory lurkers they would appear to be if they were physically peering after their children after school’s out. However, the technological Gods that be will no doubt remedy this and it will no doubt be a $1.99 app usable only on the iPhone 4.
So no, there is no definitive answer. Yes these networks were founded for capitalistic gain and propagate solely because of advertising dollars, but the same can be said for news media and an overwhelming majority of services on offer in society. Watch this space... for a long long long time and maybe one day we’ll at least move on as a species from pointless and abusive facebook wall posts towards some small realisation of the true Utopian potential of all of this unadulterated interconnectedness.
Andrew
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
JenniCAM can't. Well kind of.
Hello again! My computer mistakenly 'error' messaged this post from last week but I've re-written it...
When I think about JenniCAM, I think about Mr Jean-Luc Godard who said "Cinema is not a dream or a fantasy. It is life." It would seem that Jenni’s hyper-realistic form of ‘lifecasting’ is part of a movement achieving a new ‘art imitating life’ status never before seen, to the degree that arguably the ‘art’ becomes life. To this extent I’m not actually sure whether there is in fact any art on display. To merely film your life for however many hours for however many months/years instinctively seems a little too unmitigated to be classifiable as art. And yet Jenni obviously acts – i.e. stripteases – for the camera in ways she would presumably not do otherwise. Contrastingly, perhaps Jenni’s performance occupies a subtle yet lofty ‘life imitating art’ headspace that is not quite either. Indeed the article “A camera with a view” seems to view it as more than a mere capturing of reality, and discusses the various underpinnings including the voyeuristic/fetishistic elements of Jenni’s display.
While it remains unclear exactly what the whole thing is, we can certainly say that it has never been more clear that the cyborg is, as quoted in the article, ‘[n]o longer structured by the polarity of the public and private’ (Haraway 1991b). We are all intensely public and private individuals, and maybe we’re not filming ourselves dancing or copulating or passing wind, but our ambivalence remains through our dissemination of information about ourselves via social networking site’s/corporate databases/instant messaging/etc.
[Regarding the voyeuristic nature of contingents of Jenni’s viewership, it may also be of interest that nude pictures of Jenni (of JenniCAM fame) were sold on ebay for more than $800 and her bed for more than $3000.]
More interesting than JenniCAM-esque ventures such as Big Brother - those who seem merely to film their lives for the enjoyment of people who want to waste their lives watching you waste yours - are artists who blog. The interaction of their mere opinions and abstract thoughts in the context of their art is an interesting intertextual situation. See for example the intense poetry of black poet Saul Williams, and then his blog. Any insight into the internalisation of art as seen by intensely figured artists is always going to be compelling. A lot more so than watching someone sleep anyway in my opinion...
Andrew
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