Question 3: Cyberpunk is a genre of science fiction that literally imagines our future. Identity some of the associations between (written or cinematic) cyberpunk and technological innovation in the popular imagination.
Introduction:
According to the guiding question, I would like to use the keywords such as ‘Cyberpunk’, ‘Technological Innovation’ and ‘Cyberculture’ to search via Google (http://www.google.com), Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com) and Google Scholar (http://www.scholar.google.com). At first the result I located were too broad, got plenty of non-academic information. After I narrow down the searching by using bulletin words its better, however, I still need to check the credibility of this information. I used several days for searching the information that I need. I still want to say; I really flooded by the information this week!! After I check the credibility, I had located 7 articles for my assignment.
In the following essay, I would like to demonstrate those article’s summaries, then I would like to compare those articles for present the relationship between cyberpunk and technological innovation in the popular imagination.
Webliography:
In “What is Cyberpunk” [1], it had give a simple definition by using one sentence, ‘Cyberpunk is about expressing (often dark) ideas about human nature, technology and their respective combination in the near future.’ SFMA. Moreover, it also states some characteristics of Cyberpunk for people to have a basic idea of this genre, for example, the story will focuses on the underground which the world is damaged as a dystopia and the protagonists are always deal with access to information or hackers, also the boundary between human and machines is also blurred in the Cyberpunk would. However, I think it didn’t explain deeply about what cyberpunk really is to the ‘new comer of Cyberculture’, such as where the name comes from or the history of Cyberpunk. In this way, I think “Cyberpunk” [2] and “History of Cyberpunk” [3] have present a very clear information of that, such as provide some example and timeline to explain the development of Cyberpunk. At least, after read the website, people will know that the word ‘Cyberpunk’ is first appeared as the title of a short story by Bruce Bethke.
‘Technology is integral to Cyberpunk’ is the first sentence extract from “Evaluation of the Importance of Technology to Cyberpunk” [4] which stated the close relationship between Cyberpunk and technology. In this article, it had stated that cyberpunk is all about ‘near future’. The writer will predict and foresee the development of the technology and the future world, but they will be ‘grounded in reality’. The imaginary future world is no longer inspired with ‘fantastic imagery’ but ‘extrapolated from current technological and sociological conditions’ which become more current and believable than the traditional SF. This can be seem as the main different between traditional Science Fiction and the Cyberpunk, and the difference had distinguishes Cyberpunk’s unique. As a result, technology is very important to Cyberpunk, because it is playing a ‘realistic’ and ‘near future’ role for Cyberpunk, otherwise, Cyberpunk would completely lose its significance.
Donna Haraway is a academic scholar on Cyborg. In class, we always questioned on why Donna Haraway assigns Cyborg as Female? Or is the SF movie had been gendered? etc. “Razor girls: Genre and Gender in Cyberpunk Fiction” [5] is a journal article from a Woman Magazine, Lauraine Leblanc is a doctor in Women’s Studies from Emory University. In the article, there have large coverage on Cyberpunk Gender, such as she pointed out that in Cyberpunk film, most of the cyborgs are male (e.g. Johnny Mnemonic) however, literary Cyberpunk fictions are ‘dominated by female cyborg characters’, and also there have some example of cyborg characters which ‘transform gender’.
Moreover, in this article, it stated that there have three central themes which make Cyberpunk different from other mainstream science fictions: ‘futurology, techno-paradigms, and the cyborg presence’. The cyberpunk present a ‘non-apocalyptic’ view of future, and the ‘futuristic extrapolation of current social and economic trends’. Also, the central theme of cyberpunk is ‘advanced communications technology’ and the fusion of human and machine because Lauraine Leblanc said ‘in cyberpunk fiction, computers are also artists, people are also machines, and nature is also technology.’
In the article, ‘Future Shock: Night City 2020” [6], I think it’s quite different from the above articles. At the beginning of the article, it state that ‘today, science fiction equals cyberpunk.’ quite different from what “Evaluation of the Importance of Technology to Cyberpunk” [4] said. According this reading, it had state out some of the movement or event during the 60s, 70s, and 80s which the era of cyberpunk. In the middle of the article, it had a large coverage about dystopia and it state that ‘cyberpunk dystopias often have strong political qualities and… are basically capitalist dystopias’. Moreover, I think this article is using Cyberpunk to take about our ‘real world’, the technology is developing, the weapons, the conflict between global…as the author said, ‘the cyberpunk nightmare will come true….’
When I was searching about Cyberpunk via WWW, an article suddenly came out; it is not exactly about Cyberpunk, but Postcyberpunk. As I know, the word ‘post’ is meaning something ‘after’. In “Notes Toward a Postcyberpunk Manifesto” [7] Lawrence Person had mention about several characteristic of (differences between) Cyberpunk and Postcyberpunk. Cyberpunk characters are lived in a dystrophic future and they had a large connect with the rapid change technology. On the other hand, Postcyberpunk characters are live in future, but not necessarily dystopia, but they are still influence by the technology. Lawrence Person had mention about Isaac Asimov ‘Three Orders of SF’ to describe Cyberpunk and Postcyberpunk.
In this article, I think it had many examples of writer and science fiction, if people want to check out this website, they better have a good information background of the science fiction works.
For the above webliographies, I would like to do a little sum-up analysis. Firstly, most of the article I found are define Cyberpunk is a sub-genre of SF, as it’s different from SF, there have several characteristics which make it more current and believable than the traditional SF: Cyberpunk fiction have several characteristics: focus on technology, extrapolate from current social, economic and technology trends so that they can foresee a ‘near future’ and form a ‘imaginary world’ for their story. The Cyberpunk world had depict as a dystopia and socially disorder. Secondly, there have an important relationship between technological innovation and Cyberpunk. The technology keeps on changing people perspective and also cyberpunk world, as the technology develop, the cyberpunk world will changed constantly. Lastly, as mentioned above, the boundary of human and machines are blurred, in a Cyberpunk world there will have some cyborgs present, that is the combination of organism and mechanism.
The [6] article are not really relevant to the guiding question, but I think it had question us about: as we can see from the “Future Shock: Night City 2020” [6], we seems walk to Cyberpunk world step by step, no longer is fiction, no longer is film, but a real Cyberpunk world.
Reference:
[1] SFAM. “What is Cyberpunk?” Cyberpunk Review. 25 Mar. 2007 <http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/what-is-cyberpunk/>
[2] H.J. “Cyberpunk” Media In Transition. 25 Mar. 2007 <http://web.mit.edu/m-i-t/science_fiction/jenkins/jenkins_5.html>
[3] “History of Cyberpunk” Cyberpunk Project. 25 Mar. 2007 <http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/history.html
[4] “Evaluation of the Importance of Technology to Cyberpunk” Cyberpunk Project. 25 Mar. 2007 <http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/importance_of_technology_to_cyberpunk.html>
[5] Leblanc, Lauraine. “Razor girls: Genre and Gender in Cyberpunk Fiction” Women and Language 20 (1997). 25 Mar. 2007 <http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/genre_and_gender_in_cyberpunk_fiction.html>
[6] “Future Shock: Night City 2020” Exploring Dystopia. 25 Mar. 2007 <http://hem.passagen.se/replikant/cyberpunk.htm>
[7] Person, Lawrence. “Notes toward a Postcyberpunk Manifesto” Era Cyberpunk. 25 Mar. 2007 <http://eracyberpunk.altervista.org/notes_toward_a_postcyberpunk_manifesto.htm>
Monday, 26 March 2007
Critical Annotated Webilography
Guiding Question: In Haraway’s ‘Cyborg Mainfesto’, she strategically assigns her cyborg a female gender. In what way is gender significant in the representation of the cyborg in popular culture and technoscience?
In this webliography, I will focus on female cyborgs in different aspect. There are six sources I want to focus on in the following part; they are all online resources in the World Wide Web. As I have to make sure of the credibility of the materials, I have used the Google Scholar search engine and Google search engine to find these sources. Then I double check the authors’ name to make sure they are author of any printed materials such as journals, articles and books. After reading these six web materials, I try to focus on the representation of female cyborg in science fiction films and cyberpunk films. Also, I will focus on the webs’ quotations of Haraway’s idea of cyborg and their interpretation of Haraway’s idea.
Begins with the first source, ‘The "Nature" of the Female Cyborg: Evidence of Will in the Mechanical Woman’, is analyzing the film, Metropolis, by Fritz Lang, which is a good example of female cyborg in science fiction film. In the story, Maria is a female cyborg made by Johhan. She is typically a man’s ideal woman. She is controlled by the male creator, Johhan, who try to use her as a tool to tempt men and follow what she says and finally he is controlling all of them. The article states that the female cyborg is seen as sex object and it is man’s fantasy to have such a cyborg. But the female cyborg is also seen as a threat to the man as Maria is a female fatale who is powerful to destroy man.
In the second source, ‘The Cyborg Self’, the author have also mention about the female cyborg is treated as sexual object. ‘Female cyborg is the mix of masculine, rational, mechanistic technology wit the feminine, conflated in the Western imagination with nature, emotion, and sentimentality embodies the cyborg’s transgression of the human/machine distinction.’ Female cyborg is not only the mix of machine and woman but also man. It physically is the female body figure made by metal collage and machines. At the same time, it contains the mix of masculine and feminine. This combination breaks the distinction between human and machine. ‘The manipulation and ownership of these female bodies by masculinist Western science and patriarchal corporations and governments place this constructed femininity in a subordinate order.’ As we are living in a patriarchal society, female is always in subordinate position. Therefore, cyborg in female figure will also be subordinated in the society. In science fiction, ‘Female cyborg is endowed with hyperfeminine, sexualized traits.’ This mean the female cyborg is created to be the ideal women figure which fulfills the male fantasy for example, large breasts and slim waist. Both of the articles mention the female cyborg in science fiction with the similar angle which sees the female body being exploited by the male gaze.
Female cyborg seems represented a bit different in another kind of film. Cyberpunk is a sub-genre of science fiction film. The time of the film usually set in near future and focuses on technology, computer and dystopian world. In the third source, DeVincentis make a great analyze of a cyberpunk film, Jonny Mnemonic. In the film, the male protagonist and female lead both are cyborg who sexually and physically in a reverse. The male protagonist is weak that he can not fight and need the female lead to save him and help him out of risk. ‘The gender roles are reversed. As a result of technology, "female" takes on "masculine" characteristics of physical strength and resourcefulness. On the other hand, "male" takes on "feminine" characteristics: he becomes the carrier/object (rather than subject) of important information.’ This film gives a positive representation of being a female cyborg as the female lead is not an invention of man but rather choose to be a cyborg by her own will. She takes control of her own body and she is representing a heroine to save the male protagonist. The author thinks that ,‘Although the technology rendering both Johnny and Jane cyborgs breaks down the solidity of the female and male body, it also seems to indicate that without the technology, both would return to their "natural states."’ To see in other angle, technology gives us more choices to choose from. We are able to choose what we want and not tired up with the sex organs anymore. It is similar to Haraway suggestion of cyborg can be empowering particularly for women.
In the fourth and fifth sources, they both mention Haraway theory in their article about female cyborg. They all give Haraway’s definition of cyborg and the break down of the boundaries. In ‘Cyborgs and Feminists’, the author focuses on a broader vision of female cyborg in traditional science fiction film, conventional identity of cyborg which ‘seems that the cyborg image is used to create a female identity that is at once familiar, frightening and titillating to male viewers.’ But in Haraway’s vision, cyborg is a tool to combat the male and female binary. In ‘Female Cyborg’, the author has a different idea of cyborg. ‘Feminist cyborgs are the agent of US Third World feminism and the illegitimate offspring of “patriarchal capitalism.”’ Feminism cyborg represents technological embodiment to against conventional society.
And in the last source, ‘CyberPsychology & Behavior’, the author stated that the machine usual serves merely to reinforce the gender dynamics currently at play. The author wants to show us the World Wide Web nowadays reinforce conventional notions of masculinity, femininity, heterosexuality for the cyborgs image in the net which is not ideal of Haraway’s theory, new kinds of boundary still exists.
Cyborg is usually created as female gender. In science fiction films, they construct a conventional female cyborg as sexual object for male. The female cyborg is being exploited by the male gaze that the cyborg has to fit the ‘ideal’ female appearance. In cyberpunk films, the status have a bit different as it accepts the reverse of the male and female gender position and female are free to choose their appearance or ability. It fit Haraway’s theory of boundary breakdowns. However, the dominant female cyborg image is still following the conventional trend. It will not be an easy task to change the deep-rooted social institution of female subordination. At least we can be alert of the social institution.
Bibliography:
DeVincentis, A. ‘Johnny Mnemonic’ (1996)
http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/bassr/amanda/johnny.htm (accessed 23 March 2007)
DeVoss, D. ‘CyberPsychology & Behavior, Rereading Cyborg(?) Women: The Visual Rhetoric of Images of Cyborg (and Cyber) Bodies on the World Wide Web’ (Oct 2000)
http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/10949310050191818(accessed 21 March 2007)
Dhamee, Y. ‘CyBorgs and Feminists’ (14 April 2005)
http://www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/cpace/cyborg/ydcyborg.html (accessed 21 March 2007)
Duran, L, ‘The Female Cyborg’
http://mjbarias.com/scifi/femcyb.html (accessed 22 March 2007)
Myman, F. ‘The “Nature” of the Female Cyborg: Evidence of will in the Mechanical Woman’ (1999)
http://www.cyrune.com/Metropolis.html (accessed 23 March 2007)
Nagle, P. ‘The Cybrog Self’ (2006)
http://www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/cpace/cyborg/nagle/7.html (accessed 21 March 2007)
In this webliography, I will focus on female cyborgs in different aspect. There are six sources I want to focus on in the following part; they are all online resources in the World Wide Web. As I have to make sure of the credibility of the materials, I have used the Google Scholar search engine and Google search engine to find these sources. Then I double check the authors’ name to make sure they are author of any printed materials such as journals, articles and books. After reading these six web materials, I try to focus on the representation of female cyborg in science fiction films and cyberpunk films. Also, I will focus on the webs’ quotations of Haraway’s idea of cyborg and their interpretation of Haraway’s idea.
Begins with the first source, ‘The "Nature" of the Female Cyborg: Evidence of Will in the Mechanical Woman’, is analyzing the film, Metropolis, by Fritz Lang, which is a good example of female cyborg in science fiction film. In the story, Maria is a female cyborg made by Johhan. She is typically a man’s ideal woman. She is controlled by the male creator, Johhan, who try to use her as a tool to tempt men and follow what she says and finally he is controlling all of them. The article states that the female cyborg is seen as sex object and it is man’s fantasy to have such a cyborg. But the female cyborg is also seen as a threat to the man as Maria is a female fatale who is powerful to destroy man.
In the second source, ‘The Cyborg Self’, the author have also mention about the female cyborg is treated as sexual object. ‘Female cyborg is the mix of masculine, rational, mechanistic technology wit the feminine, conflated in the Western imagination with nature, emotion, and sentimentality embodies the cyborg’s transgression of the human/machine distinction.’ Female cyborg is not only the mix of machine and woman but also man. It physically is the female body figure made by metal collage and machines. At the same time, it contains the mix of masculine and feminine. This combination breaks the distinction between human and machine. ‘The manipulation and ownership of these female bodies by masculinist Western science and patriarchal corporations and governments place this constructed femininity in a subordinate order.’ As we are living in a patriarchal society, female is always in subordinate position. Therefore, cyborg in female figure will also be subordinated in the society. In science fiction, ‘Female cyborg is endowed with hyperfeminine, sexualized traits.’ This mean the female cyborg is created to be the ideal women figure which fulfills the male fantasy for example, large breasts and slim waist. Both of the articles mention the female cyborg in science fiction with the similar angle which sees the female body being exploited by the male gaze.
Female cyborg seems represented a bit different in another kind of film. Cyberpunk is a sub-genre of science fiction film. The time of the film usually set in near future and focuses on technology, computer and dystopian world. In the third source, DeVincentis make a great analyze of a cyberpunk film, Jonny Mnemonic. In the film, the male protagonist and female lead both are cyborg who sexually and physically in a reverse. The male protagonist is weak that he can not fight and need the female lead to save him and help him out of risk. ‘The gender roles are reversed. As a result of technology, "female" takes on "masculine" characteristics of physical strength and resourcefulness. On the other hand, "male" takes on "feminine" characteristics: he becomes the carrier/object (rather than subject) of important information.’ This film gives a positive representation of being a female cyborg as the female lead is not an invention of man but rather choose to be a cyborg by her own will. She takes control of her own body and she is representing a heroine to save the male protagonist. The author thinks that ,‘Although the technology rendering both Johnny and Jane cyborgs breaks down the solidity of the female and male body, it also seems to indicate that without the technology, both would return to their "natural states."’ To see in other angle, technology gives us more choices to choose from. We are able to choose what we want and not tired up with the sex organs anymore. It is similar to Haraway suggestion of cyborg can be empowering particularly for women.
In the fourth and fifth sources, they both mention Haraway theory in their article about female cyborg. They all give Haraway’s definition of cyborg and the break down of the boundaries. In ‘Cyborgs and Feminists’, the author focuses on a broader vision of female cyborg in traditional science fiction film, conventional identity of cyborg which ‘seems that the cyborg image is used to create a female identity that is at once familiar, frightening and titillating to male viewers.’ But in Haraway’s vision, cyborg is a tool to combat the male and female binary. In ‘Female Cyborg’, the author has a different idea of cyborg. ‘Feminist cyborgs are the agent of US Third World feminism and the illegitimate offspring of “patriarchal capitalism.”’ Feminism cyborg represents technological embodiment to against conventional society.
And in the last source, ‘CyberPsychology & Behavior’, the author stated that the machine usual serves merely to reinforce the gender dynamics currently at play. The author wants to show us the World Wide Web nowadays reinforce conventional notions of masculinity, femininity, heterosexuality for the cyborgs image in the net which is not ideal of Haraway’s theory, new kinds of boundary still exists.
Cyborg is usually created as female gender. In science fiction films, they construct a conventional female cyborg as sexual object for male. The female cyborg is being exploited by the male gaze that the cyborg has to fit the ‘ideal’ female appearance. In cyberpunk films, the status have a bit different as it accepts the reverse of the male and female gender position and female are free to choose their appearance or ability. It fit Haraway’s theory of boundary breakdowns. However, the dominant female cyborg image is still following the conventional trend. It will not be an easy task to change the deep-rooted social institution of female subordination. At least we can be alert of the social institution.
Bibliography:
DeVincentis, A. ‘Johnny Mnemonic’ (1996)
http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/bassr/amanda/johnny.htm (accessed 23 March 2007)
DeVoss, D. ‘CyberPsychology & Behavior, Rereading Cyborg(?) Women: The Visual Rhetoric of Images of Cyborg (and Cyber) Bodies on the World Wide Web’ (Oct 2000)
http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/10949310050191818(accessed 21 March 2007)
Dhamee, Y. ‘CyBorgs and Feminists’ (14 April 2005)
http://www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/cpace/cyborg/ydcyborg.html (accessed 21 March 2007)
Duran, L, ‘The Female Cyborg’
http://mjbarias.com/scifi/femcyb.html (accessed 22 March 2007)
Myman, F. ‘The “Nature” of the Female Cyborg: Evidence of will in the Mechanical Woman’ (1999)
http://www.cyrune.com/Metropolis.html (accessed 23 March 2007)
Nagle, P. ‘The Cybrog Self’ (2006)
http://www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/cpace/cyborg/nagle/7.html (accessed 21 March 2007)
Twinie's Critical Annotated Webliography: Question 1
Q1. In Haraway’s ‘Cyborg Manifesto’, she strategically assigns her cyborg a female gender. In what way is gender significant in the representation of cyborgs in popular culture and technoscience?
Firstly, this webliogrphy are refers to a bibliography consisting completely of material found online. Therefore, start my online searches, I am search trains of google.com has been made use of “Cyborg Manifesto and cyborg a female gender” for searching the majority useful online materials. There are exposed many outcomes such as online journals, online books and online essays etc. Lastly, I have found the majority useful six online sources and concise critical summary of that material in relation to my guiding questions.
Theresa M. Senft’s [1] article was very useful in understanding background information on Haraway and her ‘Cyborg Manifesto’. This article points out Haraway how feminists have deployed the idea of “women’s experience” and the cyborg will “change what counts as experience” for women. Theresa M. Senft’s explains Haraway understands why the world’s poorest women are the ones who experience the majority from technological progress. Haraway particulars her writing plans for producing her Manifesto, which is a grouping of “blasphemy” and ironic bounciness. She introduces and defines her main metaphor the cyborg. She addresses the information that cyborgs are a feature of the present, rather than the future, by talk about three existing “border crossings”: the blurring of animal and human; human and machine; and the physical and non-physics. As of its descent in the equipped industrial multifaceted, Haraway alludes to the cyborg as a “monster.” She suggestions the cyborg is a form that demonstrate assure for feminism, in separation as it appears to her to be fake to its martial origins. She powerfully criticizes the radical feminism of Catherine MacKinnon, arguing that the search for the “essential woman” is not simply indefinable, it is dangerous. In fact, feminist might be improved served, Haraway bearing in mind “woman” to be a socially made group, deployed in a communications network, all along the position of “homosexual and “youth.”
In Hari Kunzru’s [2] article was try masculine partiality in scientific culture and sees herself as the troubled “modest witness” of the ethical maelstrom of hereditary engineering. She's too become a heroine to a production of women who are starting to call themselves cyberfeminists. Hari Kunzru’s support Haraway calls it “an ironic political myth.” It pulls off the not small deception of turning the cyborg from an image of Cold War power into a symbol of feminist liberation. Hari Kunzru’s analysis cyberfeminism is not an expression Haraway uses in combination through technology; it’s expected to construct your identity, your sexuality, even your gender. The cyberfeminists raise the roof in polymorphous perversity.
Luciano Duran’s [3] is explains Haraway essay “The Manifesto for Cyborgs”, a cyborg is a cybernetic organism, a combination of technology and biology, a creature of both social actuality and fiction. Luciano Duran’s anaylsis the Cyborg feminists have to argue that any additional natural matrix of unity. In support of Haraway’s, Chela Sandoval states that, the cyborg skills necessary for patience under techno-human state of affairs. The feminist cyborg is able to be understood as the technological image of an oppositional consciousness and the illegal progeny of “patriarchal capitalism” that know how to be described as US Third World Feminism.
In this site [4], the author argue the traditions of “Western” science and politics, for examples, the tradition of racist, male-dominant capitalism; the tradition of progress; the tradition of the appropriation of nature as supply for the productions of culture; the tradition of reproduction of the self from the reflect image of the other. And then, the relation between organism and machine has been a border war. The bets in the border war have been the countries of production, reproduction, and imagination.
Carolyn Keen’s [5] analysis Haraway essay are race, gender, and class are in the procedure of alteration. The tools for analysis: Marxist, psychoanalytic, feminist, anthropological. The cyborg evades traditional humanist concepts of women as childbearer and the heterosexual marriage-nuclear family, transcendentalism and Biblical narrative, fright of death, fright of automatism, persistence upon consistency and wholeness. It tries to create difficult binary oppositions, which have been “systemic to the logics and practices of domination of women, people of color, nature, workers, and animals.” Haraway argues socialist-feminist politics is all the way through theory and practice addressed to the social relations of science and technology. The relation between science and technology by feminists, which women need to be conscious of disparage. Haraway's analysis of “women in the integrated circuit” attempts to suggest, knowledge to organize these technologies, to “read these webs of power”. A socialist-feminist politics have to deal with these restructurings.
In this site [6], the author explains her article, "A Cyborg Manifesto", Haraway trys to create what she calls “an ironic political myth” which combines postmodernism with socialist feminism. Central to her myth is the icon of the cyborg, which is a cybernetic creature, a irritated of machine and a creature of social reality. In addition, the cyborg is a being in a post-gender world; it has no truck with bisexuality, pre-oedipal symbiosis, or other seductions to natural wholeness throughout a final appropriation of all the powers of the parts into a senior agreement. As the cyborg does not be as nature or culture, but is rather a mixture of more, it is not incomplete by traditional binarisms. The cyborg is as a kind of free self. The cyborg is polymorphous perversity. As a result, Haraway’s cyborg myth is “about transgressed boundaries, potent fusions, and dangerous possibilities which progressive people might explore as one part of needed political work.” The myth put in prisons the “contradictory, partial and strategic” identities of the postmodern age. The cyborg myth has the possible for radical political develop as it frees feminists from a anxious explore for comparison with one another, as physical boundary breaks able to be extrapolated to political boundary crossings.
In conclusion, Haraway’s ‘Cyborg Manifesto’, she assigns her cyborg a female gender. She hints the cyborg is a figure that show “promise” for feminism, in part because it appears to her to be unfaithful to its militaristic origins. The different authors have dissimilar idea to the relationship of cyborg a female gender or not. In addition, the cyborg is may be creature in a gender or post-gender world; it has may be or no truck with bisexuality, or other seductions to organic wholeness through a final appropriation of all the powers of the parts into a higher unity. So, gender can be significant in the representation of cyborgs in popular culture and technoscience.
References:
[1] Senft, Theresa M. “Reading Notes on Donna Haraway’s ‘Cyborg Manifesto.’” (21 October 2001.) http://www.echonyc.com/~janedoe/writing/manifesto.html
(accessed on 22 March 2007.)
[2] Kunzru, Hari. “You Are Cyborg.” http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/5.02/ffharaway_pr.html (accessed on 22 March 2007.)
[3] Duran, Luciano. “Female Cyborg.” http://mjbarias.com/scifi/femcyb.html (accessed on 22 March 2007.)
[4] “Cyborg” http://www.centenary.edu/etc/cyborg (accessed on 22 March 2007.)
[5] Keen, Carolyn. “Carolyn Keen on Haraway, ‘Cyborg Manifesto’” http://www.english.upenn.edu/~jenglish/Courses/keen2.html (accessed on 22 March 2007.)
[6] http://www.stumptuous.com/comps/cyborg.html (accessed on 22 March 2007.)
Firstly, this webliogrphy are refers to a bibliography consisting completely of material found online. Therefore, start my online searches, I am search trains of google.com has been made use of “Cyborg Manifesto and cyborg a female gender” for searching the majority useful online materials. There are exposed many outcomes such as online journals, online books and online essays etc. Lastly, I have found the majority useful six online sources and concise critical summary of that material in relation to my guiding questions.
Theresa M. Senft’s [1] article was very useful in understanding background information on Haraway and her ‘Cyborg Manifesto’. This article points out Haraway how feminists have deployed the idea of “women’s experience” and the cyborg will “change what counts as experience” for women. Theresa M. Senft’s explains Haraway understands why the world’s poorest women are the ones who experience the majority from technological progress. Haraway particulars her writing plans for producing her Manifesto, which is a grouping of “blasphemy” and ironic bounciness. She introduces and defines her main metaphor the cyborg. She addresses the information that cyborgs are a feature of the present, rather than the future, by talk about three existing “border crossings”: the blurring of animal and human; human and machine; and the physical and non-physics. As of its descent in the equipped industrial multifaceted, Haraway alludes to the cyborg as a “monster.” She suggestions the cyborg is a form that demonstrate assure for feminism, in separation as it appears to her to be fake to its martial origins. She powerfully criticizes the radical feminism of Catherine MacKinnon, arguing that the search for the “essential woman” is not simply indefinable, it is dangerous. In fact, feminist might be improved served, Haraway bearing in mind “woman” to be a socially made group, deployed in a communications network, all along the position of “homosexual and “youth.”
In Hari Kunzru’s [2] article was try masculine partiality in scientific culture and sees herself as the troubled “modest witness” of the ethical maelstrom of hereditary engineering. She's too become a heroine to a production of women who are starting to call themselves cyberfeminists. Hari Kunzru’s support Haraway calls it “an ironic political myth.” It pulls off the not small deception of turning the cyborg from an image of Cold War power into a symbol of feminist liberation. Hari Kunzru’s analysis cyberfeminism is not an expression Haraway uses in combination through technology; it’s expected to construct your identity, your sexuality, even your gender. The cyberfeminists raise the roof in polymorphous perversity.
Luciano Duran’s [3] is explains Haraway essay “The Manifesto for Cyborgs”, a cyborg is a cybernetic organism, a combination of technology and biology, a creature of both social actuality and fiction. Luciano Duran’s anaylsis the Cyborg feminists have to argue that any additional natural matrix of unity. In support of Haraway’s, Chela Sandoval states that, the cyborg skills necessary for patience under techno-human state of affairs. The feminist cyborg is able to be understood as the technological image of an oppositional consciousness and the illegal progeny of “patriarchal capitalism” that know how to be described as US Third World Feminism.
In this site [4], the author argue the traditions of “Western” science and politics, for examples, the tradition of racist, male-dominant capitalism; the tradition of progress; the tradition of the appropriation of nature as supply for the productions of culture; the tradition of reproduction of the self from the reflect image of the other. And then, the relation between organism and machine has been a border war. The bets in the border war have been the countries of production, reproduction, and imagination.
Carolyn Keen’s [5] analysis Haraway essay are race, gender, and class are in the procedure of alteration. The tools for analysis: Marxist, psychoanalytic, feminist, anthropological. The cyborg evades traditional humanist concepts of women as childbearer and the heterosexual marriage-nuclear family, transcendentalism and Biblical narrative, fright of death, fright of automatism, persistence upon consistency and wholeness. It tries to create difficult binary oppositions, which have been “systemic to the logics and practices of domination of women, people of color, nature, workers, and animals.” Haraway argues socialist-feminist politics is all the way through theory and practice addressed to the social relations of science and technology. The relation between science and technology by feminists, which women need to be conscious of disparage. Haraway's analysis of “women in the integrated circuit” attempts to suggest, knowledge to organize these technologies, to “read these webs of power”. A socialist-feminist politics have to deal with these restructurings.
In this site [6], the author explains her article, "A Cyborg Manifesto", Haraway trys to create what she calls “an ironic political myth” which combines postmodernism with socialist feminism. Central to her myth is the icon of the cyborg, which is a cybernetic creature, a irritated of machine and a creature of social reality. In addition, the cyborg is a being in a post-gender world; it has no truck with bisexuality, pre-oedipal symbiosis, or other seductions to natural wholeness throughout a final appropriation of all the powers of the parts into a senior agreement. As the cyborg does not be as nature or culture, but is rather a mixture of more, it is not incomplete by traditional binarisms. The cyborg is as a kind of free self. The cyborg is polymorphous perversity. As a result, Haraway’s cyborg myth is “about transgressed boundaries, potent fusions, and dangerous possibilities which progressive people might explore as one part of needed political work.” The myth put in prisons the “contradictory, partial and strategic” identities of the postmodern age. The cyborg myth has the possible for radical political develop as it frees feminists from a anxious explore for comparison with one another, as physical boundary breaks able to be extrapolated to political boundary crossings.
In conclusion, Haraway’s ‘Cyborg Manifesto’, she assigns her cyborg a female gender. She hints the cyborg is a figure that show “promise” for feminism, in part because it appears to her to be unfaithful to its militaristic origins. The different authors have dissimilar idea to the relationship of cyborg a female gender or not. In addition, the cyborg is may be creature in a gender or post-gender world; it has may be or no truck with bisexuality, or other seductions to organic wholeness through a final appropriation of all the powers of the parts into a higher unity. So, gender can be significant in the representation of cyborgs in popular culture and technoscience.
References:
[1] Senft, Theresa M. “Reading Notes on Donna Haraway’s ‘Cyborg Manifesto.’” (21 October 2001.) http://www.echonyc.com/~janedoe/writing/manifesto.html
(accessed on 22 March 2007.)
[2] Kunzru, Hari. “You Are Cyborg.” http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/5.02/ffharaway_pr.html (accessed on 22 March 2007.)
[3] Duran, Luciano. “Female Cyborg.” http://mjbarias.com/scifi/femcyb.html (accessed on 22 March 2007.)
[4] “Cyborg” http://www.centenary.edu/etc/cyborg (accessed on 22 March 2007.)
[5] Keen, Carolyn. “Carolyn Keen on Haraway, ‘Cyborg Manifesto’” http://www.english.upenn.edu/~jenglish/Courses/keen2.html (accessed on 22 March 2007.)
[6] http://www.stumptuous.com/comps/cyborg.html (accessed on 22 March 2007.)
Sherry's work: Question 1
Question: In Haraway’s ‘Cyborg manifesto’, she strategically assigns her cyborg a female gender. In what ways is gender significant in the representation of cyborgs in popular culture and technoscience?
In my research I found 10 good articles to include in my webliography. My search process was quite simple: I started searching using the google.com search engine. Basically, I started by typing in keywords “Cyborg”, “Haraway”, “Gender”, “feminism”, and then “film” or “technology” to search for articles. I then focused on web-sites with “.edu”, or those that contained articles from students or were course introductions from universities.
In this paper, I will use the articles to show what a cyborg is, how it is a “site” of possibility and resistance. Then, I will then show how the representation of cyborg’s gender in film fails to make Haraway’s predictions come true. After this I look at a few articles about techno-science and cyborgs and show that even there, the cyborg is used to reinforce cultural gender bias. However, at the end, I find a few articles that show that is some ways techno-science; specifically man/machine partnerships actually realize some of Haraway’s suggestions about possibility.
In the article The Cyberfeminist fantasy of the Pleasure of the cyborg 1 the author, Yvonne Volkart, discusses Haraway’s figuration of cyborg as “an ageless naughty, unruled and nasty girl”. Volkart further pictures the Cyborg as a “polychromatic girl” who is “untamed”, “stubborn” and “unruly”; a cyborg that will not obey, will rebel and cannot be straightened out. This article is useful to clarify that Haraway actually gave her cyborg a gender. This is important as it is the starting point of the essay; why a female cyborg? [1]
At this point, I will use the following essays to show what a cyborg is, what sort of “possibility” it has and what that means to women in the real world.
Andrew Arsham’s article Power and Invisibility illustrates Haraway’s suggestion that technology/machines have become more and more dominant and, in contrast, human beings are losing their agency. Because of this, Haraway suggests that becoming cyborgs allows us to catch up and face with this changes/crisis. Specifically it is a “new way” to gain power. This article gives clear background information into the reason Haraway “created” a cyborg and how cyborgs can be used to make her theory real. [2]
Technics of Cyberfeminism: Strategic Sexualisations. Between Method and Fantasy by Yvonne Volkart is an important article in that it shows why Haraway gave her cyborg a gender. Haraway admits that her cyborg is a bad girl but never a “sensitive man”. Haraway suggests that gender is always a question in terms of the human mind. Gender is “not a thing of the past” but is in the present and the future. Volkart’s article shows that because gender is always the “master tools” that help us see the world, we are unable to see beyond gender. She states that Haraway uses a female cyborg to give “possibility” to women in the world. If her cyborg can go beyond the limitations of gender, then it is possible for women to do so as well. [3]
At this point, I will make a transition to an article that gives examples of early science fiction writing and its uses of cyborgs. This article is important because it shows that Haraway’s idea was also used by science fiction writers that the cyborg gave women the “possibility” of power was actually used by early writers.
Barbara Summerhawk’s article He, She or It: The Cyborg De-Constructs gender in Post Modern Science Fiction shows the changes of female characters portrayed in Science-fiction 60’s and 70’s. Summerhawk sees that science fiction, began to challenge questions of identity, power relations and gender. She says that they made women characters that relied on traditional gender concepts but began to show some traditional masculine elements; they were physically strong, courage and intelligent. Summerhawk says that these early writers showed the possibility of different gender rules/roles and at the same time, questioned the nature of gender and social constructs. Summerhawk mentions that Donna Haraway showed that the old rules of “white, heterosexual male always the most dominated” are out of date. Haraway wanted new relationships between human being where everyone was equal; everyone carried temporary identities, everyone shared and created culture. But Summerhawk also suggests that there are dangerous possibilities: people see the cyborg as a masculine female figure/body which has the potential of fighting in a war or even taking over the world (political reality). [4]
At this point I will start a new section: The representation of cyborgs in popular culture. In this section I will use a few articles that look at films that use female cyborgs. These articles show that despite being powerful, these female cyborgs (sometimes called Artificial Intelligence or Replicant (hybrid of human and machine)) fail to live up to the potential Haraway suggests is part of cyborg. First it is important to give some background into the use of cyborgs in Hollywood movies.
Brianna Kleinschmidt’s article Hollywood’s Version of Artificial Intelligence: How Movies Portray Machine Learning and Its Capabilities and Carl Silvio’s article Refiguring the Radical Cyborg in Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell talk about how cyborgs are extensions of the human imagination. What this means is that science-fiction films provide us with a “site” or “platform” to make “real” people’s imagination about Cyborgs. This imagination not only reflects the positive aspects but also the negative. The negative aspects include anxieties about contemporary technology. Silvio reminds us that many of the works (futurist film or science-fiction) succeeded in depicting the interaction between human and machine but fail to represent the feminist issues of gender and gender bias. [5] and [6]
After giving background information about the use of cyborgs in Hollywood films, I want to use two articles - one by JoAnna Thomsen and one by Uta Scheer - to explain how these female cyborgs fail in representing feminine/gender issues. In Cyberpunk Women of Neuromancer, The Matrix, and Blade Runner by JoAnna Thomsen and Uta Scheer’s Genered (Cy)Borgs: Body Technologies and Sexual Politics in Star Trek, the authors points out that a common representation of female cyborgs as sometime strong, independent and intelligent. However, they are often portrayed as a mere sex objects or as femme fatales with short-lives. Characters such as Rachel, Pris and Zhora in Blade Runner show how female cyborgs are strong and capable, but ultimately end up failing. Scheer’s article shows how another female cyborg (The Borg Queen in Star Trek) is also unable to live up to Haraway’s possibility. Scheer points out that the Borg Queen to a high degree portrays the traditional and stereotypical role of a female cyborg characters. Ultimately these films and television shows simply end up reinforcing and consolidating the typical gender stereotype with female subordination (female as sex object or femme fatale). [7] and [8]
As the articles above show, the possibility that Haraway gave to her female cyborg has been denied. Many popular culture media use a female cyborg but only do so as a means of reinforcing the traditional gender stereotypes. In the last section of my paper, I will look at several articles on Technoscience to see if the concept of cyborg helps make Haraway’s ideas of possibility come true.
In the article Final Question #1 by Julian Philips, the author looks a the pornography industry as a “site” of literal cyborgs. This article is valuable because it gives examples of “real” cyborgs, and not just “imaginary” cyborgs found in film and television. Unfortunately the pornographic film industry takes up the concept of a “sexual cyborg” where pornographic film stars, both male and female, use drugs to enhance their performance or surgery to exaggerate their physical attributes which only further reinforce sexual stereotypes. [9]
Finally, Paul Wolfe’s article A Synthesis of man and Machines: Defining the Cyborg of Today looks at another form of cyborg: the man/ machine partnership. Wolfe says that humans are becoming more like cyborgs and that cyborgs or machine are more saturated into our lives. These partnerships are actually beneficial and effective. This article shows that the techno-science (cyborg / machine) actually supports Haraway’s ideas of the cyborg as a possibility. Unfortunately, the role of these cyborgs is limited to military and medical uses so far. [10]
In conclusion, Donna Haraway gave her cyborg a gender (female) because she wanted that cyborg to be an image of possibility for women. Unfortunately, as is obvious from the articles, popular culture has only used the image of the cyborg to reinforce and consolidate the traditional gender roles. However, there is some hope: technoscience, using the cyborg concept of partnership, shows some signs of realizing Haraway’s possibility.
Reference:
[1] Volkart, Yvonne. The Cyberfeminist Fantasy of the Pleasure of the Cyborg 1. No date. 23 Mar. 2007 <http://www.obn.org/reading_room/writings/html/cyberfem_fantasy.html>
[2] Arsham, Andrew. Power and Invisibility. No date. 23 Mar. 2007
<http://www.koni.ch/cyborg/cyborg.html.>
[3] Volkart, Yvonne. The Cyberfeminist Fantasy of the Pleasure of the Cyborg 1. No date. 23 Mar. 2007 <http://www.obn.org/reading_room/writings/html/strategic_sex.html>
[4] Summerhawk, Barbara. He, She or It: The Cyborg De-Constructs gender in Post Modern Science Fiction. July 1998. 23 Mar. 2007 <http://davidmswitzer.com/slonczewski/summerhawk.html>
[5] Kleinschmidt, Brianna. Hollywood’s Version of Artificial Intelligence: How Movies Portray Machine Learning and Its Capabilities No date. 23 Mar. 2007 <http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/archive/courses/warner/english122tg/student.html>
[6] Silvio, Carl. Refiguring the Radical Cyborg in Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell Mar. 1990 DePauw University 23 Mar. 2007 <http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/77/silvio77.htm.>
[7] Thomsen, JoAnna. Cyberpunk Women of Neuromancer, the Matrix, and Blade Runner Jun. 2000. 23 mar. 2007 <http://brmovie.com/Anaylsis/CyberGrrrlz.html>
[8] Scheer, Uta. Genered (Cy)Borgs: Body Technologies and Sexual Politics in Star Trek. Aug 2003 University of Goettingen. 23 Mar. 2007 <http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/ati/Visions/V1/s7a.htm.>
[9] Philips, Julian. Final Question #1. Dec, 2006. 23 Mar. 2007 <http://arguere.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_archive.html.>
[10] Wolfe, Paul. A Synthesis of man and Machines: Defining the Cyborg of Today No date. 23 Mar. 2007 <http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/archive/courses/warner/english122tg/student.html#cyborgtech.>
In my research I found 10 good articles to include in my webliography. My search process was quite simple: I started searching using the google.com search engine. Basically, I started by typing in keywords “Cyborg”, “Haraway”, “Gender”, “feminism”, and then “film” or “technology” to search for articles. I then focused on web-sites with “.edu”, or those that contained articles from students or were course introductions from universities.
In this paper, I will use the articles to show what a cyborg is, how it is a “site” of possibility and resistance. Then, I will then show how the representation of cyborg’s gender in film fails to make Haraway’s predictions come true. After this I look at a few articles about techno-science and cyborgs and show that even there, the cyborg is used to reinforce cultural gender bias. However, at the end, I find a few articles that show that is some ways techno-science; specifically man/machine partnerships actually realize some of Haraway’s suggestions about possibility.
In the article The Cyberfeminist fantasy of the Pleasure of the cyborg 1 the author, Yvonne Volkart, discusses Haraway’s figuration of cyborg as “an ageless naughty, unruled and nasty girl”. Volkart further pictures the Cyborg as a “polychromatic girl” who is “untamed”, “stubborn” and “unruly”; a cyborg that will not obey, will rebel and cannot be straightened out. This article is useful to clarify that Haraway actually gave her cyborg a gender. This is important as it is the starting point of the essay; why a female cyborg? [1]
At this point, I will use the following essays to show what a cyborg is, what sort of “possibility” it has and what that means to women in the real world.
Andrew Arsham’s article Power and Invisibility illustrates Haraway’s suggestion that technology/machines have become more and more dominant and, in contrast, human beings are losing their agency. Because of this, Haraway suggests that becoming cyborgs allows us to catch up and face with this changes/crisis. Specifically it is a “new way” to gain power. This article gives clear background information into the reason Haraway “created” a cyborg and how cyborgs can be used to make her theory real. [2]
Technics of Cyberfeminism: Strategic Sexualisations. Between Method and Fantasy by Yvonne Volkart is an important article in that it shows why Haraway gave her cyborg a gender. Haraway admits that her cyborg is a bad girl but never a “sensitive man”. Haraway suggests that gender is always a question in terms of the human mind. Gender is “not a thing of the past” but is in the present and the future. Volkart’s article shows that because gender is always the “master tools” that help us see the world, we are unable to see beyond gender. She states that Haraway uses a female cyborg to give “possibility” to women in the world. If her cyborg can go beyond the limitations of gender, then it is possible for women to do so as well. [3]
At this point, I will make a transition to an article that gives examples of early science fiction writing and its uses of cyborgs. This article is important because it shows that Haraway’s idea was also used by science fiction writers that the cyborg gave women the “possibility” of power was actually used by early writers.
Barbara Summerhawk’s article He, She or It: The Cyborg De-Constructs gender in Post Modern Science Fiction shows the changes of female characters portrayed in Science-fiction 60’s and 70’s. Summerhawk sees that science fiction, began to challenge questions of identity, power relations and gender. She says that they made women characters that relied on traditional gender concepts but began to show some traditional masculine elements; they were physically strong, courage and intelligent. Summerhawk says that these early writers showed the possibility of different gender rules/roles and at the same time, questioned the nature of gender and social constructs. Summerhawk mentions that Donna Haraway showed that the old rules of “white, heterosexual male always the most dominated” are out of date. Haraway wanted new relationships between human being where everyone was equal; everyone carried temporary identities, everyone shared and created culture. But Summerhawk also suggests that there are dangerous possibilities: people see the cyborg as a masculine female figure/body which has the potential of fighting in a war or even taking over the world (political reality). [4]
At this point I will start a new section: The representation of cyborgs in popular culture. In this section I will use a few articles that look at films that use female cyborgs. These articles show that despite being powerful, these female cyborgs (sometimes called Artificial Intelligence or Replicant (hybrid of human and machine)) fail to live up to the potential Haraway suggests is part of cyborg. First it is important to give some background into the use of cyborgs in Hollywood movies.
Brianna Kleinschmidt’s article Hollywood’s Version of Artificial Intelligence: How Movies Portray Machine Learning and Its Capabilities and Carl Silvio’s article Refiguring the Radical Cyborg in Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell talk about how cyborgs are extensions of the human imagination. What this means is that science-fiction films provide us with a “site” or “platform” to make “real” people’s imagination about Cyborgs. This imagination not only reflects the positive aspects but also the negative. The negative aspects include anxieties about contemporary technology. Silvio reminds us that many of the works (futurist film or science-fiction) succeeded in depicting the interaction between human and machine but fail to represent the feminist issues of gender and gender bias. [5] and [6]
After giving background information about the use of cyborgs in Hollywood films, I want to use two articles - one by JoAnna Thomsen and one by Uta Scheer - to explain how these female cyborgs fail in representing feminine/gender issues. In Cyberpunk Women of Neuromancer, The Matrix, and Blade Runner by JoAnna Thomsen and Uta Scheer’s Genered (Cy)Borgs: Body Technologies and Sexual Politics in Star Trek, the authors points out that a common representation of female cyborgs as sometime strong, independent and intelligent. However, they are often portrayed as a mere sex objects or as femme fatales with short-lives. Characters such as Rachel, Pris and Zhora in Blade Runner show how female cyborgs are strong and capable, but ultimately end up failing. Scheer’s article shows how another female cyborg (The Borg Queen in Star Trek) is also unable to live up to Haraway’s possibility. Scheer points out that the Borg Queen to a high degree portrays the traditional and stereotypical role of a female cyborg characters. Ultimately these films and television shows simply end up reinforcing and consolidating the typical gender stereotype with female subordination (female as sex object or femme fatale). [7] and [8]
As the articles above show, the possibility that Haraway gave to her female cyborg has been denied. Many popular culture media use a female cyborg but only do so as a means of reinforcing the traditional gender stereotypes. In the last section of my paper, I will look at several articles on Technoscience to see if the concept of cyborg helps make Haraway’s ideas of possibility come true.
In the article Final Question #1 by Julian Philips, the author looks a the pornography industry as a “site” of literal cyborgs. This article is valuable because it gives examples of “real” cyborgs, and not just “imaginary” cyborgs found in film and television. Unfortunately the pornographic film industry takes up the concept of a “sexual cyborg” where pornographic film stars, both male and female, use drugs to enhance their performance or surgery to exaggerate their physical attributes which only further reinforce sexual stereotypes. [9]
Finally, Paul Wolfe’s article A Synthesis of man and Machines: Defining the Cyborg of Today looks at another form of cyborg: the man/ machine partnership. Wolfe says that humans are becoming more like cyborgs and that cyborgs or machine are more saturated into our lives. These partnerships are actually beneficial and effective. This article shows that the techno-science (cyborg / machine) actually supports Haraway’s ideas of the cyborg as a possibility. Unfortunately, the role of these cyborgs is limited to military and medical uses so far. [10]
In conclusion, Donna Haraway gave her cyborg a gender (female) because she wanted that cyborg to be an image of possibility for women. Unfortunately, as is obvious from the articles, popular culture has only used the image of the cyborg to reinforce and consolidate the traditional gender roles. However, there is some hope: technoscience, using the cyborg concept of partnership, shows some signs of realizing Haraway’s possibility.
Reference:
[1] Volkart, Yvonne. The Cyberfeminist Fantasy of the Pleasure of the Cyborg 1. No date. 23 Mar. 2007 <http://www.obn.org/reading_room/writings/html/cyberfem_fantasy.html>
[2] Arsham, Andrew. Power and Invisibility. No date. 23 Mar. 2007
<http://www.koni.ch/cyborg/cyborg.html.>
[3] Volkart, Yvonne. The Cyberfeminist Fantasy of the Pleasure of the Cyborg 1. No date. 23 Mar. 2007 <http://www.obn.org/reading_room/writings/html/strategic_sex.html>
[4] Summerhawk, Barbara. He, She or It: The Cyborg De-Constructs gender in Post Modern Science Fiction. July 1998. 23 Mar. 2007 <http://davidmswitzer.com/slonczewski/summerhawk.html>
[5] Kleinschmidt, Brianna. Hollywood’s Version of Artificial Intelligence: How Movies Portray Machine Learning and Its Capabilities No date. 23 Mar. 2007 <http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/archive/courses/warner/english122tg/student.html>
[6] Silvio, Carl. Refiguring the Radical Cyborg in Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell Mar. 1990 DePauw University 23 Mar. 2007 <http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/77/silvio77.htm.>
[7] Thomsen, JoAnna. Cyberpunk Women of Neuromancer, the Matrix, and Blade Runner Jun. 2000. 23 mar. 2007 <http://brmovie.com/Anaylsis/CyberGrrrlz.html>
[8] Scheer, Uta. Genered (Cy)Borgs: Body Technologies and Sexual Politics in Star Trek. Aug 2003 University of Goettingen. 23 Mar. 2007 <http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/ati/Visions/V1/s7a.htm.>
[9] Philips, Julian. Final Question #1. Dec, 2006. 23 Mar. 2007 <http://arguere.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_archive.html.>
[10] Wolfe, Paul. A Synthesis of man and Machines: Defining the Cyborg of Today No date. 23 Mar. 2007 <http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/archive/courses/warner/english122tg/student.html#cyborgtech.>
Sunday, 25 March 2007
Fish's Assignment 1: Question 3
Introduction to Locating Online Sources
The sources of this webliogrphy are evaluated through the scholar essays from the web and the reading of this course. The search engines of google.com and yahoo.com have been made use of to be the most useful electronical searching technology. The authority of scholarship has been assessed by several effective methodologies including checking the register information, publisher, scholar wordings, etc. Some of the materials available on the web are found to be overly subjective or casually toned; therefore, all of them are denied being listed for the sources of this webliography in order to ensure the validation in the perspectives and arguments and the appropriate level for the research task.
The reading from Stering (1998) about the cyberpunk in nineties is specifically targeted to the audience who declared that the trend of cyberpunk has passed away. It primarily made use of the editorial published by Mr. Lewis Shiner on Jan 7, 1991 in The New York Times, which further developed that "Cyberpunk" in the nineties was a popular and friendly attitude among common populace aligned with 70s punk music. Cyberpunk has its non-copyrighted organ named Cheap Truth, which is open for public to contribute. The contributors voluntarily and eagerly use fake name or pen name because they deny any emergence of characterization or separation between parties. Hollinger (1990, p. 37) additionally forced that cyberpunk is a growing projects of science fiction which can be defined as ‘anti-humanist’ because it follows the way against normal genre of nature and culture. It is presumed to be postmodernist breaking down the human-centred belief because it opposes the distinguishability between natural and artificial, or humans and machines.
Stering also considered Frankenstein by Mary Shelley as the main example of science fiction in terms of genre. In a cyberpunk analysis, Frankenstein is humanist science fiction because it encompassed the romantic proverb that “there are some things man was not meant to know”. The operation of this highest law is the nature of human’s universe that is far more intelligent than human will. Hubris must meet nemesis; this is simply the nature of our universe. Frankenstein commits a serious offense confronting the human soul and is finally punished by his own creation, the Monster.
Hollinger (p.38) defined science fiction to be a traditionally enchanted form of transcendence in which cyberpunk authentically applied this theory through technological innovation. It is “the belief of the Overman, and the worship of will-to-power.” Stering in this manner emerged a cyberpunk version of Frankenstein, which would be the Monster empowered to start a global damaging destruction. But ultimately, he must be unable to the central operative system and lose. However, the story of Monsters of cyberpunk is usually not yet end that they disguise themselves on the streets and suffuse all over. They will make use of new genetics laws and prepared for the next world-shaking rebellion.
In the Sobchack’s book of The American Science Fiction Film (p.65), it attempted to define that the cyberpunk in science fiction always mentions the contacts or conflicts between rockets from different planets. Vémola (p.12) concluded from Sobchack’s idea that the science fiction film is a genre which concentrates on actual or experimental experience, in which the interaction with social context is less significant. It is the transcendence of magic and religion in order to bring the human together with the unknown. On the contrary, rocketships are not necessary to be science fiction because “one could create a list of science fiction ‘objects’ as the spaceship which do indeed evoke the genre, but which are – specifically and physically – not essential to it: the New Planet, the Robot, the Laboratory, Radioactive Isotopes, and Atomic Device.” These settings show the iconography which is comprehensible genre of every science fiction film because it sends the same message to us. Sobchack attributed this genre to the awareness of history, especially for the Western. It creates the visual boundaries of objects and character settings to what can be observable and demands the film repeating and encompasses these genres.
Hollinger (p.32) quoted from Jaron Lanier that the cyberpunk in science fiction equalizes the body and language to be the universe and physics respectively. Broderick (1995, p.24) constructed that science can no longer be separated with “artificial literature” while fiction cannot be omitted from the fantastical literature. The combination of science and fiction is the “linguistic play and innovation”. It constitutes the body of “novel signifiers lacking actual signifieds outside their intertextual ‘absent paradigms’. The science fiction is the formulae of “imaginary science, superhuman abilities, extraterrestrial or apocalyptic time travels or robots.” He quoted from John Kessel’s ordinary view that everyone wants to escape from human nature, including science fiction readers. Science fiction is the alternative to comfort the real world. The real example is when reading the science fiction story about some abuse incapable beings, the reader can predict that the secret power unavailable to those distressing him would be discovered soon afterwards, and the end of the story would be the hero saving the universe.
Roberts (p.142) affirmed that the effect of science fiction in Frankenstein retells the legends aboard a spaceship with “robots playing the roles of knights”. A piece of futuristic technology can be the crucial elements that distinguish a story as science fiction in the first priority. It is more than a decorative intention to its narrative. This is to emphasize that a piece of science fiction technology provides the imaginative spaces of alterity. The ray-gun, time-machine or the matter-transporter can emerge a spectacular contrast with the almost miraculous technology around us such as mobile phones and computers. Also, technology has long played an influential part in daily life. It is not clear for us to know what the scientists invent next. That means that the technology urge us to focus on seeking for differences. In light of this, the creatures of technology will have the most metaphorical potential in a science fiction text.
Broderick (p.52) stated that the poststructuralist and postmodernist are assaulted by the reason that the trends and theory of science fiction does not induce the audience to see things more critically. The most recent critics are that the science fiction may result in a dulling of the audience’s ability to distinguish virtual and real sense, in only the visually shocking acceptance but not critical analysis. The science fiction may only encourage the escapist fantasies. Whether fantasy makes us more critical or urges the human more self-centred depends finally on whether it is accountable to something that is not fantasy. Science fiction can be possessed in two factors making “unstable equilibrium and dynamic compromise”. The first one is its populace cognition which grows out of the destructively lower-class form of ‘new world’ within the limited knowledge. The second one is the powerful upper and middle class making use of their power and repression with their majority of text to blacken others in the lower class as the “truly other relationship”. Nevertheless, as Hollinger (p.42) confirmed, the postmodern situation has claimed to demand us to reveal science fiction’s original metaphor of technological anxiety. A demeaned humanity shall not be simply controlled by technology. We must seek for the ways to produce the mutual benefits and developments between us and our technologies “interface” and prevent the mutual hostility between human and machine.
Bibliography
Broderick, Damien. “
Hollinger, Veronica. “Cybernetic Deconstructions: Cyberpunk and Postmodernism.” Mosaic 23.2. 1990: 29-42
Kuhn, Annette. “Alien Zone: Cultural Theory and Contemporary Science Fiction Cinema.” books.google.com. 1990. 20th Mar 2007: http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=zwny4lWjYDkC&oi=fnd&pg=PP7&sig=3344ZIy31Vv9V5ClTRpSZCreMvQ&dq=science+fiction
books.google.com. 22nd Mar 2007: 146-150: http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=IRw_MIPjnXwC&oi=fnd&pg=PP9&sig=EVKDiJfnNR0IHj9rpTrDAuCO6zQ&dq=john+kessel+science+fiction+readers+want+to+
Sobchack, Vivian. “Screening Space: The American Science Fiction Film.” books.google.com. 19th Mar 2007: 64-67: http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=8PPm-qt_YLkC&oi=fnd&pg=PA9&sig=yL2ZBGdbokh87YcvafW_fIgOXTA&dq=science+fiction#PPA64,M1
Sterling, Bruce. “Cyberpunk in the Nineties.” Streettech. 1998. 19th Mar 2007:
http://www.streettech.com/bcp/BCPtext/Manifestos/CPInThe90s.html
Vémola, Jakub. “The “Popular Renaissance” of the American Science-Fiction Film and its Independent Counterbalance.” is.muni.cz. June 2006. 20th Mar 2007: http://is.muni.cz/th/109783/ff_b_b1/Popular_Renaissance_Of_American_SF_Film.pdf
Peggy's Critical Annotated Webliography
Start from the beginning, “cyberpunk and the technological innovation” are the words that I used for searching the useful online materials for this Webliography. There are many results, some of them are the forums, or a reference books review, or a journals. After analyzed and scanned those results, the followings are the materials that more related and useful.
For the fundament, “Cyberpunk as a Science Fiction Genre” (2004) defines that cyberpunk is a member of Hard Science Fiction. It is combination of high-tech and pop culture and it collapses the separation between organic and artificial. The concept of “cyberspace” from William Gibson’s Neuromancer is the influential cyberpunk book. Erich Schneider points the clear threshold for “cyberpunk”: the technologically enhanced system extend to human via cloned or artificial organs. Therefore, humans themselves become part of 'the Machine'; and they turn the technological tools to their own.
In Veronica Hollinger’s (“Cybernetic Deconstructions: Cyberpunk and Postmodernism.”, 1990) article, she tells that technology shapes our perceptions, mediates human relationships. Veronica points that development of human knowledge may anxiety and lost the potential technological transcendence. Cyberpunk is a “movement” in science fiction in the 1980s which prospects the technological within late-capitalist, post-industrial, media-saturated Western society. She also explains that cyberpunk is the breakdown of the oppositions between natural and the artificial, the human and the machines. Thus, it is the interconnection between human and technological innovation. From her opinion, cyberpunk is negative and challenge the human status and harmony while the increasing of the technological innovation.
Heylighen (“Popular Visions of the Future”,1998) also considers that technological innovation affects our perception of the future world. He even provides two different views toward it. In optimistic view, things become more powerful and efficient by the innovation. He also introduces the “New Age” movement to explain through the progress, individual awareness and selfish would replace by the “transpersonal” experience of belonging to public. But that is too outdated and surface. For pessimistic view, he uses the term “Big Brother” states that the technological society as the totalitarian state, as the version of doomsday scene. Frankenstein is the example to illustrate the pessimism— a monster that destroys its creator. He thinks that cyberpunk picture is the advanced cybernetic technology with the anarchism of the 1970s punk movement, is a sign of no future. Everyone try to escape the technological fantasy world and against with the multinational technological corporation and criminals. He thinks the uncertainty and struggle for survive would erode any sense of justice and value, so it is similar with Hollinger’s body and mind invasion idea that questioning the nature of humanity. It is the discussion of the postmodern identification of human and machine. Thus, Heylighen indeed similar with Hollinger, by points out that the terrible effect of cyberpunk associates with technological innovation, but he also cover the optimistic view in order to verify the unrealistic of it.
Person (“Notes Toward a Postcyberpunk Manifesto”, 1998) declares that in cyberpunk stories, human are alienated loners who survive in the dystopia world that made up by the rapid technological innovation. That includes the interaction with the robots or rocketship. In cyberpunk world: “technology is society. Technology is what the characters breathe, eat and live in.”, so it is different with the post-cyberpunk. Therefore, Person’s dystopia world really like Heylighen says that cyberpunk world is full of conflicts and struggles. Person also shows what type of the interrelationship between human and technology as Hollinger mentions there is “the interconnection between human and technological innovation”.
As the example for cyberpunk, Bratton (“Blade Runner – ‘more human than human’”, 2005) uses Blade Runner to explain the cyberpunk. He means that cyberpunk is the world of technological innovation with stony urban realism, is about escape and isolation. This is equal to Heylighen’s. Such as the replicants in Blade Runner is technologically innovation with DNA-based organic beings. This is the matter that Hollinger says the breakdown of human and machine. Through the film, it questioning what is the real human as the opposition of natural and unnatural, reality and appearance, original and the copy. As the replicants qualify the test for humanity, are they human, natural? If the memory can be inputted to the brain, are replicates being a “true” human? When replicants more human, then what is “human”? This article points out the questions toward technologically innovation in cyberpunk, it also extend the wondering of humanity while there is “more human than human”.
In “Cyberpunk! Time Magazine Cover Story” (Dewitt, 1993), it clearly defines that cyberpunk is the term from cybernetics and punk. That is about the technological innovation and the way to use it. Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis games are the guidance of cyberpunk. As it quotes that Stewart Brand perceives cyberpunk as the “technology with attitude”; Bruce Sterling thinks it is “unholy alliance of the technical world with the underground.”; and San Jose State University mathematician considers is ''the fusion of humans and machines.'' All these show the association between cyberpunk and technological innovation, some of it are similar with the above. In abstract, it mentions that cyberpunk science fiction is the “metaphorical evocation of technological fluctuation” in the contemporary world, rather than the imagination of the future. This is the concept that other sources do not reveal.
Rather the interaction between human and technology as Hollinger tells. Kirtchev (“Cyberpunk Understood”, 1990) mentions that cyberpunk is the way that people use to survive in the chaos world; technology is just the part of material of cyberpunk. Kirtchev suggests that cyberpunk is “psychology of technology”. She recognizes the power of technology, but it should be under control. More differently, she thinks cyberpunk should not only play on technology, it is more person. Human who is the master of the technology for the moving toward “cyberspace”. Therefore, it is the tool for us to survive, rather the things to attach on, obtain power or destroys. So, she is emphasizes do not be a technology itself, the standpoint is different with other sources that technology is affecting human and she makes human more active.
In most cyberpunk stories, including malevolent, killing innocents, anti-capitalist and finally get away from the technology innovation manipulation. Funk (“Cyberpunk Fiction: The Visionary Kaleidoscope”, 1995) analyzes that cyberpunk is the integration of culture and technology, also it is extrapolates the influence of it to human. He believes that technology in cyberpunk is the element to be utilized, which people should fight with mind and reality. In some extend, this is similar with Kirtchev. He uses the example of Walter Jon Williams' Voice of the Whirlwind to illustrate the “wonder” of the “clone”. It is similar with Bratton’s. As technology usually advances abnormally, it would cause the conflicts, thus, the “futureshock” would emerge. This view is more like Heylighen’s discussion on the effect of cyberpunk. He is on the side of human should be active and control their future.
In conclusion, different writers have various approaches toward the association of cyberpunk and technological innovation. In cyberpunk, technological innovation affects our perceptions, is a dystopia world by rapid technological innovation, as the technology with attitude. Moreover, it is about interrupting the identity by technological imagination and there are the interrelationship between technological innovation and human. Besides, the oppositions are breakdown while the question of what is “true” human come out. The most interesting assumption is cyberpunk can be the “metaphorical evocation of technological fluctuation”.
Reference:
Bratton, Revd Mark. (2005). “Blade Runner – ‘more human than human’”. University of Warwick Chaplaincy. http://www.warwick.ac.uk/~cpsab/sermons/blade_runner.htm (accessed on 15 March 2007)
Dewitt, Philip Elmer. (1993). “Cyberpunk! Time Magazine Cover Story”. Fuchsia Shockz. http://www.fuchsiashockz.co.uk/articles/cyberpunk/time_magazine_-_cyberpunk.php (accessed on 19 March 2007)
Funk, J. J. (1995). “Cyberpunk Fiction: The Visionary Kaleidoscope” http://uweb.superlink.net/~neptune/Cyberpnk.html (accessed on 15 March 2007)
Heylighen, Francis. (1998). “Popular Visions of the Future”. Principia Cybernetica. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/VISIFUT.html (accessed on 15 March 2007)
Hollinger, Veronica. (1990). “Cybernetic Deconstructions: Cyberpunk and Postmodernism.” Mosaic 23.2. pp. 29-44.
Kirtchev, Christian. (1999). “Cyberpunk Understood”. The Cyberpunk Project. http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/cyberpunk_understood.html (accessed on 17 March 2007)
Person, Lawrence. (1998). “Notes Toward a Postcyberpunk Manifesto”. Shawn Nacol. http://www.shawnnacol.com/pP-postcyberpunk.htm (accessed on 15 March 2007) The Cyberpunk Project. (2004). “Cyberpunk as a Science Fiction Genre”. http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/scifi.html (accessed on 17 March 2007)
Tuesday, 20 March 2007
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soon after verdy's hypnotherapy on me, i remembers the my old account's username and password at once!! isnt it amazing?
Thanks a lot Verdy.. u should have done this couple hours earlier! LOL
Thanks a lot Verdy.. u should have done this couple hours earlier! LOL
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