by Leanne C. Boyd
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In a world where there is such a huge "isolation factor," for instance, the concept of the cyborg allows for some freedom of thought. For many, in a way, modems are at the exact center of cyborg politics. "Being a cyborg isn't just about the freedom to construct yourself. It's about networks. Ever since Descartes announced, 'I think, therefore I am,' the Western world has had an unhealthy obsession with selfhood . . . In a world of doubt, getting across that boundary, let alone to other people, becomes a real problem (Kunzru 1997, http://wwww.wired.com/wired/ 5.02/features/ffharaway.html)." Can one's modem "quantum leap" over the boundaries of isolationism?

If looking outward can be considered the opposite of "selfhood," then it is my intention to attempt to prove that cyborg theory should NOT "leave us cold" but should perform the opposite -- that of embracing all that we are capable of, and releasing it as a gift to others. Indeed, are we looking at the perfect medium for extreme collaborative effort? Now, THERE'S a Feminist utopia! It is my certain belief that these -- collaboration and networking -- are the basis of the very train of thought that has inspired Donna Haraway over her years of writing on cybernetics and cyborg theory:

"The immune system is a perfect example of the networked consciousness of the cyborg age. It's also a good example of what Haraway means when she denies there's any such thing as the abstract. In the end, her work and her life, her friend's [ex-husband, fellow commune peer] death, and theoretical biology are all tangled together: a messy web of personal pain, politics, and science (Kunzru 1997, http://wwww.wired.com/wired/5.02/ features/ffharaway.html)."

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At this point, it certainly cannot be ignored that the very HUMAN issues that concern us all, have been the instigators for the technology of which we talk. Perhaps I should note that the mostly-organized, "cold" environment of the ethereal WEB seems an oddly-warm incubator for the "tangled-together, messy web of personal pain, politics, and science" of which Haraway speaks. In 1987, it was similar pain that led me to this very solution. In my search for physical healing, I discovered -- TECHNOCULTURE! Haraway had this to say about the importance of the new media:

"But isn't this just rhetoric? It's all very well talking about cyborgs, but is there any need to seriously believe in the idea? 'Yes,' says Haraway. 'Feminist concerns,' she argues vehemently, 'are inside of technology, not a rhetorical overlay. We're talking about cohabitation: between different sciences and forms of culture, between organisms and machines. I think the issues that really matter -- who lives, who dies, and at what price -- these political questions are embodied in technoculture. They can't be got at in any other way.' For Haraway and many others, there's no longer any such thing as the abstract (Kunzru 1997, http://wwww. wired.com/wired/5.02/features/ffharaway.html)."

For me, this generator of humane thought led immediately to further research into the cyborg theory, and how technology was going to prove itself to be an immense tool for the continued legacy of the Feminist Movement. I have known for a decade that I have a great intellectual legacy to leave my daughters, in the form of this marvelous technical marvel called the computer and the skills I've gleaned. Over that same decade and the one before it, for the lifetime of my 20-year-old daughter, I have worried about the unsolved riddles of the gender wars -- what exactly IS the feminine inheritance I'm leaving . . . how effective, how paramount for her or her sister's lives? Finally, how well have I done in imparting the essential issues, that she might never lay down the sword, but continue to address the questions? Wonderfully, I also have come to know the unwavering power of this technology, and firmly agree with Haraway when she states (vehemently!) that Feminist concerns are inside technology, and that there is no longer any such thing as the abstract. In a world where "happenings" happen at the speed of light, effective action on the part of anyone -- especially Feminists -- must happen WITHIN the boundaries of its most effective tool. There is nothing abstract in this concrete belief . . . that computer technology, our "cyborg right-hand," IS that tool.

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