The Extensions of Ourselves: WE ARE CYBORG;
Embracing Our Past, Celebrating Our Future
WHAT ARE THE CULTURAL IMPLICATIONS, FOR ARTISTS, WOMEN, US?
How many people have really thought through the cultural implications of the cyborg? Yet, it is my belief that the development of cyborg consciousness has significant implications for our understanding of the nature and evolution of culture, itself. Marshall McLuhan called media "the extensions of man." He based his theory on the fact that content follows form. If we use this as a starting point, we can see that current and imminent technologies champion new configurations of feeling and thought, new modes of perception. "He [McLuhan] saw media as 'make happen agents' rather than 'make-aware' agents . . . (Landow 1997, http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/hypertext/ landow/cpace/infotech/asg/ag6.html)." In this manner, it is simple to see that we are, indeed, in the first generation that has ever had everything at our disposal to literally construct ourselves. Do we, then, have the courage to go from making aware to MAKING IT HAPPEN?
Unfortunately, as in all things human, we must consider that not all of these marvelous technologies, nor the thought behind their creations, nor the eventual users, will be attached to that which is most beneficial. In fact, so much of human history shows that the simplest of our extensions, our tools, have been used to exert proprietary measures on those more vulnerable. It is imperative that we give close consideration to this, for, as advances quickly come upon us, immediate new tools are put in place, to serve or to disfigure. Again, we must consider the responsibility factor, or, that which is so beneficial could actually sound the death-march:
"Leo Marx has shown in his seminal work, The Machine in the Garden, there exists an inherent tension between humans and their machines. This tension continues to be revealed in much of the current cyborg anthropology polemic, for, unlike Donna Haraway, many of these folk use the cyborg to represent all that is evil and inhumane about technological development. Actually, all technologies are ambiguous with respect to value. Just as a Palaeolithic handax could be used either to feed the family or clobber an obnoxious relative, the value of the cyborg will depend upon the intentions and perceptions of the culture in which it emerges (Laughlin 1996, http://www.carleton.ca/~claughli/cyborg.htm)."
When the cyborg is considered in terms of "cyborg anthropology," the concern seems to be focused on the social impact of human/machine integration and speaks more in the particulars of a cyborg society. It is easy to interpret that "cyborg anthropology," then, views the postmodern state as a mix of humans, eco-systems, machines and various complex softwares, and it is all really one vast cybernetic organism. For instance, one could view it this way: computing is made up of an array of special languages. Perhaps it is ONLY on the internet that a complete view of the possibilities of a "de-centered" nature of identity can be easily seen. Persons who participate in interactive happenings on the Internet can move through many selves while attempting to construct one self. All of this happens completely in text. Participants are truly enabled in their exploration of self. The rich sculpturings that happen online are then more easily assimilated in their daily lives. Interestingly, the same thing is happening when we ponder the visual world. As women artists, this is of ultimate importance in the future of our creative selves, in the positioning, the marketing, and the creation of our non-linear (what choices we have!) and non-patriarchal (!) selves. Electronics has broadened the horizon for the artist:
". . . The artworld is now positioning itself to participate more fully in this discourse. Steps are taking place to bring the institutions and structures, that largely construct the high visibility artworld, further into the art and technology arena, particularly in the digital aspect. Institutions, such as SFMOMA and the Whitney in New York, have constructed web sites, some with project pages where interactive narrative art projects have the potential to take place. The high profile art magazines, where a great deal of art discourse takes place, are building their digital literacy . . . As the artworld expands into the digital realm, the focus on remote humans embodied in real time digital systems will exist alongside the preoccupation with the body, as issues of organic vs. non-organic, post humans and cyborgs emerge to inform the politics of identity (Wittig 1996, http://cadre.sjsu.edu/switch/narrative/posthuman/posthuman.html)."
Given these marvelous steps . . . these wonderful, useful tools,
these extensions! . . . the next logical step is to begin to
visit those who are already working within the realm of what I
now call "cyborg heaven." It is online that we can devise
ways to interrupt the ages-old prejudices. It is in the electronic
world that we can perform new creations, even manufacturing our
own media, our own tools, by means of creating our own software.
The magic world of HTML language allows the artist (or any individual
or collaboration) an exciting new world of intense self-creation!
Letters turn into words, turn into scripts. We literally can SCRIPT
a new self!
With this in mind, let us continue into . . .