CYBORGS (January 11, 2010)

CYBORGSCYBORGS

January 12, 2010January 12, 2010

Goals (week 1)

• prehistories of cyber- ideas• technology/identity relationship• intersections with

culture/politics• concept of anti-essentialism

cyberneticscybernetics

communication + control systems

computercomputer

ENIAC [Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer] was the first general-purpose electronic computer... capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems... ENIAC was designed to calculate artillery firing tables for the U.S. Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory... announced in 1946 it was heralded in the press as a "Giant Brain.” [Wikipedia]

the antiaircraft gun is not an isolated mechanism.... The gun pointer is a human element.... The actual fire control is a system involving human beings and machines at the same time. It must be reduced, from an engineering point of view, to a single structure, which means either a human interpretation of the machine, or a mechanical interpretation of the operator, or both. (67-68)

cybernetic concepts

• homeostasis through feedback

cybernetic concepts

• homeostasis through feedback

• control and communication

cybernetic concepts

• homeostasis through feedback

• control + communication

• Interactivity + integrated systems

implications of cybernetics

• cyber- = to steer (Greek)

implications of cybernetics

• cyber- = to steer (Greek)

• human/organic no longer distinct

implications of cybernetics

• cyber- = to steer (Greek)

• human/organic no longer distinct

• “the integration between the gadget and human beings in society”

cyborgcyborg

cybernetic organism

late capitalismlate capitalism

http://spaceandculture.org - 06/2006

postmodernismpostmodernism

from Alexandre Syrota on flickr

third-wave feminismthird-wave feminism

from tomswift46 on flickr

Are YOU a cyborg?Are YOU a cyborg?

when/where/how?