Webliography - Caitlin (Question 2)

Images of artificially created beings have been widespread throughout science fiction texts, challenging ideas of what it means to be human. The notion of the cyborg has reflected cultural preoccupations with overcoming the limitations and flaws of the corporeal human body as well as anxieties about technology undermining the uniqueness of embodied human experience. The following sources each address the question of whether or not being human transcends the capabilities of the body.


1. Brain, Marshall. (2005). The Day You Discard Your Body. http://marshallbrain.com/discard1.htm (Accessed 26th August 2008)

In this essay Marshall Brain argues that human beings are trapped in our bodies and that, contrary to depictions of the body in science fiction, in the future we will discard our bodies and live in a virtual world. Brain’s argument is based on the assumption that what makes us human is contained within the brain and the fragility and mortality of the human body limits the potential capabilities of the brain. This essay draws mainly on examples from popular culture rather than any academic theories and is self-published, rather than being linked to a more credible website or database. It contains many unsubstantiated claims and it is difficult to separate the author’s opinion from researched evidence. However it offers an interesting point of view that is particularly relevant to this essay question and is another example of the body being viewed and portrayed as limiting to human capability.


2. Hacking, Ian. (1998). “Canguilman amid the Cyborgs” Economy and Society 27 (2) 202-216. http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.uwa.edu.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=6832633&site=ehost-live (Accessed 27th August 2008)

Hacking’s paper discusses various theoretical perspectives on the cyborg. Since its inception, the notion of the cyborg has been reinterpreted and reinvented throughout the academic and popular cultural spheres. Hacking focuses specifically on the essay Machine and Organism by Georges Canguilhem who argues that tools and machines are extensions of the body. Because Hacking’s paper discusses many different and often oppositional theoretical positions on the cyborg and its implications, it is difficult to decipher a central argument. This paper would be useful in answering the essay question as it thoroughly explores the main theories and theorists involved in analysis of the relationship between humans and machines and maps the evolution of notions of the cyborg from Clines and Kline (1960), to science fiction, to Donna Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto (1985).

3. Rothstein, Edward. (1996). “Technology: CONNECTIONS; Cyborgs 'R' (Almost) Us, or how we may be turning into a multimedia experience”. New York Times, January 8, Late Edition (East Coast). http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.library.uwa.edu.au/pqdweb?did=673534981&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=20923&RQT=309&VName=PQD (Accessed 27th August 2008).

Edward Rothstein’s article for the online edition of The New York Times provides a brief overview of the emerging significance of the cyborg in contemporary culture. The article discusses the prevalence of the cyborg in popular culture and the growing amount of academic discussion of cyborgs in feminism and politics. Rothstein raises ideas about the ever-growing relationship between technology and the body and its implications for the future. While this is not a scholarly article, it is a valuable text for analysis as it suggests that anxieties about technology are not confined to the academic arena. Rothstein’s article is an example of another text reinforcing the notion that being human transcends physical embodiment.

4. Shabot, Sara Cohen. (2006) “Grotesque Bodies: A Response to Disembodied Cyborgs”. Journal of Gender Studies. 15 (3) 223-235. http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.uwa.edu.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=24905686&site=ehost-live(accessed 27th August 2008)

In her paper Grotesque Bodies: A Response to Disembodied Cyborgs, Sara Cohen Shabot argues that the notion of the cyborg is problematic as it idealises the body as hypersexual, flawless and transcendent of the weaknesses of the corporeal human body. She argues that corporeal existence and carnal experiences are what make us human and that the prediction of a cyborgian future in science fiction texts borders on fascism. Shabot argues that the “grotesque body” is a more useful way to disrupt dichotomous ways of understanding the body. Shabot’s paper is particularly useful to this essay question as it provides an opposing view to the argument that the body limits our potential capabilities and experiences as human beings.

5. Shanken, Edward. (2005) “Hot to Bot: Pygmalion’s Lust, the Maharal’s Fear, and the Cyborg future of Art”. Technoetic Arts: A Journal of Speculative Research 3 (1) 43-55. http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.uwa.edu.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=17287387&site=ehost-live (Accessed 28th August 2008)

In his paper, Hot to Bot: Pygmalion’s Lust, the Maharal’s Fear, and the Cyborg future of Art, Edward Shanken explores the portrayal of robots and other artificially created beings in art and how this portrayal reflects the anxieties and preoccupations of the society in which they were created. With reference to representations in myths such as Pygmalion and the Golem through to more contemporary artistic and filmic texts, Shanken argues that the desire to artificially create life is fundamental to human nature, but that the power to turn a robot into a fully fledged human being is not within human capability. Shanken also argues that over time, artistic representations of the relationship between humans and technology have shifted from a portrayal of human control and status over the technology we create to a more fluid relationship where the difference between human being and robot is less distinct and suggestive of a cyborgian future. This paper would be particularly useful as it addresses the question, draws on other academic analysis and also discusses many other texts which raise issues regarding technology and the body.


Each of these sources addresses the idea that to be human transcends the physical body with varying degrees of utility. Two of the articles are not from scholarly sources, however they relate well to the question at hand and compliment the arguments made by the academic papers.