Original scientific paper
CYBORG TECHO-IDENTITIES. DECOMPOSITION OF SELF-BEING FOR THE SAKE OF SURVIVAL
Krunoslav Nikodem
; Odsjek za sociologiju, Filozofski fakultet, Sveučilište u Zagrebu
Abstract
Each period of human history had its mythological beings on the limit between human and non-human. In the contemporary world this mythic border area is occupied by the cyborg as a techo-scientific and cultural metaphor of the western post-human identity. Cyborg represents an interface of a human and a machine-made part, i.e. a human body with technological implants. The paper analyses the concept of a cyborg with the help of two opposed processes: the first, that marks the decomposition of the standpoint of a human subject as the foundation of a western philosophical tradition; and the second, that is directed toward "defence" of a subject. The theoretical and conceptual framework of the paper, for determining the concepts of "post-human" and "non-human", make developmental strategies of techno-scientific system directed toward human body and consciousness. A thesis has been set up that a dominant field of scientific and technological advancement in the 21st century is going to be the field of studying human body and consciousness. The analysis of human identity in relation to techno-identities of cyborgs is based on "classical" and cyberpunk distopias, that in this sense represent two key factors: memory and empathy.
Keywords
cyborg; memories; cybernetics; post-human; non-human; techo-identities; distopia; memories; empathy; final frontier
Hrčak ID:
47807
URI
Publication date:
15.6.2004.
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