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| The Cyborg (Fe)Man/ual |
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| Autonomy/Personhood/Agency These were central issues, ones that Tyson in particular was interested in, given the nature of his project this semester. Here are some of the questions we thought to ask: First, we thought about reproduction: Can it reproduce if it wants to? Will it have a choice in the matter if it is able to? We need to think about what the purpose of the reproduction might be. What if it's hermaphroditic? (Somehow, the cyborg has become "it" by now, rather than he/she/it). We note that the creation of a new species might be for good or for bad (though its also not clear how good or bad would be ascertained). If it has the ability to bear a child, how will it feel about its parents and the way in which it was produced? Are we responsible for its offspring? Are we responsible for any of its productions? We note that even our culture is not clear on what role parents have and how parents should raise children. Second, we wanted to know: Will it have capacities that are considered flaws in humans? Will it have capacity to engage in things seen as flaws in humans? (ie prejudice, addiction, jealousy, madness, self destruction, being clumsy, having a stutter, arrogance). Can it be clumsy or slack off? Gaia said that it has to have emotions because we're making a "(Fe)Man/ual" not a "manual." we don't want to privilege the traditional adherence to (masculinist) "rationality" in modernity. As for madness, we noted that if we endow it with all these qualities we have proposed, it may appear to be mad already. Might the conditions of its multiple knowing capacities be (or be read as) madness? Indeed, might not a MWOKDB, if it has one, create/produce madness? Maybe madness is essential/unavoidable, given our goals, hopes, and purposes. Perhaps madness, emotionality, etc could open up doors -- it may be able to make connections that humans can't or understand things in ways that humans can't. In short, maybe a mad, irrational, emotional cyborg is what is needed, not what should be avoided. There were still more -- far more -- questions we could have asked, and wanted to, such as: Will it have multiple definitions of the self and will they be delineated from each other? What happens if it encounters a position it disagrees with? How does it reproduce/resist meaning/knowledge, etc? If we do give the cyborg moral stances, what's to say that it won't decide that we're fucked up and that it won't reject our morals? Can it commit suicide? Will it have needs? Will it have to work, have to make a living, eat, have other organic needs to sustain itself? What are its legal rights? Can it travel to other countries? Does it have civil liberties (freedom of speech, travel, association?) What counts as knowledge/intelligence? How does it communicate/interface with the world? Can it dream/think/have imagination/be emotional? Can it go mad? Does it desire, sexually and otherwise? Where does this desire come from? Does it have a lifespan? Will it grow old? Does it have a memory? Do its memories fade or expire, or is there total/absolute recall? Can it lie? |