The Children of Humanity/"Are you alive?"
Biocybernetic Reproduction As Seen Through Frankenstein and Battlestar Galactica
A cautionary tale against the interference of science with the natural order of reproduction lies at the heart of the story of Frankenstein and his hideous progeny. Through a pile of decomposing body parts and experimentation, Frankenstein managed to successfully animate what was once dead, thus creating a horribly disfigured monster born of both science and man. Vehemently rejected by Frankenstein as an aberration, the monster, despite a lack of socialization and guidance, flees into the forest to begin a complex journey of self-discovery and development, which set him apart from humans in how untainted his humanity becomes. While Frankenstein may have opened the door to the disastrous repercussions of unnatural reproduction, the theme has since been reworked and re-envisioned by our scientifically advanced society to create the modern day monster: the Cylons of Battlestar Galactica. Through their unwavering ideology and views on race, the Cylons diverged from Frankenstein's monster to become perfect representations of biocybernetic reproduction.
Set in the dystopic future, the Cylons are the textbook representation of biocybernetic reproduction. Initially created by man to serve, the Cylons, as a race, implement their programmed knowledge to become self-aware. After an arduous battle with mankind, the Cylons leave, only to return years later�looking exactly like humans. Quite literally, the Cylons become "the combination of computer technology and biological science" (Mitchell 483). Now, with implanted memories of a childhood that never occurred and the physical ability to bleed and experience desire and despair, the Cylons have managed to alter themselves to perfectly imitate and resemble the humans that created them. Even though it is possible for a Cylon to bleed or feel pain, the humans invalidate their emotions because they are regarded as machinery. Yet, what is fascinating is the degree of purity in which the Cylons are capable of experiencing emotion or sensation. To the Cylon sleeper agents who think themselves as human, their emotions are completely valid and real; especially in the eyes are the people around them. As Mitchell argues, within biocybernetic reproduction a "two way disintegration between mechanical and organic" must occur (490). Herein lies the driving force behind Battlestar Galactica�who is the human and who is the machine? Are the visible emotions and torment of a machine less valid than that of a living being? Essentially: what does it mean to be human? Like Frankenstein's monster, the Cylons challenge all contrived conceptions of humanity by possessing the essential components that comprise life, yet the Cylons have accomplished what Frankenstein's monster could not: a successful integration into society.
As well, through their ability to perpetually replicate themselves, the Cylons become a simulacrum of humanity. Like Frankenstein's monster, "the horror of the double [and] the encounter with one's own mirror image" is what offers the perpetual animosity within the series (Mitchell 482). It is the knowledge of the copies that perpetuate fear within the Galactica crew. Despite the fact the Cylon copies operate autonomously of each other, they retain the knowledge of those that came before. Like the severed body parts that encompass Frankenstein's monster, the lingering traces of what once lived still remains. With every rebirth comes a greater mass of knowledge and experiences that is still intertwined with the naivet� of a newborn. This makes the Cylons and the monster extremely dangerous. As Mitchell states, "the copy is no longer an inferior or decayed relic of the original, but is in principle an improvement on the original" (487). By means of biocybernetic reproduction, the original loses control over its evolving creation. With a copy that is fundamentally superior, discord is inevitable. As with Frankenstein's monster, humanity wars with the Cylons�a feeble attempt at wrangling and suppressing their spawning doubles.
Moreover, with their evolution from walking toaster to fully limber human, the Cylons managed to surpass their creator's initial purpose and became a perfect representation of humanity. The Cylons have a clear advantage over Frankenstein's monster. Frankenstein's monster, for all the knowledge he accumulated, still remained a mangled mix of decayed flesh. For the Cylons, their evolution ensured their assimilation into the human race, thus thrusting them into "the sphere of the living machine" (Mitchell 486). While Frankenstein's monster wore his difference outside his body, the Cylons wear their difference within. At the heart of the monster lay reanimated human organs, whereas the Cylons are comprised of a complex circuitry that only resembles that of the human anatomy. While Frankenstein was seemingly a disgraced humanity, (largely due to his appearance which led to his isolation from society), the Cylons are presented as a human-like race superior to humans themselves. This binary switch can be accounted for by developments in technology and the need to question things beyond a superficial basis. To quote Mitchell, there is a "reduction of a living being to a tool or machine, and the elevation of a mere tool or machine to an intelligent, adaptable creature" (484). Nevertheless, as Mitchell says, "the copy has every chance of being an improvement or enhancement of whatever counts as the original" (487). Even though the monster surpassed Frankenstein's physical and intellectual limitations, his superiority was perpetually undermined by society due to his appearance. For the Cylons, society welcomes them until their true nature is revealed. Society simultaneously craves copies of idealized individuals while it abandons those who are different. In this sense, society needs the Cylons, but is unwilling to accept their status as human. Such a binary makes one question the superficiality of acceptance and the importance that is stressed on the homogeneous.
This acceptance can principally be traced to the visual and technological advancements that have facilitated the machine and scientific divide. Mitchell cleverly states, "it's not simply that living things become like machines, but that machines more that ever behave now like living things" (484). In many ways, the Cylons have managed to surpass the human race in terms of belief and ideology. The Cylons love deeply, their belief in religion is unwavering, and their politics are handled in a democratic and just manner. Yet, the one aspect of humanity the Cylons have been unable to breach, is biological reproduction. Like the monster, Frankenstein was fearful of his creation procreating. Much like the monster, the Cylons required humans to assist them in reproducing. When the Cylon named Sharon surprisingly becomes pregnant, there is a mitigating fear that the baby will be something that is completely beyond human. It is the more contemporary question on the nature of biocybernetic reproduction that further raises the question of what is human and what is machine. By means of the more exterior aspects, such as appearance, (which allow for easier integration into human society) and the more internal and emotional aspects such as issues of self-will and feelings, the Cylons and the humans appear to be one in the same. Citing Benjamin, Mitchell emphasizes how "we have to say that the copy has, if anything, even more aura than the original" (487).
The reason Frankenstein's monster is presented to the reader as a threat lies within his difference, whereas the Cylons, (who were built from spare scraps of metal) are seemingly the same as humans. The paradigm offered in both tales adds another layer to the question of what qualifies as human versus what qualifies as machine�plays with the definition, reinvents it, propels it forward to make us investigate ourselves, our ideals, our self-definitions more critically and thoroughly.
