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This Week I Began Studying The Posthuman
What is the posthuman? Think of it as a point of view characterized by the following assumptions…First, the posthuman view privileges informational pattern over material instantiation, so that embodiment in a biological substrate is seen as an accident of history rather than an inevitability of life. Second, the posthuman view considers consciousness, regarded as the seat of human identity in the Western tradition long before Descartes thought he was a mind thinking, as an epiphenomenon, as an evolutionary upstart trying to claim that it is the whole show when in actuality it is only a minor sideshow. Third, the posthuman view thinks of the body as the original prosthesis we all learn to manipulate, so that extending or replacing the body with other prostheses becomes a continuation of a process that began before we were born. Fourth, and most important, by these and other means, the posthuman view configures human being so that it can be seamlessly articulated with intelligent machines. In the posthuman, there are no essential differences or absolute demarcations between bodily existence and computer simulation, cybernetic mechanism and biological organism, robot technology and human goals.
–from N. Katherine Hayles’s How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics. (Chicago: University of Chicago press, 1999)
“A cyborg is a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fiction…The cyborg is a matter of fiction and lived experience that changes what counts as women’s experience in the late twentieth century…Though both are bound in the spiral dance, I would rather be a cyborg than a goddess.”
–from Donna Haraway’s “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century,” in Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (New York: Routledge, 1991)
Tags: donna haraway, posthuman
I love Donna Haraway.
I love Donna Haraway.
I love Tim Jones-Yelvington for loving Donna Haraway.
I love Tim Jones-Yelvington for loving Donna Haraway.
“When it comes to both cows and people, I’d rather be a goddess than a cyborg.” –Vandana Shiva, from Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply
“When it comes to both cows and people, I’d rather be a goddess than a cyborg.” –Vandana Shiva, from Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply
i feel like watching blade runner now
i feel like watching blade runner now
Vandana Shiva criticizes Haraway’s “cyborg feminism” by pointing out that the technological model on which it is based only empowers women who belong to the world’s elite while disenfranchising poor women. The cow reference relates to the example she uses of the way that introducing GM (genetically modified) cattle and factory dairy farming has ruined million of small farmers—people who traditionally have viewed the cow as a symbol of the Hindu “Great Mother”.
Vandana Shiva criticizes Haraway’s “cyborg feminism” by pointing out that the technological model on which it is based only empowers women who belong to the world’s elite while disenfranchising poor women. The cow reference relates to the example she uses of the way that introducing GM (genetically modified) cattle and factory dairy farming has ruined million of small farmers—people who traditionally have viewed the cow as a symbol of the Hindu “Great Mother”.
You should read The Singularity Is Near by Ray Kurzweil, or at least look up his wikipedia page. What he says is crazy (or seems to be), but you have to admire the mode of thinking he used to come up with these ideas. Very creative, to say the least:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictions_made_by_Raymond_Kurzweil
You should read The Singularity Is Near by Ray Kurzweil, or at least look up his wikipedia page. What he says is crazy (or seems to be), but you have to admire the mode of thinking he used to come up with these ideas. Very creative, to say the least:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictions_made_by_Raymond_Kurzweil
I feel like there were some really interesting thoughts on the human condition up until the whole cyborg thing. Like instead of fleshing out some potentially insightful perspectives on consciousness and human realization, the writer (according to what is written here) decided to jerk off to some typical sci-fi.
Maybe I should just read the book (or attempt to) before formulating an opinion, though, huh?
I feel like there were some really interesting thoughts on the human condition up until the whole cyborg thing. Like instead of fleshing out some potentially insightful perspectives on consciousness and human realization, the writer (according to what is written here) decided to jerk off to some typical sci-fi.
Maybe I should just read the book (or attempt to) before formulating an opinion, though, huh?
hell yes
hell yes
Representations of the Post/Human by Elaine L. Graham also is a great source on this topic!
Representations of the Post/Human by Elaine L. Graham also is a great source on this topic!
Hey Tim,
Yeah, as someone who enjoys studying the avant-garde, I found it particularly cool that she wrote a manifesto.
This is my only experience reading her work — is there another book/essay you would reccomend?
Hey Tim,
Yeah, as someone who enjoys studying the avant-garde, I found it particularly cool that she wrote a manifesto.
This is my only experience reading her work — is there another book/essay you would reccomend?
Thank you Isabella (& Charlie above), for pointing me to Shiva’s text. This sounds like a really interesting argument.
I have been surprised to find that one of the interesting components of posthuman discourse is not only the relationship between humans and machines, but also the relationship between humans and other animals, not to mention humans and the earth. Both of which seem to be at least part of what Shiva wants to engage with here?
At any rate, I will have to hit the library this afternoon and procure this one.
Thank you Isabella (& Charlie above), for pointing me to Shiva’s text. This sounds like a really interesting argument.
I have been surprised to find that one of the interesting components of posthuman discourse is not only the relationship between humans and machines, but also the relationship between humans and other animals, not to mention humans and the earth. Both of which seem to be at least part of what Shiva wants to engage with here?
At any rate, I will have to hit the library this afternoon and procure this one.
Hi Telvin,
I participated in a conversation last Thursday in which Kurzweil’s The Singularity Is Near was brought up. It sounds super fascinating. (I like things that are crazy!) Part of it reminds me of Terence McKenna’s Novelty Theory. Your recommendation here has solidified the necessity for me to get a hold of this text. Thanks!
Hi Telvin,
I participated in a conversation last Thursday in which Kurzweil’s The Singularity Is Near was brought up. It sounds super fascinating. (I like things that are crazy!) Part of it reminds me of Terence McKenna’s Novelty Theory. Your recommendation here has solidified the necessity for me to get a hold of this text. Thanks!
Hi Kevin,
I think you are right when you say that you should read the book before formulating a judgment. I have not done the essay (let alone the whole book) any justice whatsoever in the selections I have presented here. My goal was just to give a taste and maybe put it on the radar of anyone who might be unfamiliar with it. In no way do these few quotes encapsulate the magnitude and nuance of Haraway’s argument. Not only is it considered a seminal text in posthuman studies, it is also considered a seminal text in feminist criticism. It’s pretty cool. You should check it out.
Hi Kevin,
I think you are right when you say that you should read the book before formulating a judgment. I have not done the essay (let alone the whole book) any justice whatsoever in the selections I have presented here. My goal was just to give a taste and maybe put it on the radar of anyone who might be unfamiliar with it. In no way do these few quotes encapsulate the magnitude and nuance of Haraway’s argument. Not only is it considered a seminal text in posthuman studies, it is also considered a seminal text in feminist criticism. It’s pretty cool. You should check it out.
Cool, thank you G. Jackson! I will put this on my list to grab at the library today.
Cool, thank you G. Jackson! I will put this on my list to grab at the library today.
Will do. Thank you!
Will do. Thank you!
def. check out When Species Meet if you find the time, really surprising, delightful book on human-animal encounters and companionship
def. check out When Species Meet if you find the time, really surprising, delightful book on human-animal encounters and companionship
Hey, apologies, I just saw this.
…Um, I mostly read Haraway excerpts and/or articles in Women’s Studies courses and I cannot remember what or which. I have not read a full book of hers ever, that is something I should do.
Hey, apologies, I just saw this.
…Um, I mostly read Haraway excerpts and/or articles in Women’s Studies courses and I cannot remember what or which. I have not read a full book of hers ever, that is something I should do.
MoGa ooh la la, I want your ugly I want your disease
MoGa ooh la la, I want your ugly I want your disease
I also love Vandana Shiva.
I did not know about this argument, I am interested.
I also love Vandana Shiva.
I did not know about this argument, I am interested.
My favorite feminist argument is between Judith Butler and Nancy Fraser re: Fraser’s distinction between activism for redistribution and activism for recognition – (http://ethicalpolitics.org/blackwood/fraser.htm)
My favorite feminist argument is between Judith Butler and Nancy Fraser re: Fraser’s distinction between activism for redistribution and activism for recognition – (http://ethicalpolitics.org/blackwood/fraser.htm)