Monsters inc. - amy's webliography

“From Frankenstein to the Visible Human Project, the body is continually reinterpreted as a limit to what it means to be human.” Discuss critically.


Catherine Waldby’s article[1] makes vital reading for exploring this topic and it is in her utopian rather than an apocalyptic vein, that I have approached this question. This is contrary to many popular interpretations of Frankenstein and other “mythic creation stories”[2]. Throughout her discussion, Waldby clearly juxtaposes Frankenstein alongside other important works of fiction and non-fiction concerned with the body and technology and in doing so her essay made an important starting point for my research. However, because this is a webliography I will premise my discussion with a brief look at her text before widening my discussion to texts which are available electronically.

Waldby’s article brings together the central themes of the often cited text Frankenstein with contemporary ethical and intellectual debate surrounding the issues of humans and technology. She draws on Donna Haraway’s[3] image of the cyborg and Margaret Shildrick’s[4] image of the monster suggesting that as the categories of human, animal and machine blur through technological innovation this is a “a valued moment of transformation”. Seen in this context, she argues, the moral dilemma in the Frankenstein story, the monster turning on his master, is redefined. It is no longer an issue about the monster retuning to an organic state or nature versus technology but about the monster or alternatively the cyborg’s place in the world. Waldby’s article instigated my search within online journals and search engines for different combinations of the terms, human, machine, categories, the body, cyborg, Frankenstein, Posthuman, monster, Visible Human Project and for references to Donna Haraway.

It was partly through reading Katherine Hayles [5] presentation, which I discovered online while searching for articles about the distinction between the categories of human and machine, that I came to the thesis that while texts such as Frankenstein and The Visible Human Project have been portrayed as explorations of humanity and the limitations of the body, what is more prevalent is that our subjectivity or conventional perceptions and ideas about the body are at stake. In Hayles presentation she discusses the demise of liberal subjectivity in terms of the uneasy relationship between liberal humanism, self-regulating machinery, possessive individualism and the cyborg. In her discussion Hayles explores the contradictions in Norbert Weiner’s, “the father of cybernetics”, work, the contradiction being between the potential of cybernetics to transcend the barriers between human and machine and the notion of the self-regulating, autonomous liberal human. Her discussion is easy to follow and thorough in her analysis of the advent of technology and the subsequent dilemmas this has posed to our concept of humanity. I would use the article to establish the premise of my argument that texts such as Frankenstein and The Visible Human Project propose more than moral or scientific arguments about humanity.


After familiarizing myself with different ideas about liberal humanism it seemed necessary to pursue the posthuman discourse. In Hari Kunzru’s article[6] this trajectory is mirrored in his discussion of the cyborg from its early history to its contemporary form. He argues that despite its apparently uncomplicated and largely scientific origins, the cyborg body – “an irresolvable paradox” over the boundaries and limitations of the body- has become highly politicized. A crucial point in his argument is that this political contention is not unprecedented. Kunzru draws a link between contemporary debate surrounding the cyborg with scientific dissection during the Renaissance when “pictorial allegories … used to justify the practice of anatomy,…presented an identical problem of bodily integrity”. This links well with arguments also made by Thacker. What his article highlighted for me in particular was the important contribution Donna Haraway’s cyborg has made to the new and enlightened understanding of the relationship between the body and technology. The cyborg he argues “forces us to situate thought in the body, and in turn to situate bodies in networks which contain elements of biology, politics, desire and technology…allowing us to think what would otherwise be unthinkable”. Having come a long way from its original conception as an engineering or scientific feat which would allow the body to “transcend physical limitations”, Kunru argues that Haraway’s cyborg “operates by transgressing the regimes of signification which deny links between bodies, power and technoscience”.

The Visible Human Project seemed the obvious next focus for my research. Eugene Thacker [7] approaches The Visible Human Project from a medical and scientific perspective which made it very accessible. Thacker links The Visible Human Project to Western science’s historical approach to the study and organization of the human body highlighting the similarities between historical and contemporary debate about the production of anatomical references. At the same time, the article also provides an insightful analysis of the ethical and philosophical debate surrounding the Project in terms of the arguments posed in Georges Bataille’s text, 'The Impossible'. Perhaps its one downfall is the lack of social context given about The Visible Human Project which Waldby[8] offers. Thacker uses Bataille’s concept of the body’s ‘extreme limit of the possible’, in his analysis suggesting the challenge this poses to historical anatomical and medical practices “truths” about the body. In doing so he proposes the potential for a new framework for understanding the body.


In her essay about Seiko Mikami's interactive installation "World, Membrane and the Dismembered Body", Sabu Kohso [9] provides an insightful analysis of the body and how it responds to changed sensory experiences. I liked this article for its practical dimension, a real example of technology and the body at play. According to Kohso, in this installation the body’s visual and acoustic perceptions are thrown into disarray in an anechoic (echoless) chamber. The notion of Donna Haraway’s cyborg which blurred the boundaries of nature and technology and human and machine, is integral to Mikami’s installation and presented clearly in Kohso’s discussion where she argues “neither the body nor the device nor the environment—is the main objective to be experienced...Rather, it produces and reveals the mechanisms of representation itself—how the representing subject and the perceiving subject are part of the techno-cultural productive machine”.


Verena Kuni’s article[10] examines old and new “mythologies” about the “artificial human” in terms of contemporary art and our current game culture. Her article draws on Haraway’s 'Cyborg Manifesto' to explore the contemporary manifestations of the cyborg. By contrasting recent examples of images in contemporary art which draw on posthuman or cyborg themes, such as Tina Porta’s Future Body and Stelarc’s Ping Body with images typical of the 1990s such as Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft, Orlan’s Gendernauts and the Japanese “virtual pop starlet” Kyoko Date, she shows how these earlier images tended to be projections of conventional perceptions of the human body into virtual space. She argues that with the advent of new technologies as well as developments in the “means of communication through media” the works of artists such as Porta and Stelarc for example have challenged the boundaries of self-creation and created a whole new range of possibilities for “monsters” in “virtual space”. What was particularly interesting about this article was the way it seemed that only recent technologies have enabled theoretical notions of the cyborg or cybernetics as transgressing gender and other subjective boundaries to proliferate.

The broad range of theoretical and interactive articles chosen here was deliberate. The explorations of Waldby, Hayles and Kunru provide a framework to explore the contemporary images presented in Kohso and Kuni’s discussions. Using these texts I would argue that the notion of subjectivity and the body is integral to Frankenstein and The Visible Human Project. At the same time the use of digital technologies is a necessary part of any discussion of this kind.


[1] Catherine Waldby, Zoe Sofoulis, 'The instruments of life : Frankenstein and cyberculture; Cyberquake : Haraway's manifesto', In: Prefiguring cyberculture : an intellectual history [2002].

[2] Ingrid Hoof’s 'Cyborg Manifesto 2.0' provides further discussion of “dystopian” and “utopian” discourses, http://www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/theory/hoofd/discussi/dystopia.html, accessed 23/8/2006.


[3] Donna Haraway, 'A Manifesto for cyborgs : science, technology and socialist feminism in the 1980s' In: The Haraway reader [2004].

[4] Margrit Shildrick, 'Posthumanism and the Monstrous Body', Body and Society, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 1-15, March 1996.

[5] Katherine Hayles, Presentation for the Penn State Conference on Rhetoric and Composition, July 6-9 1997 'Prosthetic Rhetoric and the Posthuman Body' Liberal Subjectivity Imperiled: Norbert Wiener and Cybernetic Anxiety http://www.english.ucla.edu/faculty/hayles/Wiener.htm, accessed 20/8/2006.

[6] Hari Kunzru, 'futurism: cyborgs' http://www.harikunzru.com/hari/cyborg.htm [1997] accessed, 25/8/2006.

[7] Eugene Thacker, 'Lacerations : the visible human project, impossible anatomies, and the loss of corporeal comprehension' http://culturemachine.tees.ac.uk/Cmach/Backissues/j003/Articles/Thacker/Impossible.htm, accessed 20/8/2006.

[8] Catherine Waldby, 'The visible human project : an initial history' In: The visible human project : informatic bodies and posthuman medicine [2000]

[9] Sabu Kohso, 'On Seiko Mikami's "World, Membrane and the Dismembered Body"',
http://framework.v2.nl/archive/archive/node/text/default.xslt/nodenr-128166 [1998] accessed 23/8/2006.

[10] Verena Kuni, 'Mythical Bodies II Cyborg configurations as formations of (self-)creation in the imagination space of technological (re)production (II): The promises of monsters and posthuman anthropomorphisms'
http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/themes/cyborg_bodies/mythical_bodies_II/1/, accessed 23/8/2006

Visions of the future: Vision and spectacle in technological progress

Technology has become ubiquitous within modern society. It, and its products, are everywhere. However, technology, though ubiquitous, is far from invisible. Technology is used in the production of spectacle, from art, to special effects, to sport. Technological products have begun to form the basis for trends in fashion and design. Yet at the same time, the technology that lies behind the production of visions and consumer goods remains largely invisible, and is becoming increasingly more so. In this essay, I shall attempt to show that, while technology is used to produce spectacle, the technology itself, and the power structures it represents and maintains, is increasingly sheeding its visibility and moving from the level of the macro- to the micro-scopic.

Fast Company. “Creating A Spectacle” Fast Company .com (June 2003) http://www.fastcompany.com/fast50_04/winners/aarts.html (Accessed: 19 August, 2006)
As one of the larger consumer electronics producers, Phillips has a guiding role in the future place of technology, particularly within the domestic sphere. As such, the Fast Company article provides an interesting and useful insight into the perception of technology by those who ostensibly have control over the production and design of it. Moreover, the article serves to confirm the thesis as presented in the introduction: that the products of technology are becoming increasingly, ubiquitously, visual, while at the same time, the technology itself is becoming increasingly less so.

Miah, Andy. “Be Very Afraid: Cyborg Athletes, Transhuman Ideals & Posthumanity.” Journal Of Evolution & Technology, Vol. 13 (October 2003) http://www.jetpress.org/volume13/miah.html (Accessed: 21 August, 2006)
Elite-level sport is a high-visibility arena. Miah’s article, then, with its assertion that “the degree of sophistication that sports equipment describes, alludes to technology that will become indistinguishable from the athlete’s body,” provides a more subtle basis for an argument for the naturalised invisibility of spectacular technology. Miah’s arguments allow a link between human identity and sport, between sport and technology, and thus (though Miah himself does not seem to pick up on it) between technology and both spectacle and naturalisation.

Aghajanian, Arthur. “Seduction by Any Means Necessary (?)” The Journal Of New Media & Culture, Vol. 1 (July 2002) http://www.ibiblio.org/nmediac/summer2002/seduction.html (Accessed: 15 August, 2006)
Similar to sport, art can be highly visual in nature. The role that technology plays in both the production and performance of art can thus be used to provide insight into the nature of both. While Aghajanian’s article is focussed primarily on the art that is produced, it also serves as an outline of the manner in which technology, while remaining largely un-noticed, can produce spectacle. What is particularly interesting about Aghajanian’s article is that he appears to use Baudrillard’s ideas of seduction and the hyper-real in an apparently contradictory manner: according to Aghajanian, technology, which is almost always a creature of the hyper-real, can function by seduction, something the hyper-real cannot. This might allow Baudrillard’s ideas to be exploited in the essay more fully, in that technology’s spectacular products may be simulacra, but the quest for invisible technology represents a form of seduction.

Wikipedia Nanotechnology (August 2006) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanotechnology (Accessed: 27 August, 2006)
While Wikipedia is often maligned as a reference source, and while the article itself is flagged as being questionable in some of the assertions that it makes, it provides a reasonable introduction to the field of nanotechnology: the science of the invisible small. More than this, however, the article also provides a number of summaries of possible roles for technology arising from investigation of the (practically) invisible. The use of the article, then, is that it demonstrates that there are practical reasons and uses for objects invisible to the naked eye, that find immense use in visible technological phenomena.

Regis, Ed. “The Incredible Shrinking Man” Wired 12.10 (October 2004) http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/drexler.html (Accessed: 27 August, 2006)
From a more reputable source than the Wikipedia article, but confirming many of the same themes, the article from Wired has a two-fold function. Firstly, it demonstrates some of the spectacular nature of the production and inspiration of technology: the argument between Drexler and Smalley was public, fiery, and controversial. Secondly, the article deals briefly with the ‘grey goo’ fear, which is of note for the essay as a whole, because it is a fear that operates on a colour-centred, macroscopic level, despite the fact that it is theoretically dealing with largely invisible processes.

Waldby, Catherine. Revenants: The Visible Human Project and the Digital Uncanny (August 1996) http://wwwmcc.murdoch.edu.au/ReadingRoom/VID/Uncanny.html (Accessed: 22 August 2006)
A discussion inspired by Waldby’s work would perhaps not be complete without a reference to her work, however this article does not fit fantastically with the over-arcing theme of the essay. What Waldby’s work is useful for, in this context, is as a commentary on, and a further demonstration of the way in which technology becomes capable of generating spectacle, and in modifying the visuality of the previously invisible. The Visible Human Project is, perhaps, one of the most clear-cut demonstrations of the way in which technology can be used in the creation of visual data. Moreover, this earlier article is much less concerned with contingent, or accidental facts (such as the first body suitable for the Visible Human Project being male), as a grounds for judgements than some of her later work.

Technology, or the modern scientific paradigm from which it develops, is moving towards the invisible in a quest to minimise energy expenditure, increase efficiency, and maximise flexibility. The design of technological products is also moving towards an inobtrusiveness, and a desire to not intrude on, or offend, conventional sensibilities. But at the same time, technology is increasingly becoming spectacular, in the sense that, while the technology itself is invisible, the results of the utilisation of that technology are becoming incorporated into highly visible and spectacular arenas of society. In a sense, the invisibility of technology is making it increasingly seductive, while at the same time the products of technology are proliferating endlessly.

Webliographitus

Hi all,
Just wanted to clarify the requirements for your first assignment, the webliography.
Because this is a webliography, all components of the bibliography must be available online. This means that they should have a url that you can directly link to when you put your webliography on this weblog. This means that conventional academic journal articles that you access through JSTOR or Supersearch can generally NOT be used, because the user has to go through a process of authentification through the library. Don’t dismay, however, as there are many online academic journals, and e-books as well. The Faculty of Arts even has 2! Limina, and Outskirts (in which Tama published his paper on the Borg in Star Trek).
The point is for you to be research savvy online, and also to make that research accessible to everyone else reading the blog.
So, think about the forum in which you’re writing (a publicly available blog, and as an item for assessment), as well as the unit outcomes being assessed, namely:
Develop and expand critical research skills through a deepened understanding and familiarity with both online sources and conventional print sources Express research findings and ideas logically, coherently and convincingly in both oral and written forms, the latter in both print and digital formats Develop a critical, annotated Webliography. And don’t forget that you get to comment on 2 people’s Webliogs, and yours may well be commented on too – so make it engaging!
All the best!
Alison

Query, query, non-compulsory query

I know it's included as a part of the final compulsory post, and we've supposedly covered it in the first tute, but there's a question that's bugging me at the moment: am I a cyborg? The problem I have is that, while it seems pretty straightforward a question, I'm not sure it makes all that much sense.

If we stick with Haraway's conception of the cyborg as some kind of liminal, boundary-transcending, chimeric, hybrid thing, then the cyborg doesn't actually have any identity. What I mean by this is that, if asked what a cyborg is, it's actually impossible to give any kind of definitional answer. It is possible to provide an almost infinitely long list of what a cyborg isn't, but that doesn't really tell you very much at all. The cyborg doesn't seem to fit well with a concept of self-identity, or a 'you.' Thus a question like "are you a cyborg?" seems to have a distinctly contradictory nature.

It could work on a different level as well. Even if you don't take the boundary transgression stuff to heart, and just work with a machine-human hybrid, then I'm curious about digital identity. In theory, the internet can allow you to re-create yourself in any identity that you want. But if you do that, then are you a cyborg? And if you do it more than once, or with different people, which of the 'you' that you present is a cyborg? Again, if a cyborg can consist of a multiplicity of identities, does a question like "are you a cyborg?" make sense? (Also, rephrasing it as "are we cyborg?" sounds pretty cool :P)

Any thoughts?

Anyway, it's early (I'm posting this well after I wrote it), and cold, and I am full of coffee, and have a custard donut and a stack of CDs to do something with. See people this afternoon.

Wired Self III Lecture Links

Hello Self.Netizens. As I promised, I've put up a blog post with all the links I mentioned in today's lecture here: The Wired Self III: The Wired Everyday - Weblogs. There may be other posts of use/interest (or perhaps procrastination value) in my blog as well, so feel free to explore.

Happy blogging!

Farming is a far cry from blogging

Hi all!

I've been meaning to get on the blogging "bandwagon" for ages so i'm glad i've been forced to. One of my fave websites is futurefarmers.com. If you're anything like me ie. loves to procrastinate- you could be mesmerised for hours.

love Amy

all I heard was Elephant Tiglon Hippogriff Unicorn Ants

Well, I suppose the honour of first post by a student goes to me. And of course I'm incredibly honoured that UWA timetabling left me free at 1 on a Monday. Anyone who wants to can check out my personal blog here. There's another reason for linking here, of course, and that's a discussion I tried to start here about what constitutes hard and soft sci-fi. Which may or may not be interesting to you.

Anyway, back to the actual point, I have a lot of favourite websites, but today I think I'll give comical links to XKCD and Dinosaur Comics

welcome

This is the weblog for the Thursday 3pm tutorial for the UWA 2006 unit Self.net: identity in the digital age. If you're not doing the weblog workshop in the Mac Studio ensure you pick up a copy of the Blogging Guide anyway as it has listed all the required posts you need to make during this semester. It's available on WebCT or in the English corridor of the Arts building.
happy posting,
Alison