cyborgs (january 11, 2010)
DESCRIPTION
sample lecture from Intro to Digital MediaTRANSCRIPT
CYBORGSCYBORGS
January 12, 2010January 12, 2010
Goals (week 1)
• prehistories of cyber- ideas• technology/identity relationship• intersections with
culture/politics• concept of anti-essentialism
cyberneticscybernetics
communication + control systems
computercomputer
ENIAC [Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer] was the first general-purpose electronic computer... capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems... ENIAC was designed to calculate artillery firing tables for the U.S. Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory... announced in 1946 it was heralded in the press as a "Giant Brain.” [Wikipedia]
the antiaircraft gun is not an isolated mechanism.... The gun pointer is a human element.... The actual fire control is a system involving human beings and machines at the same time. It must be reduced, from an engineering point of view, to a single structure, which means either a human interpretation of the machine, or a mechanical interpretation of the operator, or both. (67-68)
cybernetic concepts
• homeostasis through feedback
cybernetic concepts
• homeostasis through feedback
• control and communication
cybernetic concepts
• homeostasis through feedback
• control + communication
• Interactivity + integrated systems
implications of cybernetics
• cyber- = to steer (Greek)
implications of cybernetics
• cyber- = to steer (Greek)
• human/organic no longer distinct
implications of cybernetics
• cyber- = to steer (Greek)
• human/organic no longer distinct
• “the integration between the gadget and human beings in society”
cyborgcyborg
cybernetic organism
postmodernismpostmodernism
from Alexandre Syrota on flickr
third-wave feminismthird-wave feminism
from tomswift46 on flickr
Are YOU a cyborg?Are YOU a cyborg?
when/where/how?