Roger Clarke's 'Realities of Cyborgisation'

Realities of Cyborgisation

Abstract of 9 August 2005

Prepared for a seminar in the Murdoch University School of Media Communication and Culture, 17 August 2005

Available under an AEShareNet licence or a Creative Commons licence.

This document is at http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/SOS/Cyborg0508.html

The accompanying slide-set is at http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/SOS/Cyborg0508.ppt (Warning: 3MB!!)

The term 'cyborg' was coined by a clinical psychologist and a physiologist, and the context was humans working in extra-terrestrial environments. But the concept was quickly expropriated by artists and humanities academics, who were less concerned with instrumentalism and feasibility, and more with entertainment and interpretation.

This presentation considers the realities of hybridisation between humans and artefacts. It focusses on concrete instances of technology, but then casts a sideways glance at some parallel technological developments, and some speculations. This provides a basis for a discussion of impacts and implications of the cyborgisation of homo sapiens.

The presentation draws on three papers that were drafted in response to an invitation to present at the Ars Electronica Symposium on 'Hybridity' in Linz, Austria on 2 September 2005:

Hybridity - Elements of a Theory' (April 2005)
'Human-Artefact Hybridisation: Forms and Consequences' (various versions, original draft of May 2005)
'Human-Artefact Hybridisation and the Digital Persona' (April 2005)

Author Affiliations

Roger Clarke is Principal of Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd, Canberra. He is also a Visiting Professor in the Baker & McKenzie Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre at the University of N.S.W., a Visiting Professor in the E-Commerce Programme at the University of Hong Kong, and a Visiting Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the Australian National University.

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These community service pages are a joint offering of the Australian National University (which provides the infrastructure), and Roger Clarke (who provides the content).

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Created: 9 August 2005 - Last Amended: 9 August 2005 by Roger Clarke - Site Last Verified: 15 February 2005
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