Information and Communication Technologies People and Interaction Module

Information and Communication Technologies: People and Interaction Module 4: Cyborg Lecture 3 Prepared by: Ms. Haifa’ Qattan

Hopes & Fears (Robots) Hopes Fears Robots will relieve ppl. Of “drudgery” Robots will become highly If robots become more intelligent than us, will they take over? Intelligent robots could b Intelligent robots will c no “saints” who r not subject need 4 humans, and will to destructive emotions simply wipe us out such as jealousy or anger

4. Cyberspace Prepared by: Ms. Haifa’ Qattan

4. 1. Cyberspace Information & communication technologies provide many opportunities for ppl to become cyborgs by acting within virtual environments q Often the users of such systems feel that they r really in the virtual environment, and r no longer consciously in the real world q The term “cyberspace”, coined by the science-fiction writer William Gibson in his futuristic novel “Neuromancer” is often used to describe such a virtual environment q

Figure 1.

4. 2. Virtual Worlds The cyberspaces may b highly visual, but many “cyberspaces” rely heavily on text q One example is a MUD (multi-user dungeon) q Ppl acting in MUDs r cyborgs in that they have their identities “in real life” (IRL in MUD jargon) as well as their virtual identities in the MUD. q Users of MUDs often become engrossed in the cyberspace created by the textual descriptions and interactions q

4. 2. Virtual Worlds (Continued) Other cyberspaces use graphics as well as text. q One such system which provided a graphical world was Habitat, developed by Lucasfilms q Although the graphics were very simple (basically cartoons), Habitat seems to have provided a convincing environment for its participants q Activity (Making Comparisons) q q 2 articles about MUD & Lucasfilms Habitat q Lucasfilms Habitat (with pictures, CD) q Similarities & Differences

4. 3. Virtual Reality q From simple beginnings, cyberspace technologies have advanced to virtual reality (VR) systems q There r virtual environments where the users r meant to feel physically as if they r really there q In immersive systems, users wear special headsets and computerized items of clothing (e. g. data gloves) in order to interact with virtual reality world

Figure 2.

4. 3. Virtual Reality (Continued) q In non-immersive systems, movement and line of sight is controlled using a joystick/mouse etc. q The term “virtual reality” was first used by jaron lanier, who was involved in developing immersive systems in the late 1980 s

4. 3. Virtual Reality (Continued) q Virtual reality has useful applications in the field of medicine q For example, surgeons can trained using VR environments, in order to minimize the need to practice on real patients. q Burns patients can be immersed in ‘cold and snowy” virtual environments to decrease the pain they experience

4. 3. Virtual Reality (Continued) q Psychotherapy is another valuable application, where VR systems can be used to help patients deal with situations which cause them problems (Phobias) q Ralph Lamson Interview-1 (Hear) q Ralph 2 q Ralph 3 q Activity (VR Design) by st.

4. 4. Virtual Communities Communication technology can b used to create “virtual communities” which r more closely related to normal life q These communities allow ppl to interact with each other regardless of physical distance q The internet is a rich source of global communities where ppl share ideas and knowledge in order to help each other, or just to communicate for its own sake q

4. 4. Virtual Communities (Continued) q There r many bulletin boards, maillists, newsgroups. . etc. on a range of different topics q The global nature of the internet has led to suggestions that it could create virtual communities focused on human needs and interests q Activity (The Well) q True Community (parents ideas)

5. Cyberpunk Prepared by: Ms. Haifa’ Qattan

5. 1. Introduction q Cyborgs have become one of the most significant images of our time q and have come to represent both our hopes and fears about the future impact of technology on our lives q i. e. in films, television programs and science fiction writing

5. 1. Introduction (Continued) q Images of robots and monsters have long been present in literature and cinema, providing audiences with disturbing visions of our possible future q However, in the 1980’s a number of film makers and science fiction writers specifically took up the cyborg theme and as a result a new genre developed which became known as cyberpunk

5. 2. Fiction q It’s commonly accepted that the word ‘cyberpunk’, was first used in a Bruce Bethke story called “Cyberpunk” q Certainly the word rapidly became ubiquitous when an article in the Washington Post dated 30 Dec 1984, used the word to describe the work of several writers, William Gibson. . etc

5. 2. Fiction (Continued) The cyberpunk SF (Science Fiction) first populated, when William Gibson’s Neuromancer was published to considerable popular and critical success q But seeds of its development were actually planted several years earlier when Gibson and other writers later associated with cyberpunk began publishing stories and novels that had a different edge from other SF works dealing with similar issues q

5. 2. Fiction (Continued) q The cyberpunks were the first generation of artists for whom the technologies of satellite dishes, video and audio players and recorders, computers and video games q They were also the first generation of writers. . Who had grown up immersed in technology but also in pop culture q Activity (Cyberpunk Fiction) q Which of these styles did you prefer reading, and why?

5. 3. Films q Some of the most famous cyborgs in cinema r to b found in the Robocop, Terminator and Bladerunner films of the 1980 s q Activity (Film Review)

6. Cyborg Identity Prepared by: Ms. Haifa’ Qattan

6. 1. Introduction q There r many actual cyborgs among us in society q Anyone with an artificial organ, limb, anyone programmed to resist disease or drugged to think/behave/feel better (psychopharmacology) is technically cyborg q Cyborg Quiz

Figure 3.

6. 2. Digital Effigies Digital identity b seen as a collection of data about a person q Such as their National Insurance number, credit card details or their medical records q We have all become cyborgs who leave a trail of digital data as we go about our daily lives, via financial transactions, phone and email conversations, etc. linked through networked computer systems q Activity (Exploring your digital effigy) q q By st

6. 3. Virtual Identities In the physical world, the body provides a convenient definition of identity q The virtual world is different, it is composed of information rather than matter q The virtual world’s subcultures have developed their own codes and linguistic patterns that identify affiliated participants q And ppl have found ways to control the degree of personal identity they wish to expose online q

6. 3. Virtual Identities (Continued) q Communication systems such as First. Class, use fewer sensory cues than face-to-face communication q In a system like this your identity conveyed without visual, audio or other input q U may have relied on different ways to convey emotions and subtleties of meaning e. g. using emotions

6. 4. Biotechnology & Identity The concept of cyborg identity and the digitization of the body has become increasingly relevant as new advances in medical technologies rely on digital information to diagnose and treat q As medicine becomes increasingly technical, the relationship bet. Medical practitioners and patients is often mediated by tech. – for instance by X-ray or ultrasound scanning devices, or laser-optics q

Figure 4.

6. 4. Biotechnology & Identity (Continued) q The patient is replaced by an image on a screen q To the medical professionals the patient becomes a cyborg: q An image, or a collection of data in a database q The body becomes merely a site for medical intervention and procedures q Body modifications q Activity (Cyborg lives & death)

7. Views Prepared by: Ms. Haifa’ Qattan

7. 1. Views q Different ppl. Look at tech. in different ways: q Some c tech. as a driving force itself propelled by scientific discoveries q Others c tech. as the product of social institutions & therefore emerging from social activities. q Some c tech. as part of a haphazard evolution

Figure 5.

7. 1. Views (Continued) Some text about tech. adopt the view that tech. is said to b “socially constructed” q Others c tech. as being driven by scientific discoveries & our own development shaped by that technology. q Our activities are then said to b “technology determined” q These differences in ideologies lead ppl. to c tech. & its connection w ppl. In quite different ways. q But in both cases there is often a sense that tech. and society r different entities q

7. 1. Views (Continued) q For some, humanity & tech r distinct q For others, tech. and ppl. can b described in similar terms q When humans & machines r described using a similar vocabulary, it becomes inevitable that discussions about both merge q Thus tech. & ppl. r brought together, not only through a mechanical construction, but in the ways we talk & write about them

7. 1. Views (Continued) q The cyborg then is formed through our descriptions & explanations of things q & as a result we begin to c the world in different ways- populated w cyborgs q We talk & write the cyborg into existence as well as engineering it

7. 1. Views (Continued) Instead of dealing w. an agglomeration like society or tech, the cyborg brings a focus to the intimate connections between individual technological objects and individual ppl, and thus those things that define the self. q Topics like bodies, gender and genetics become pre-eminent and straddle the old divide between ppl. & machines, so development tech. become inseparable from shifts in perception of ourselves and our individuality q

7. 1. Views (Continued) q The cyborg perspective offers not only an assertion that human affairs r integral w. tech. but also asserts that ppl. –individuals- r an integral part of any technological sys. q C the bulletin board (when we interact to tech we r also interacting w other, individual ppl. )

7. 2. Bodies q The merging of tech. & the human erodes the boundaries of the body q R medical implants or limb replacements to b treated as part of the body? q R telephones & TVs extensions of the bodies capabilities? q In the scientific community, the tendency has been towards describing our bodies as machines or a collection of subsystems

7. 2. Bodies (Continued) It’s then unexceptional when other machine - like subsystems r plugged into replace inoperative or unperforming parts q The transformation is liable to b treated as a part of routine maintenance & not the source of conflict bet. a body & an alien tech. q The body & the tech. become indistinguishable & it might b said that the body becomes tech. determined, or at least shaped by technicians such as surgeons & dieticians q

7. 2. Bodies (Continued) q There’s a spectrum with no clear point of transition that at one end extends to the wholesale replacement of body parts by machines q and begins with the unexceptional such as q q planned diets, body shaping workouts body piercing jewelry tattoos

7. 2. Bodies (Continued) q Several authors have asked “how far can this b taken? ” q If parts of the body can b replaced by technological components, at what point does it cease to b a body or at least the body of a person? q Asimov’s answer was that the brain was the seat of individuality

7. 2. Bodies (Continued) q But other ppl. Have suggested that machines can improve upon the brain’s function and that the brain’s content can b downloaded into a computer and even transmitted over communication links q Individuality is then a property of a “body of data” q Hear Clip 1, 2

7. 2. Bodies (Continued) q Activity (Bodies & Cyborgs) choose quotations that reveal Jeff, the character in the novel, as a cyborg. Then find quotations that illustrate either dualism or monism. q Activity (Bodies & Machines) use the notes to describe the following words (social construction of the body, dualism…etc)

7. 3. Gender Issues q Biological determinism, a close cousin of technological determinism, encourages us to view gender as sth linked 2 body form & content q Social constructivism, on the other hand, would present gender as sth associated w social actions, & hence w roles & jobs q From the cyborg perspective, both tech & the body can shape gender, or gender can label bodies

7. 3. Gender Issues (Continued) & just as the cyborg shows that the differences bet. Ppl. & machines r not as clear-cut as they r sometimes supposed q So there’s the possibility that gender distinctions might not b as indisputable as it is often assumed q Activity (Gender & Tech) q q Write about 150 words that identifies the research report and summarizes its findings and conclusions. Add ur own brief conclusion

7. 4. Genetic q. A human being, like any other object, is defined by its structure- it’s pattern q The pattern of a man, if still more the pattern which specifies a man’s mind is incredibly complex q Yet nature was able to pack that pattern into a tiny cell, too small for the eye to c

7. 4. Genetic (Continued) Human have interfered w. their biological heritage since they appeared on earth q Stone tools, agriculture & private property all had an effect on society & in turn on genes q Many ppl r concerned that the next phase of history will b 1 in which genetics makes plans for the future… inadvertent change… will b far more important than is any conscious attempt to engineer our biology q

7. 4. Genetic (Continued) The nucleus of a living cell is a storehouse of information q It’s sth more remarkable: a self-activating transmitter which passes on very precise msgs that direct the construction of identical new cells contained in the tiny cell nucleus q There’s no fundamental absolute line bet. The type of transmission which we use for sending a telegram and the types of transmission that r theoretically possible for a living organism such as a human being q

7. 4. Genetic (Continued) Genetics is a topic that has heavily exploited metaphors from information tech. q The genes r linked to programs & gr 8 leaps of imagination r not needed to suggest that genes might b engineered q It’s in genetics where the merging of the engineered machine and biology brings together the technological and the ethical and calls out for a new perspective, which the vision of the cyborg might provide. q Activity (Genetics) by st q