my webliography

Question 2:
'The machine/organism relationships are obsolete, unncessary' writes Haraway. In what ways have our relations to machines been theorised?

1.Ash, Molten . " Was Michael Jackson a Cyborg? - Volconvo Debate Forums." Volconvo Debate Forums: Debating political, religious, and news-based topics. N.p., 14 July 2009. Web. 11 Mar. 2011. http://www.volconvo.com/forums/general-discussion/27319-michael-jackson-cyborg.html.

Since Michael Jackson crossed the fundamental identity boundaries, the writer question that was he a Cyborg? According to the writer of the website, he thinks that there are four fundamental identity boundaries: sexual orientation, race, gender and age. And he argues that the definition of Cyborg is not only the mixture of human and machine. It also symbolizes any types of boundary crossing activities on human body.

“In the court of public opinion, of Jackson we ask such questions as: Was he asexual, homosexual, heterosexual or perverted? Was he a black boy who became a white man, or not? Was he a transsexual white woman trapped by conventional mores within a black man’s body, or not? Was he a Peter Pan obsessive who refused to fully commit to adulthood?” Apart from the writer’s questions, we all knew that Jackson were under lots of plastic surgeries. His body parts are artificial things. If we argue that Cyborg is artificial, it is confusing that can we define people, like Michael Jackson, as a Cyborg? To the writer, he agrees that Michael Jackson is a Cyborg as the phenomenon of him is a testament to the plasticity of the human identity.

2.Dallas. "Cyborg Learning Theory and the blurring of boundaries… » greenbananablog.org." Greenbananablog.org. N.p., 9 Nov. 2008. Web. 11 Mar. 2011. http://greenbananablog.org/2008/11/cyborg-learning-theory-and-the-blurring-of-boundaries/.
The writers think that we all live in a new generation, and we see technology as an extension of human identity. Therefore, Cyborg is not only a technology which affect our daily life. If we applied Cyborg theory into human identity, technology actually becomes part of the human expression itself. Since Cyborg theory is applied in to human life, the boundary between man and machine is being blurred by the technological revolution and becomes irrelevant in the view of Cyborg culture.
He thinks that we all live in a world where boundaries are blurred. Therefore, Cyborg culture impacts our living. The key factor of this situation is that we live in a technological society. It means that the virtual world may confuse our identity towards human as the Internet brings information to us that are no longer fixed by time and space. And he uses the findings of a New York author to demonstrate his arguments. He argues that the world is flat nowadays as we are living in Web 2.0 (Social networking with software as the intersect). From this, we may notify that the interaction between human to machine is not unilateral anymore.

3.Dumit, Joseph. "What is Cyborg Anthropology? - Cyborg Anthropology." Cyborg Anthropology. N.p., 24 Jan. 2011. Web. 11 Mar. 2011. http://cyborganthropology.com/What_is_Cyborg_Anthropology%3F.

According to the writer of the website, he supports the idea of Haraway that we are all cyborgs now. Cyborg is shorthand for “cybernethic organism”. At the beginning, the word, cyborg, is a symbiotic fusion of human and machine. But, the situation is changed nowadays, the boundary between human and machine is blurring. And the writer explained it in two aspects, medicine and science. For the medicial aspect, he thinks that there are new technologies, from genetic tests to brain imaging, and new therapeutics from antidepressants. All of these technologies provide a new living style for human.

On the other hand, he also thinks that science changed human daily life a lots. He uses an example that women rely on technologies under the reproductive process. They cannot give birth without the assistance of prenatal testing, hospitals, electronic fetal monitoring and drugs, because people think it is unsafe. The mothers and children whose lives are structured and whose bodies and development are altered by birth technologies can be fruitfully analyzed as Cyborgs who demonstrate the full range of ambiguity and possibility that concept encompasses. From these two cases, we notify that the interaction between human and machine is increasing.

4.Meyer , Chuck. "Human Identity in the Age of Computers - Cyborg Identity." Fragments weblog. N.p., 20 Apr. 1997. Web. 11 Mar. 2011. http://fragment.nl/mirror/Meyer/CyborgIdentity.htm.

The writer thinks what Haraway mentioned is related to the aspect of constructed identity. He finds that the boundary between human and machines does not exit because of Cyborg identity. Cyborgs define themselves by what they are not. But, there are basis in oppositional identity, a term coined by Chela Sondoval. Usually, people are divided into various categories, including race, sex, and class. And people called these elements as "natural". For Cyborgs, they define themselves as oppositional identity as it is suitable for those who do not fit into any "natural" categories. Because of constructed identity, she sees such categorization as inherently limiting and forced.
Cyborg personal and social identity manifests itself not in blood and their appearance. They are creatures between man and animal, animal and machine, physical and non-physical. The writer supports Haraway ideas that “the Cyborg as taking pleasure in the confusion of these boundaries, because it is the product of such confusion.” Cyborgs are crossing the boarders of communication technologies and biotechnologies. Therefore, we cannot claim we are completely human. For example, if we wear contact lenses in our daily life, we may define as a Cyborg as contact lenses are the artificial items.

5.Page, Jeremy S. . "Cyborgs and Robots: A Logically Ordered Existence? - Student Pulse." Academic Articles. Online Academic Journal - Student Pulse. N.p., 10 Dec. 2010. Web. 11 Mar. 2011. http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/340/cyborgs-and-robots-a-logically-ordered-existence.

Science Fiction has a long history of exploring the borders of what it means to be 'human'. In the past, the technologies of creating Cyborgs did not develop very much. Their appearances are different from human. People can easy identify them. However, the technologies are well developed nowadays. The outlooks of Cyborgs are similar with human. It seems that the boundary between human and Cyborgs does not exist anymore if we just focus on the appearances.

In fact, most people argue that Cyborgs did not have their own thinking. And human try to distinguish themselves apart from Cyborgs by this point. But Page argues that “if we assume that the human 'soul' cannot be replicated, this may explain how a Cyborg can be 'downloaded' into a new form, essentially creating a new individual.” Although Cyborg is an artificial or simulated item, the “memory or thinking can be 'downloaded' into a new form. On the other hand, he uses an example of the creatures of 'Daleks' of Dr Who and the artificially intelligent android's of Beckett's Genesis challenge traditional ideas of existence and the boundaries of 'being alive. Therefore, it is hard for us to determine can Cyborg described as an individual.