Unconditional Love 2.0: Cyberpets v. Real Thing
Cartier, a keeper for his golden retriever Dublin and so the three virtual Tama, writes to introspect the kinship among human and cyber pet. The article mentions that users nowadays are generous to their virtual pets with money. “I do not mind spending money,” one of the interviewees Kim May claims, “it’s pleasurable for me to come home and take care of animals that you can turn off and go to bed when you’re done with”.
Nevertheless, Professor Sherry Turkle proposes that this may replace the inter-personal relationship. She points out that this virtual relationship is taken root because of these pets are asking for people’s care. Interestingly, human will re-sponse to their request in nature as though they have attended their consciousness. What is more, human even wants them to requisite with care, “there’s an expec-tation of reciprocity that’s very deep in our consciousness”. In addition, although keeping virtual pets look seemingly perfect, Turkle theorizes that they could not have substituted for living creatures on account of real pets contain peculiarities, such as Dublin pees when other dogs scare her. Their exclusive subjectivity makes Cartier in agreement with the irreplaceable human-animal companionship.
The Future of Cyber-Sex and Relationship Fidelity: Cyborg Theory
Dr. Maheu purports that Cyborg theory has played an influential role in con-structing the future of cyber sexuality and relationship fidelity. The so-called cy-borg is a human-machine system which does breakdown the universal dualisms such as Organism/Mechanism. For examples, a cardiac pacemaker a man survives with or a computer-generated voice embedded in Cosmologist Stephan Hawkings who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
With regard to his contention, Dr. Maheu cites a case of Rebecca as proof which is extracted in Robin Hamman’s study. Rebecca who satisfies her sexual arousal through online chat rooms becomes a cyborg. It is for the reason that she feels comparatively moral and safe to have sex in a virtual world rather a real world. People start feeling doubtful about relationships reliability makes the writer wonders if human will live indivisible from the advanced technologies.
In response to this question, Dr. Maheu concludes that technology is encouraging people to squarely face the changed humanity at the present time as well as technology is requiring new responses to old vibrancies. Besides, he is hopeful that people can expand themselves to engage in meaningful relationships in an artificial world where the line between human and machinery is hazed.
Should there be a limit placed on the integration of humans and computers and electronic technology?
Mizrach argues that “there will have to be restrictions on the integration of the human and the computer”. Given that today advanced technology, there are ab-undant debates over biotechnology, for instance the Cyborg phenomenon. On one hand, cyborg is endorsed for the reason that it brings human race benefits. It increases information-processing power, avoids perishing under irreversible global changes, helps display the fluidness, hybridization, and boundary-transgression of postmodern identities and saves human race from itself. However, on the other hand, bioelectronics may bring negative social consequences into existence: splits human race along the lines of biological haves and have-nots, gives ability to control and monitor people, endangers human health and safety as well as takes over humanity.
The present time is in line with what scientists have put forth, “once a technology is out there, you cannot make it go away”. Having been deliberated upon the merits and demerits of biotechnology, the writer concludes that a new cyborg bioethics will possibly be needed. Merely, it is even more necessary for scientists and engineers having consciousness of social responsibility for developing bio-electronics technologies. Likewise, it is significance for public keeping a critical awareness and watchfulness as regards the human-machine interaction.
Cyborg Exoskeletons May Soon Become as Common as Bicycles
This news remarks that HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb) exoskeleton is presented for rent in Japan. It is a design aims to help the paralyzed, the disables and par-ticularly the elders whose daily activities count on wheelchair.
The HAL exoskeleton, with different sizes and weights, contains power units for mechanical limbs, bio-electric signal sensors, a battery pack, one computer con-troller and a floor reaction force sensor. Furthermore, researchers have explored a brain/machine interface (BMI) which enable users to decide direction or pace by “thinking” the instructions in order to convenient for the wheelchair’s users.
The working principle of HAL exoskeleton is roughly concerning about the transformation of signals. In the first place, a HAL-assisted person will send out somewhat feeble nerve signals when he or she wants to move. Next, a sensor in-side the exoskeleton induces the signals and delivers a new signal to the power units for upper and lower limbs. Last but not least, the machine is therefore acti-vated to “move in synch with the wearer’s own limbs”.
Apart from the purpose of medical allowances, experts endeavor to open up the possibilities the exoskeleton for military purpose. Vis-à-vis this innovation, the writer realizes that this easy-controlled technology has potential to become as common as bicycle.
CYBORG AS CYBERBODY
The essayist ponders on the issues of embodiment/disembodiment, man/machine symbiosis and its relation to evolution or design and so online art projects in re-gard to the context of cyborg and cyberbody. In the age of internet, virtual reality builds a fantasyland for human. It opens up the possibility of mind independent from body and also the possibility of re-forming the body. A physical body has seemingly been transformed into a “multiple self of mediated realities”. To this end, Paul postulates that the tension between embodiment and disembodiment is mutuality rather an option.
In the past decade, there have been many art projects exploring the hu-man-machine relationship such as Time Capsule. It is an inward art work that combines with a site-specific work and a broadcast on TV or the Web. Concern-ing this issue of man/machine symbiosis, the writer deems that machine may not only assist people to understand the nature of intellectual processes but may per-haps vary the way people thinking at the same time. And she convinces the read-ers to re-consider the collaboration among man and machine.
No doubt human bodies have been technologically augmented and Paul agrees the boundaries of bodies will continuously dissolve.
References:
Cartier, Curtis (2010) ‘Unconditional Love 2.0: Cyberpets v. Real Thing.’ http://news.santacruz.com/2010/07/28/unconditional_love_2.0_cyberpets_v._real_thing (accessed 11 March 2011)Maheu, Marlene M. (n.d) ‘The Future of Cyber-Sex and Relationship Fidelity: Cyborg Theory.’ http://www.selfhelpmagazine.com/article/node/1337 (accessed 6 March 2011)
Mizrach, Steve (2002) ‘Should there be a limit placed on the integration of humans and computers and electronic technology?’ http://www2.fiu.edu/~mizrachs/cyborg-ethics.html (accessed 13 March 2011)
Orca, Surfdaddy (2009) ‘Cyborg Exoskeletons May Soon Become as Common as Bicycles.’ http://hplusmagazine.com/2009/09/02/cyborg-exoskeletons-may-soon-become-common-bicycles/ (accessed 7 March 2011)
Paul, Christiane (2002) ‘CYBORG AS CYBERBODY.’ http://www.ekac.org/artlab23.html (accessed 14 March 2011)
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