Comments on: Week 8: What are you, a freakin’ cyborg? What does that mean? http://edc11.education.ed.ac.uk/carolc/2011/11/14/week-8-what-are-you-a-freakin-cyborg-what-does-that-mean/ part of the MSc in E-learning at the University of Edinburgh Sun, 11 Dec 2011 11:08:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 By: Jen Ross http://edc11.education.ed.ac.uk/carolc/2011/11/14/week-8-what-are-you-a-freakin-cyborg-what-does-that-mean/#comment-74 Jen Ross Fri, 18 Nov 2011 14:17:46 +0000 http://edc11.education.ed.ac.uk/carolc/?p=9578#comment-74 What a thoughtful and engaging post, Carol - I really enjoyed this. Rather than "bypassing" (interesting cyborg metaphor!) the thornier aspects of gender, I see Haraway as seeking alternate ways of mapping the landscape. I thought you might enjoy one of the blog posts from the last EDC - Dennis's "love letter" to Haraway and his thoughts about the viral and the post-"ism". http://edc.education.ed.ac.uk/dennisd/2010/11/09/i%E2%80%99m-a-cyborg-for-you-donna/ Perhaps this is exactly the point you're making - that we are not ready to be done with feminism and the problems it addresses. But I'm so glad for writers who will turn things on their heads, as Haraway did in her time, and ask whether our priorities are as they should be. I also happen to love her use of language and insistence on its non-transparency, but that's probably another discussion altogether. What a thoughtful and engaging post, Carol – I really enjoyed this. Rather than “bypassing” (interesting cyborg metaphor!) the thornier aspects of gender, I see Haraway as seeking alternate ways of mapping the landscape. I thought you might enjoy one of the blog posts from the last EDC – Dennis’s “love letter” to Haraway and his thoughts about the viral and the post-”ism”. http://edc.education.ed.ac.uk/dennisd/2010/11/09/i%E2%80%99m-a-cyborg-for-you-donna/

Perhaps this is exactly the point you’re making – that we are not ready to be done with feminism and the problems it addresses. But I’m so glad for writers who will turn things on their heads, as Haraway did in her time, and ask whether our priorities are as they should be. I also happen to love her use of language and insistence on its non-transparency, but that’s probably another discussion altogether.

]]> By: Carol Jane Collins http://edc11.education.ed.ac.uk/carolc/2011/11/14/week-8-what-are-you-a-freakin-cyborg-what-does-that-mean/#comment-70 Carol Jane Collins Wed, 16 Nov 2011 13:26:15 +0000 http://edc11.education.ed.ac.uk/carolc/?p=9578#comment-70 Hi Daniel..it's good to hear you're of the same mind! I find her ideas interesting but her style and what I feel is a lack of relevance in what she says puts me off. I'm all for abstract theories, but the notion of a cyborg as an antidote to sexism, racism etc just doesn't work for me - what relevance does it have for women, women of colour or men for that matter. There is something to be said for the posthuman argument about gender boundaries blurring, but ignoring gender is not going to resolve any problems. I'd think that the transgender community might have an issue with the cyborg argument about a utopia without gender as there may be very strong feeling about an affinity with a particular gender. I think there is a sliding scale of gender but that that's something that has to be dealt with and discussed rather than bypassed. Like you I AM interested in the implications of how technology affects us and can modify us. I remember, when I was writing my PhD, being distracted for 3 hours by playing Doom, and feeling like a character in the game, machine-like, the following morning walking to Uni! Will take a look at the essay thanks! Hi Daniel..it’s good to hear you’re of the same mind! I find her ideas interesting but her style and what I feel is a lack of relevance in what she says puts me off. I’m all for abstract theories, but the notion of a cyborg as an antidote to sexism, racism etc just doesn’t work for me – what relevance does it have for women, women of colour or men for that matter. There is something to be said for the posthuman argument about gender boundaries blurring, but ignoring gender is not going to resolve any problems. I’d think that the transgender community might have an issue with the cyborg argument about a utopia without gender as there may be very strong feeling about an affinity with a particular gender. I think there is a sliding scale of gender but that that’s something that has to be dealt with and discussed rather than bypassed. Like you I AM interested in the implications of how technology affects us and can modify us. I remember, when I was writing my PhD, being distracted for 3 hours by playing Doom, and feeling like a character in the game, machine-like, the following morning walking to Uni! Will take a look at the essay thanks!

]]> By: Daniel Griffin http://edc11.education.ed.ac.uk/carolc/2011/11/14/week-8-what-are-you-a-freakin-cyborg-what-does-that-mean/#comment-69 Daniel Griffin Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:47:26 +0000 http://edc11.education.ed.ac.uk/carolc/?p=9578#comment-69 Hear hear Carol! I'm stumbled onto Haraways cult following too and thus found myself questioning what it was that annoys me about her writing. I definitely find her to be overly demonstrative and stylized for the sake of it, so it was refreshing to hear your views. A challenging read to be sure but especially so when the language distracts from the content. I think that the fictional super high tech cyborg is a distraction from the more important issue of how technology modifies our thoughts, behaviors, actions and interactions so perhaps she focuses too much on this. You ask if a PDA is any different to a notebook so will find Andy Clark & David J. Chalmers essay, The Extended Mind to be particularly interesting. http://consc.net/papers/extended.html Hear hear Carol! I’m stumbled onto Haraways cult following too and thus found myself questioning what it was that annoys me about her writing. I definitely find her to be overly demonstrative and stylized for the sake of it, so it was refreshing to hear your views. A challenging read to be sure but especially so when the language distracts from the content. I think that the fictional super high tech cyborg is a distraction from the more important issue of how technology modifies our thoughts, behaviors, actions and interactions so perhaps she focuses too much on this.

You ask if a PDA is any different to a notebook so will find Andy Clark & David J. Chalmers essay, The Extended Mind to be particularly interesting. http://consc.net/papers/extended.html

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