After today’s class, write a summary of your reading and our lecture of at least 250 words. Copy-and-paste your summary into a comment made to this blog post. Consider the connections between Ong (writing is a technology that restructures the mind), Haraway (information networks of which we are a part makes us cyborgs), Mazlish (humanity is continuous with technology), and Hayles (information is embodied).
For next week, we are beginning with Marshall McLuhan–an important reading for many of your research projects.
Also for discussion:
In N. Katherine Hayles’ “Toward Embodied Virtuality”, it focuses on the world of cybernetics and how we have embodied these concepts of how to manifest these ideas. There is a constant cybernetic paradigm effect that has taken over our technological culture which continues to create such a symbolical phenomenon in our world today. Many of these technological advancements continue to interchange with a recurrence of the connection of animals, humans and machines. There is a continued question linguistic professors are still trying to understand, such as, how has man been able to advance these machines to a point where they have been just as functional as humans?
Cybernetics also have three important characteristics which are information, control and communication. These relate back to the feedback loop which in many ways is controlled by these components. We can look at it in a way where we need to communicate with each other to gather information, and in turn we have now acquired this knowledge in which we can control how we want to manipulate its usage. There is an interesting term used in this writing called âreflexivityâ which is described as self- reference or self- awareness one would argue. However, it deals with a regression criteria where it is maybe a self-evaluation of oneself and how we can achieve such advancements in technology as well as the sciences.
The emergence of the âposthumanâ was another important point made by Hayles as she referenced theorists Edward Fredkin and Stephen Wolfram. These two believed that there is a systematic structure that is programmed in our society and is based on a computer coding system. It is believed that through posthumanism philosophers such as John Locke and Thomas Hobbes who were key figures in the Enlightenment movement have exposed the qualities a human should have and one of those primary ideas was challenging reasoning. This would challenge the cybernetic paradigm on the premise of how can we truly question the universality of the world. Virtuality, was also discussed and the definition states, âVirtuality is the cultural perception that material objects are interpenetrated by information patterns. (Hayles, 1999, p. 13)
In Walter Ongâs âWriting Is a Technology That Restructures Thoughtâ, virtuality played a significant role in this story. Here, we had the use of a technology called âRememâ and its primary focus was to help a troubled father understand that the truth that he has been believing for such a long period was not the truth he wanted to believe. The reality check that this powerful technology could transmit through the eyes of this father made him realize that he made a mistake that affected his daughter and has caused a lot of emotional trauma for them both.
Just imagining the state of the world, a century from now, technology will take over more than just our artificial intelligence advancement, but it will continue to look for more advancements for all creatures, humans and other living organisms on earth.
N. Katherine Haylesâ âToward Embodied Virtualityâ focuses on the world of the cybernetics and the way we are embodying the concepts of the manifest ideas. While the cybernetics is, having a constant effect on the technological culture that continues to create and expand our world, which creates something phenomenal. This connects to animals, humans, and technology. This also talks about human identity and that you are able to download these images into the computer. It makes people more conscious of what they should be putting on the internet because people are able to look at them through the internet. People start to realize that the technology they use becomes a part of their life. She also mentions Hodge in her reading about how human and technology with different boundaries and the question they ask through their internet for answers. In the reading, it said, âThis construction necessarily makes the subject into a cyborg, for the enacted and represented bodies are brought into conjunction through the technology that connects them.â This is trying to explain that if you think you are a cyborg then you do not exist because you have no living thing in your body. They are trying to tell us that we exist because we have living particles in our body making us alive. However, some people believe that we do not need something to tell us we exist or not because you are able to realize what is real and what isnât around us. Technology is a part of our lives but it also helps us understand that there are more to know about and it can also help with the languages were learning from different people around us.
âToward embodied virtualityâ is a very interesting story by Hayles, whoâs had other interests in others studies such as digital humanities, critical theory and technology. Her studies focused on the relationship between human and technology and how technology has influenced language. In this essay, she has started it with a definition of what âposthumanâ. Although she didnât give a brief definition of what it actually is but rather than that she focused mostly on the splitting up of the body and mind, thinking it was more important and enough as a definition. which as I understood it is the ability of the human brain and how could it exist without our biological bodies. She argued Decoratesâ idea that our mind has existed in heaven, where she thinks that human and brain go together and one complete the other because information has to be in a body. Hayles focused on how we understand knowledge and she broke it down for us into categories:
The enlightenment subjectivity, which discussed as a liberal human subject; which gave people the ability to fight for revolution back in the days. This proves the concept, which is âselfâ is the identity of someone.
The subjectivity expressed the posthuman with the involvement of Descartesâ theory of the mind and body âI think, therefore i amâ. He argued that brain doesnât need materiality; which means the mind doesnât need embodiment.
Eventually, she agreed to the two philosophers Hylas and Philonous, who opposed Descartesâ idea, since they thought of perception in a different way called âsensible thingsâ which is that we perceive the world based on our experience of it and the more we experience the more we learn about the world which proves that the human consciousness is a secondary effect.
In N. Katherine Haylesâ âHow we Became Post-Humanâ, she uses an interdisciplinary background to explain our bodies as technological marvels, known as a post-human subject. Her studies in both Chemistry and English expand her understanding on our perception of subjects. In her piece, she talks about two views on human subjectivity. One is the enlightenment subject, or a subject with a well rounded world view. The second view is post human subjectivity. This is when our experiences are mediated by technological advances which didnât exist in the past. When it comes down to the argument Hayles is making and how she is trying to prove it, she uses Jacques Derridaâs method of deconstruction. For example, Rene Descartes famous quote âI Think, therefore I amâ creates the mind-body problem. The mind doesnât need a medium, as the mind is the medium. It can exist without a body, as Descartes believed we had a radio to god in our mind called the pineal gland or the conarium. Hayles says that she disagrees, as our bodies are a prosthesis for our consciousness. Our consciousness is an epiphenomenon stemming from our body. Like Derrida, she isnât creating a separate hierarchy which places body over mind or vice versa. Rather, she highlights the importance of both in a post human society which currently exists. Humans depend on our bodies, even in a post human society. Without a body, what is our medium? Even in a technologically advanced society, we canât place our thoughts in a digital form like we can with our mind, but our mind canât work without embodiment.
Summary of Katherine Hayles âToward Embodied Virtualityâ
Katherine Hayles was born in 1942 with an extensive academic career, with an interdisciplinary background in STEM and the humanities. She has voiced her change in point of view regarding her science to literature was significant in that she noticed they were both explaining the same thing in different ways.
In the first chapter of âHow we Became Posthuman,â titled âToward Embodied Virtuality,â Hayles details the relationship between human and machine by focusing on the posthuman and cybernetics. She opens her claims by asking, âwas it possible for someone of Moravec’s obvious intelligence to believe that mind could be separated from body?â She points to the constraints of the consciousness when it is confined to a body, and that without a body there could be no distinguishable consciousness. By this relationship of mind and body, we step into an examination of what has been considered true since Descartes and how current identities have changed.
Hayles defines posthuman as âhumans were to be seen primarily as information-processing entities who are essentially similar to intelligent machines.â This is congruent with Harawayâs comments on identity and the cyborg myth. We have moved past interfacing with nature and naturally occurring elements, to interfacing with machines and organizing information within our lives. Hayles describes this as reflexivity, or âthe movement whereby that which has been used to generate a system is made, through a changed perspective, to become part of the system it generates.â
Hayles describes this posthuman state as a condition of cybernetics. Described as, âCoined from the Greek word for “steersman,” cybernetics signaled that three powerful actors – information, control, and communication – were now operating jointly to bring about an unprecedented synthesis of the organic and the mechanical.â
N. Katherine Hayles is an emerita from UCLA who dealt with postmodern literary and is most notable for her contribution to the fields of literature and science, electronic literature, and American literature. She is professor in Literature at Duke University. She studies the relationship between human beings and their digital technology. Her focus was primarily on the posthuman and cybernetics.She believes in subjectivity, a philosophical concept about oneself; the identity and consciousness of oneself. The choice you make and your surroundings inform your subjectivity. This is where language plays an important role and the believe of what you imagine and reflect on, and how you are in the world. In N. Katherine Haylesâ âHow we Became Posthumanâ, compares our bodies to technological, which is referred to as a post-human subject. Hayles defines posthuman as âhumans were to be seen primarily as information-processing entities who are essentially similar to intelligent machines.â Her first view is the enlightenment subject (the liberal [certain ideas/ideals] human subject) It is based on conception of human person being fully centered, whose center is their identity (unified person). Her second view is post human subjectivity which is when our real life experiences are controlled by technology, something which is quite new to our era and society. What she means by this is now a days technology revolves around human beings, from smartphones to smart watches, to robots and automated vehicles. We create these advanced technology which later helps us sufficiently live our lives and advance in many ways (school, work, health care, reforming society). Back then people would simple write letters as a way of communication or simply use a matchbox to light fire. Hayles also discusses the importance of the body and how we need our body, that we are âdependedâ on it. We can’t allow our minds to fully rely on technology and have our thoughts and ideas engulfed within it. Our body and mind needs to be utilised properly and not allow technology to always take over because we cannot live without our mind and do anything without them (for instance create technology) therefore we must put more importance on it rather than depending on technology.
N. Katherine Haylesâs âHow We Became Posthumanâ is an interesting read. Hayles brings up many interesting theories. One thing that stood out to me was when Hayles brings up information theory. It is interesting to read more about what information could really be and how it applies in everyday life. Hayles also brings up interesting points about virtuality and how it is considered information just as much as lighting. She describes the U.S as âin a highly heterogeneous stateâ when it comes to virtuality because it is so heavily incorporated in infrastructure. The presence of virtuality can sometimes be overlooked because we are so immersed in it on the internet in everyday life. Hayles describes theory and science as a way of understanding ourselves vicariously. She argues that humans are embodied. Under a more critical lens, I would agree and say we are post human. We take many technologies for granted and see them as separate from our lives but they have a heavy influence on us and can cloud our perceptions. She also argues embodiment is the rootedness of existence within a body. Materiality is everything that is composed of matter. She also challenges the idea that information exists separately from materiality and that information is more important. Human existence depends on bodies we are becoming post human but we still hinge on our embodied reality. Information, communication, and language use is what it is focused on rather than material substance. Consciousness could be seen as an information pattern.
What is posthuman? Posthuman is an informational pattern that has taken certain material and made it into what we know a biological substrate. In âHow We Become Posthumanâ by Katherine Hayles is about our technology is constantly changing in a rapid way. Hayles speaks about how certain philosophies were used to transform our society and cause a jarring revolution with computers, as well as artificial intelligence, and what we know as virtual reality. Posthuman allows scientist and theorists to invoke curiosity in these studies, to spark a reaction in those who investigate it all. Hayles steers into a curiosity of gender and the mysteries of how we have boundaries.
After reading Katherine Hayles âToward Embodied Virtualityâ I learned about a few topics that was intriguing like subjectivity and identity. Iâd come to learn that Hayles was a great professional in her field where she wrote three books using a wide spectrum of strategies not limiting her to a one track mind of thinking. In the story subjectivity was described as a concept that your identity is a sense of self not saying absolute self but a self of influential experiences and relationships that in a way molded a view of ones self . Hayles believed in a median even though she was conscious of the facts that we could communicate and be of existence in vase spectrum of ways she believe that in order for the embodiment to be there a median had to be present . When we communicated in writing that writing had to be on paper , yet wen we spoke we spoke into the air where our words got lost and lost its embodiment to us . To go on she explains that in the same as the writing is subjected to the median paper our minds (our brains) are subjected to our body as our minds and bodyâs are one. She brought up cyber meters which are beings who exist mediated by technology. Post human subjectivity comes after the liberal human subject advances threw technology whether though a cyborg nature or even human genetic engineering. Which began to have me think into todays version of humans if not all that are in a way some how linked into an undeniable form of technology whether phone , computer , or genetically mutated arm I can agree we are all cyborgs in our own way.
Hayles,believing the concept of writing as a technology, writes her essay â Toward Embodied Virtuality. Hayles uses her records of data collected over six years to support for findings on the posthuman; an amalgam, a collection of heterogeneous components, a material-informational entity whose boundaries undergo continuous construction and reconstruction.
She describes the posthuman as a human where its conscience mind is removed from the body and aided with machinery: forming a cyborg: where gender doesn’t exist. There are 3 important characteristics of the posthuman, communication, connection and control. We control the information giving, communicate it then find the connections in a continuous loop called the feedback loop. After reading this essay i thought about some of the jobs computers are taking over and can they really embody the human aspect of labor? How much work will actually get done? Will it be correct? How will it affect the relationship with the client? These are my concerns for the future as we move closer and closer into the digital and technological era. I thought about a job being replaced by cyborgs: that is man and machine. Meter reading is a position that most utilities are phasing out. The workers are being replaced with a microchip that can transmit readings via satelite, there will be no more human interaction with the customer. While it may cut cost for the company, i view it as a lost for the customer but sadly it is where our world is heading.
Hayles,believing the concept of writing as a technology, writes her essay â Toward Embodied Virtuality. Hayles uses her records of data collected over six years to support for findings on the posthuman; an amalgam, a collection of heterogeneous components, a material-informational entity whose boundaries undergo continuous construction and reconstruction.
She describes the posthuman as a human where its conscience mind is removed from the body and aided with machinery: forming a cyborg: where gender doesn’t exist. There are 3 important characteristics of the posthuman, communication, connection and control. We control the information giving, communicate it then find the connections in a continuous loop called the feedback loop. After reading this essay i thought about some of the jobs computers are taking over and can they really embody the human aspect of labor? How much work will actually get done? Will it be correct? How will it affect the relationship with the client? These are my concerns for the future as we move closer and closer into the digital and technological era. I thought about a job being replaced by cyborgs: that is man and machine. Meter reading is a position that most utilities are phasing out. The workers are being replaced with a microchip that can transmit readings via satelite, there will be no more human interaction with the customer. While it may cut cost for the company, i view it as a lost for the customer but sadly it is where our world is heading.
“Connecting the organic body with the prosthtetic extensions.” Katherine Hayles
In one of her quotes the author describes humans as an outdated version of evolution. We are now expected to be posthuman. This resonates with me even though not literally I feel posthuman when my mind is separated from my body like the author writes about. For our organic body connected with a prosthetic extension is using technology to achieve this goal. Let me explain , according to Webster dictionary a prosthetic is an artificial device to augment an impaired or missing part of the body. When we analyze this meaning the answer unfolds. What’s the artificial device humans have available to them? Man made existence which will propel us into the next universe. An artificial device produced by a posthuman that will help others become posthuman. Artificial is a morphological a study of word formation and description. Humans whom produce artificial objects such as writings are in essence posthuman. The human who uses the same technology to learn is posthuman.
Ironic how our technology has evolved so much around the source of humans literacy.
Hayles is a scholar who focuses on the deep connection between human and cyborg; her study relates to the digital technology and how the technology influences humansâ thoughts. Subjectivity is a concept of oneâs self; it can be your identity, conscious self, or how you live, or even how one views the world in their point of view. There are two different views of human subjectivity; enlightenment and posthuman. The enlightenment subject is a liberal human subject in which when one is born then that person is set in stone when they are born but even if they are set in stone one can still choose and reason, but they donât change the personâs sense of self. Post human comes up after the enlightenment, with the advancement of technology that has changed the way humans lives with the new technology. This brings in the question of the mind and body which both subjects have different answers. For the enlightenment subject thinks that the mind or soul can exist without a body. But with the knowledge we have about the brain is that the canarion helps with sleep regulation. Rene says that canarion can also be seen like a radio that serves as a base for one’s soul and sends what the body feels to the mind and soul. For the posthuman subjects thinks that the mind is only information holding from the body and that the body is just an extension of one’s soul and it is just a physical being that just contains the mind.
N. Katherine Hayles , âHow We Became Posthumanâ was a very interesting read. Katherine was born in Missouri and has received her B.S. in Chemistry from Rochester Institute of Technology. She then began to further her education to receive a M.S. om Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology. Later on in life Katherine had a switch of majors and amd received her M.A. on English Literature from Michigan State University. Her writing of , âHow we Became Posthuman explores the relationship between humans and computers.The definition of post human in this term means, â A concept originating in the fields of science fiction,contemporary art and philosophyâ. We came upon the word subjectivity which in theory means a philosophical concept about the self. Subjectivity is how you see yourself in the world and how you live and social relations. Its has come to be known that you are your subjectivity.
N. Katherine Hayles was born in 1943 and is a professor of Literature at Duke University. She is an author of numerous books and essays, but none so prevalent than her book “How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature and Informatics”. In this book, Hayles discusses posthumanism and so it becomes important to define what it is. A posthuman is a human who uses cybernetics and genetic manipulation to increase their vitality, physical and cognitive capabilities. In doing so, a posthuman lives longer, is far more intellectually inclined than the ordinary human and physically superior. Reaching this point of posthumanism was not something that happened within the last several decades, though. It was a ongoing evolution of, not only ourselves, but of the technologies we’ve created that have lead us to this point. The topics of subjectivity and cybernetics are what concern Dr. Hayles. She does not agree that information is more important than materiality. She works to put the “flesh” back into the topics of subjectivity and cybernetics: she feels we still need our bodies even after subjectivity. She feels that materiality is necessary for our subjectivity to exist. She supports her claim by describing the condition of virtuality: the idea that material objects are interpenetrated by information patterns and that materiality is the required medium to contain these patterns. When the pattern of information is predominant in one’s mindset over material presence, this is the condition of virtuality. So, when cyberneticist erase the body she has a problem with that’s because she believes the body can exist in cyberspace. Hayles states “Virtuality is the cultural perception that material objects are interpenetrated by information patterns. The definition plays off the duality at the heart of the condition of virtuality-materiality on the one hand, information on the other” (Hayles, 1999, pgs 13-14). To me this quote means that we are already in cyberspace because our mind is always being compared to that of a computer. Also because of Donna Haraway who believes that we are already cyborgs due to our information networks.
N. Katherine Hayles, âhow we became posthuman, chapter 1: âToward Embodied Virtualityâ.
N. Katherine Hayles, â Toward Embodied Virtualityâ argues that materiality is necessary for information. A human mind and body or mind-body duality are required to interface information technology.