`` A Cyborg Manifesto `` By Manfred E. Clynes And Nathan...

The cyborg figure is a common fixture in both science and science-fiction. The term, coined by Manfred E. Clynes and Nathan S. Kline in 1960, refers to an organism with enhanced functionality due to the incorporation of a mechanical component (Clynes and Kline, 27). The animal-machine hybrid was a figuration and embodiment of the modern era’s lust for technology as a means of pushing the human towards what was often militaristic and capitalist ideals. However, in her groundbreaking essay â€Å"A Cyborg Manifesto†, Donna Haraway appropriates the patriarchal cyborg figure for feminist purposes, drawing on its composited ontology as a model for female liberation. Her essay posits a psychological escape from the dualisms that hamper the female sense of self, through its account of boundary breakdowns and its rejection of totalized identity. This psychological escape becomes active politically when applied to challenge the authority of the physical acts of oppression where t hese dualisms often manifest. However, the manifesto’s inability to entirely account for cultural differentialism within feminism causes it to fall somewhat under Haraway’s goal of promoting the particular female self. First published in 1985 as part of The Socialist Review and later updated in 1991 as part of her anthology of essays Simians, Cyborgs, and Women (the latter of which will be the version analyzed), Donna Haraway’s â€Å"A Cyborg Manifesto† constructs a feminist call to action by situating a myth of theShow MoreRelated Capitalism, Marketing, and the Insidious and Covert Co-optation of the Self6482 Words   |  26 PagesCapitalism, Marketing, and the Insidious and Covert Co-optation of the Self Subtitle: A Manifesto for Avatars 1. Introducing Avatars AVATARA-Sanskrit.; ava-down, tarati-he goes, passes beyond literally, a descent, a conception described in the Bhagavad gita, 4th Teaching, 1-8 where Krishna confides: when goodness grows weak, when evil increases, I make myself a body. (OED) Originally referring to the incarnation of Hindu deities, avatars in the computing realms have comeRead MoreEssay on The History and Future of Cyborgs2740 Words   |  11 Pages many computational notions have been replaced by ‘e’ to mean ‘of computer’ - however ‘cyber’, represented in music, words and films emerging at this time, which communicate the content of culture at the time, not simply technology – have not become ePeople, eMusic or eFilms, but remained postulated in cyberculture. Cark (2004) identifies Manfred Clynes and co-author Nathan Kline as first coining the phrase Cyborg in a story called Cyborgs and Space published in Astronautics (September 1960)