A Cyborg Speech by Oscar Kwan

A Cyborg Speech

I am a cyborg. According to Dr. Donna Haraway, "A cyborg is a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism". Although I am not fitted with a heart pacemaker, intraocular lenses or an insulin pump, I am the human-technology mixtures in the abstract. Hence, I would call myself a “Social Cyborg”. Actually, the full term "cybernetic organism" is used to describe larger networks of communication and control. Cybernetic technologies include highways, pipes, buildings, electrical plants, libraries, and other infrastructure that we hardly notice, but which are critical parts of the cybernetics that we work within. In nowadays internet world, many people have engaged in the online community, we communicate with each other in the social network and absorb new things through internet. Therefore, not only me being a cyborg, but the citizens in contemporary world are all cyborgs.

Evaluation of this Unit

In today’s digital age, it is essential to think twice to figure it out what is our identity in the cyberspace. This unit brainstorms us to identity the 'self' in cyberspace, it helps us to understand the communicative environments of the digital age to examine their impact on identity, with particular emphasis on gender, sexualities, race and class. By applying the theory and practice relating to identity, the unit considers different central issues in nowadays cyberspace such as constructing the self in the digital world, youth, gender and cybercultures and the performativity of gender, sexualities and difference in cyberspace communities.

Self-Reflection on Self-identity in the Cyberspace

After studying this unit, I understand more about the self-identity in the cyberspace. As defined by Hayles in topic 12 “Posthuman”, it suggests that posthuman will not only simply a combination of a flesh body and wires, but having an interaction with the intelligent environment we live and work in. meanwhile, through this unit, I learn more about the gender and difference in online environments. It provides a comprehensive understanding of gender study in nowadays digital world, which enrich my knowledge for my programme of communication studies.

The exploration of my self-identity in the cyberspace would not be end with this unit, this unit is just a guide for me to explore our digital world and I would like to further grope for other aspects of studies in the cyber world.