Cyborgs and technobodies
Thursday, October 1, 2009 by Zhou Jiang
by Zhou Jiang
I am inclined to agree with Katherine Hayles that humans and technology have co-evolved for a long time. For example, humans can train themselves to sleep and wake in time with technological requirements. Peasants used the sun as a guide to their waking hours. With industrialization many workers had to wake up very early and used alarms. The working day was also measured out and marked, with bells and whistles used to mark out periods of time. The school system and parents increasingly taught the values of sleeping and eating at regular times of the day. This has become more flexible with the growing flexibility of production. However, outside of hierarchical institutions, people often choose to self-regulate their sleep, food and exercise very strictly nowadays.
People also voluntarily integrate themselves with technology. For example, a call center is on of the mostly strictly regulated and possible dehumanizing workplaces around. However, many people spent much of their free time using their bodies in the same way: staring at a computer screen, and often wearing earphones and a microphone. People exercise wearing headphones playing fast music to regulate their body movements, or join aerobics classes in which they do much the same. In other contexts, such as a prison camp or workplace, such a situation would look like a form of oppression. Another thing to consider is that people's bodies are also regulated by institutions such as the family or religion. People, stand still and be quiet, or knell to pray. Some of these practices continue even after technology and production have changed. For example, Westerners have been sitting at tables to eat dinner for a long time, while Japanese continued to sit on mats long after their country became highly industrialized. Different cultures have different rules about when to be energetic and when to be still and quiet.
References:
Hayles, N.K. (2005). Computing the Human. Theory, Culture and Society, 22(1), 131-151.
I am inclined to agree with Katherine Hayles that humans and technology have co-evolved for a long time. For example, humans can train themselves to sleep and wake in time with technological requirements. Peasants used the sun as a guide to their waking hours. With industrialization many workers had to wake up very early and used alarms. The working day was also measured out and marked, with bells and whistles used to mark out periods of time. The school system and parents increasingly taught the values of sleeping and eating at regular times of the day. This has become more flexible with the growing flexibility of production. However, outside of hierarchical institutions, people often choose to self-regulate their sleep, food and exercise very strictly nowadays.
People also voluntarily integrate themselves with technology. For example, a call center is on of the mostly strictly regulated and possible dehumanizing workplaces around. However, many people spent much of their free time using their bodies in the same way: staring at a computer screen, and often wearing earphones and a microphone. People exercise wearing headphones playing fast music to regulate their body movements, or join aerobics classes in which they do much the same. In other contexts, such as a prison camp or workplace, such a situation would look like a form of oppression. Another thing to consider is that people's bodies are also regulated by institutions such as the family or religion. People, stand still and be quiet, or knell to pray. Some of these practices continue even after technology and production have changed. For example, Westerners have been sitting at tables to eat dinner for a long time, while Japanese continued to sit on mats long after their country became highly industrialized. Different cultures have different rules about when to be energetic and when to be still and quiet.
References:
Hayles, N.K. (2005). Computing the Human. Theory, Culture and Society, 22(1), 131-151.