A bit too cerebral

Considering what it means to be a cyborg can become a bit too cerebral. I know this because spending four or five days immersed in contemplation over writing a cyborg rhetoric bent my brain. It also probably made some of my friends scratch their heads wondering why I had difficulty holding on a simple conversation. Spending the next four days writing a first draft of a cyborg rhetoric broke my brain… but, whenever I break my brain, I seem to have a realization of one kind or another. What I realized this afternoon, after walking away from my computer, was just how good it felt to have a bunch of wood rounds to split. And how much better it felt to actually split them. And while I was splitting wood, I had another realization. If we ever do become “quintessence,” or the pure embodiment of consciousness, there’s a lot of physical activities I’m going to miss way more than splitting wood.

What is cyborg rhetoric?

Cyborg rhetoric, among other things, is a call to action. It is a call to re–invent rhetoric, and change the meaning of our existence. Donna Haraway states, “over the last thirty years, a class war of immense proportions has been waged globally, and it’s been very successful. At the same time, we’ve almost lost the ability to talk in class terms on what used to be called ‘the left.’ That’s a terrible loss on our part” (14, Haraway, interview with Gary A. Olsen, JAC Vol. 16, Vol. 1). To regain our “ability to talk in class terms” we must again begin to actively discuss this nation’s global agenda in “class terms” in the academic setting. Cyborg rhetoric acknowledges the need for resistance to grow on all fronts; therefore, if we are to be true to the dream, activism in academics has to move into the public sphere. It is no longer acceptable to pour our efforts into changing the hierarchal structure in the classroom alone. Our goal must be to struggle against oppressive ideologies across the board, and this means recognizing the ideology of oppression has crossed gender lines, and infiltrated racial and ethnic circles.

consciousness

What does it mean to be a conscious human being taking into account the mind and the body? There are so many levels of human consciousness that it’s impossible to answer this question in a general way… but one way to look at it would be to consider what it might mean to be a human mind without a body. That it’s possible has been documented. Completely paralyzed people, for instance, could be said to be a mind without a body, but that always makes it seem so undesirable. But then, there’s this other idea –– I’ve seen it on film -- Tibetan monks, sitting in sub–zero temperatures, bodies steaming while minds are steeped in deep meditation. This idea, that our consciousness doesn’t so much depend on our bodies as it does on our minds, seems much more desirable than thinking about being paralyzed. I mean, what would it be like to be in a state where only your eyes could move? I know I would probably be thinking that just being able to unclog a toilet would be fun. But really, who even wants to consider that? Now the other idea, that we can control our bodies, seemingly without effort, can lead to some interesting ideas about consciousness and where it resides.