cyborg detector

cyborg and age: time warp of existence

Recently, the term 'cyborg' has become very popular among theoreticians and practitioners of new media. The discourses around cyborgs incorporate the perceptions of fluid and constantly changing states of identity. In a way it's up to us to say whether we feel as a cyborg or not. Older generations like the one of my grandmother have lived through an extensive development and integration of technology in everyday-life. But they are unlikely to call themselves cyborgs or even know the term. Questions around age and cyborgs offer many scenarios for cybernetic-organisms: the person is old (my grandmother) and the technology is new. Or, the person is young and the technology is new. Or still, the person is young and knows nothing about new technologies. And of course, the person is old and knows a lot about technologies. And so on. What might have been called a monster in the past has gained a certain status of futuristic presence. The term might be fairly new, but the state of cyborgism might not be. Is the cyborg timeless because the various states of cyborgism are undefinable and may apply to someone of an older generation and who has never heard the term before just as much as to the cyberspace freak who can best communicate as various virtual identities? Most statements and commitments to cyborgism come from fairly young people and I just wanted to know, what my grandmother, who I call a cyborg, says to all that: interview

x-ray of her pace-maker Interview with a 86 year old cyborg excerpt of her head-scan