Cyborgs

theory
art
technological developments
miscellaneous
fun

"cy|borg (sêi'borg) n. a hypothetical human being modified for life in a hostile or alien environment by the substitution of artificial organs and other body parts."

"The machine is not an it to be animated, worshipped, and dominated. The machine is us, our processes, an aspect of our embodiment. "
"[a] cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism"

-Donna J. Haraway

technological developments

Crew systems: Integrating human and technical subsystems for the exploration of space.

Search for "cyborg" at the NASA Recon Publication Index and find:
Engineering man for space. the cyborg study final report by H.David one of the first publications (1963) on cyborgs...

The Aerospace Medicine and Occupational Health Division (AMOHD) provides information on Space Medicine and possible developments

The Human Brain Project: scientific project of diverse collaborating institutions to further knowledge (mainly) of brain function and possible integration of biochips as aids to physically challenged.

The Anthroform Arm Project at The BioRobotics Lab

neural-to-electronic interfaces: search for "biochips"
find: Joint 'biochip' project eyes artificial retina

CHOOSE A TRANSPLANT TOPIC: Chimerism, Hepatitis, Immunosuppression, Novacor Heart Pump, Xenotransplantation

NASA-JSC Commercial Technology Opportunity... artificial heart proposal... with good commercial future?

NRaD ROBOTICS check out their ideas about Human-Machine Interaction with Multiple Autonomous Sensors and if you have a good connection you should see their movies !

For the ones more into Robotics check out Carnegie Mellon University's FAQ about Robotics
or the Homepage of the Field Robotics Center at Carnegie Mellon University.

Wearable Wireless Webcam and Telemetry
Examples of MIT research projects into the future of human-machine co-living.

BME: Body Modification Ezine
check out the extreme modification page - not if you are a "sensitive" person though...

cyborg theory

ARE YOU A CYBORG ? Legacy Systems and Functional Cyborgization of Humans by Sascha Chislenko
The essay won't answer your burning question of self-cyborgization, but provides interesting insites into extropian cyborg theory.

Decoding Perversity: queering cyberspace by Jyanni Steffensen
Cyberfeminism, Cyborgs and The Body....

Critique on mainstream perceptions of AIDS using D. Haraways concept of Cyborgs and cyborg-like networks.

The Ironic Dream of a Common Language for Women in the Integrated Circuit: Science, Technology, and Socialist Feminism in the 1980s or A Socialist Feminist Manifesto for Cyborgs
by Donna Haraway, Oct 1983 a pre-version of her influential article "A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century."

The Cyborg Manifesto by Donna Haraway:

This excerpt covers the following topics: biology, computers, multinationals, and militarism.

This excerpt covers the following topics: multinational capitalism, gender.

This excerpt covers the following topics: militarism, the body, gender.

Contradictory Spaces: Pleasure and the seduction of Cyborg Discourse by P. K. Jamison
What tension lies in a discourse that envisions machines as facilitators of pleasure?

For our dutch speaking guests: cyborg theory at V2 Organisation, go for it...

CYBORG Movimento Tecnoculturale --in italian and not very much to see, but it sounds good, doesn't it?

art

Stelarc - an artist with cyborg extension.
read a rather old article by I-D Magazine about Stelarc, visit his site in Australia, check the FineArt Online Gallery and then of course there's a live video feed at e~scape

Survival Research Laboratories
Machinic/Cyborg Performance Art:

"Each performance consists of a unique set of ritualized interactions between machines, robots, and special effects devices, employed in developing themes of socio-political satire. Humans are present only as audience or operators."

Tactile Technologies (TT):
cyberSM, The Wired Body, body/gender, Inter_Skin
Check out these VR art projects.... the cyborg technology of tomorrow.

Visit the best-selling cyborg-transhuman artist !!
The Black & White online fanzine

Virtual Reality Projects: GMD's DIGITAL MEDIA LAB
3DK: The Virtual Studio, Teleport: The Communication Wall, The Media Processing Plattform

Blast 4 - BioInformatica . ART mixed with a holistic approach to Informatics and human-machine interfaces

fun

Check out Manga Corp. for real Anime Entertainment -- I bet you've never seen so many cyborgs in one film ;-)

Ghost in The Shell by Masamune Shirow

Data on bionically enhanced agents by the Sci-Fi Headquarter.

miscellanous

IEEE Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium 1999
March 13 - March 17, 1999
JW Marriott Hotel
Houston, Texas, USA

CryoNet (The Cryonics Mailing List)
Purpose: Cryonic suspension is an experimental procedure whereby patients who can no longer be kept alive with today's medical abilities are preserved at low temperatures for treatment in the future. The cryonics mailing list (CryoNet) is a forum for topics related to cryonics, which include technical reports of cryonic suspensions, low temperature biology, biochemistry of memory, legal status of cryonics and cryopreserved people, new research and publications, conferences, mass media coverage of cryonics, local cryonics group meetings, and even philosophy of identity.

Extropians
Purpose: Extropians is devoted to the discussion and development of Extropian ideas. The term "Extropian" was coined by the publishers of the journal "Extropy", which is devoted to Extropian philosophy. This list is a spinoff of the journal. Extropians may be roughly described as those simultaneously interested in anarchocapitalist politics, cryonics (and other life extension techniques), the technological extension of human intelligence and perception, nanotechnology, spontaneous orders, and a number of other related ideas. If you are an Extropian, the concept that these are all related topics will seem natural.
All Extropians (and those who suspect that they are Extropians) are invited to join. The list is run from a commercial site and to strictly cover costs there is a fee charged to join the list, $14 per year (less for ExI member and Journal subscribers and students). A 30 day free-trial is given to all subscribers.

Miss M