Posthuman – not necessarily human, but rather an embodied medium through which critical consciousness is manifested.  A narrativised, textualised version of a human (drawing on Hutcheson, 1989).  Human denaturalised?

Cyborg – an organism that has both artifical and natural systems.  Technology, as artefacts of cultural evolution, comprise material extensions of the material human body (Chislenko, 1997).

Starting out on this, it seems to me the key difference here are the different manifestations of posthuman and cyborg.  The two very simple definitions above suggest to me that posthuman is a non-physical manifastation of self.  I am human, but I am embodied in a number of different places at any one time.  A feat not possible by something simply human.  Looking at being human as being a living, breathing, solid object occupying a particular space at a particular time, posthuman suggests to me an expansion of those boundaries.  I can exist in many different places at once, with ‘profiles’ taking my place in a number of different arenas.  I can occupy physical space at my desk at work, at the same time as occupying a web-space witha group of others discussing e-portfolios.  At the same time my non-physical self may also be the subject of interaction with friends through an online social network.  I am not physically present in either of the web spaces, but I still have ‘iconic representations’ (Friere, 1970) in these spaces that impact emotionally on others.  I no longer have the oppressive state of me as a single unit – I am multipresent.  Granted, I am only asynchronous in any of the places I am not currently connected to, but I am not any ‘less there’.

On the other hand, cyborg suggests physical extentions to the human.  Wetware enhanced.  I am still a singlular example of a human, but my brain capacity is massively enhanced by the systems I use.  As the Internet grows, so does my repository of information.  As computing power grows, so does my ability to multitask.  I don’t need to rely on my own brain for entertaining stimulus.  I don’t have to remember everything.  The limitations of my physical self are removed through technology.  My role is that of operator and manipulator.  I need to understand how to use the extensions afforded me by technology and essentially the more tools I learn to use the greater the capability of my cyborg self.

Cyborg and posthuman seem to be linked through critical understanding and everything links back to the single brain inside my skull.  Without that neither my posthuman or cyborg selves would have come into existence.  A key difference is that after the demise of my brain, assuming my body goes with it, my cyborg self will no longer exist, but my posthuman manifestations will.  On the other hand, if my cyborg self is hijacked by, for instance, a team of medical professionals I will still exist in both states, even though my cyborg self is no longer under my control.  If I’m dead altogether I can’t be a cyborg, but I can still be posthuman.

I haven’t read Hayles yet, so I’ll off and do that and see what I can add to my argument.

Tags: cyborg, posthuman