Muri’s central argument against the idea of disembodiment seems to be that there is too much literal shit being produced for anyone to seriously think we are being disembodied. Obviously, she is right. We’re still here and there are more and more of us all the time. She is also touching on environmental issues with so many actual bodies being around.

It was quite a fun text to read as she does dismantle a lot of research as just being recyled stuff which has been around since Ancient Greek philosophy about the seperation of bodies and mind. I guess the logical consequence of this text is to stop producing texts which are saying the same old things and instead to address more pressing problems around the actual bodies, such as tackling environmental issues and issues of inequality.

I think again this leads to the old argument whether you view the connective qualities of technology as utopian in being a good medium to tackle these pressing problems which will be a matter of survival for humankind, or whether you think the internet is a dystopian vision where people are hiding from the real problems of humankind. Disembodiment in its most positive view would be a temporary act of joining forces, maybe through the internet, to tackle global problems, but also to increase communication.

Muri, A. (2003). Of Shit and the Soul: Tropes of Cybernetic Disembodiment in Contemporary Culture. Body & Society, 9/3.