Cyberpunk
ConclusionWe are all to a greater and greater extent cyborgs and
faced with this threat to our sense of our own humanity it’s scary. The cyberpunk genre provides a vehicle for us to examine our
relationship with technology and to experiment with difficult issues from within
the relative safety of fiction. In cyborg films, the mind is prized over the body and the
individual is seen as being as valid as the corporation. While our fears about a
breakdown of society and the threat of being overwhelmed by our own creations
are frequently portrayed there are sometimes glimpses of a more optimistic
future. Even
the nature of reality itself, is not beyond questioning in this genre, indeed Kevin Warwick, in considering the Matrix states: “ …my
own conclusion is that there can be no absolute reality, there can be no
absolute truth — whether we be human, Cyborg, or robot.”
References(Bostrum, 2003), Bostrum, N. (2003) “Are You Living In A Computer
Simulation?” Philosophical Quarterly. Vol. 53, No. 211, pp. 243-255 (available
at http://www.simulation-argument.com
[Accessed 6 June 2006]). (Holland, 1995), Holland, S. (1995) ‘Descartes Goes to Hollywood: Mind, Body and Gender in Contemporary Cyborg Cinema’, in Featherstone, M. and Burrows, R. (eds) Cyberspace/Cyberbodies/Cyberpunk: Cultures of Technological Embodiment, Sage Publications, London. (McCarron, 1995), McCarron, K., (1995) ‘Corpses, Animals, Machines and
Mannequins: The Body and Cyberpunk’, in Featherstone, M. and Burrows, R. (eds)
Cyberspace/Cyberbodies/Cyberpunk: Cultures of Technological Embodiment,
Sage Publications, London. (Kevin Warwick), Warwick, K. [online] “The Matrix – Our Future?”. Available from: http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com/rl_cmp/new_phil_warwick.html [Accessed 6 June 2006]. (Wikipedia), Wikipedia contributors, "Cyberpunk," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cyberpunk&oldid=58835045 [Accessed 18 June 2006].
BibliographyBlade Runner. Film. Dir. Ridley Scott. Blade Runner Partnership, 1982. Cyberpunk Project,The. [online] Available from: http://project.cyberpunk.ru/ [Accessed 4 June 2006]. Gibson, W. (1984) Neuromancer, Ace Books, New York. Voyager edition 2000. I, Robot. Film. Dir. Alex Proyas. 20th Century Fox, 2004. Matrix, The. Film. Dir. Andy & Larry Wachowski. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1999. Terminator, The. Film. Dir. James Cameron. Hemdale Film Corporation, 1984. "Towards a Definition of Cyberpunk" [Online] http://www.thecore.nus.edu.sg/cpace/scifi/cyberbib/Essays/DefiningCpunk.html [Accessed 18 June 2006].
Image AcknowledgementsMatrix: http://www.desktop-designz.com Star Trek (Data and Picard): http://www.astrosurf.org Star Trek (Borg): http://www.writingshop.ws [971 words] Return to Cyborg Overview
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