Cyberpunk

Discussion

The Mind Body Debate

Philosophers have long debated what it means to be human, and whether mind and body can be considered separately in this respect. We are all cyborgs to a varying degree, since we all rely on artificial devices to function whether that entails using a mobile phone, using the internet, driving a car with satellite navigation’ wearing a pacemaker or even just a pair of glasses. So at what point do we lose our humanity?

In ‘The Six Million Dollar Man’ Steve Austin has three bionic limbs and a bionic eye but he is undoubtedly still considered human. By contrast, in ‘Blade Runner’ the replicants, who have bodies virtually indistinguishable from humans, are not considered human.

Holland (1995) states that "An implication of the cyborg film is that being human is anything but simply a matter of appearance. In most cases, a ‘genuine’ human mind is identified as the essential element of a human person". The implication is that the body is unimportant, however, it is often a central issue in cyborg films. The impact of the original Terminator depends upon the imposing physique of the central cyborg character, while in the Terminator 3, the female terminator directly manipulates her physicality to emphasise gender differences. 

Dystopia Vs Utopia

The majority of cyborg films position humans in a future in which machines are the enemy and the fabric of society is threatened or has totally broken down. However there are some notable exceptions to this, for example in Star Trek The Next Generation, we see a human society that has risen above greed, war and economic inequality by embracing technological advances. Here, the cyborg "Data" is seen as an equal and works in cooperation with humans. In the same programme, though, we are also introduced to the ‘Borg’, a belligerent race of cyborgs intent on assimilating all other beings they come into contact with.    

Individuality Vs Collective / Corporate

The Borg are just one manifestation of the theme of a menacing collective or corporation. In the Terminator films Skynet is a self aware network of machines that takes the decision to rid the world of humans while in Blade Runner the world is dominated by a capitalist megacompany. This may reflect a modern fear of losing our individuality in the face of an increasingly networked and regulated society in which Skynet may be viewed as the next evolution of today’s internet.

“Philosophically, the body is trivialized in order to privilege mind and, culturally, the Corporation is subject to a series of raids accomplished by individuals or hastily assembled gangs of criminals” (McCarron, K . 1995).  In cyberpunk fiction we are asked to identify with the person or group that strives to oppose corporate oppression and thus reinstate the worth of the individual.

Nature of Reality

Cyberpunk movies encourage us to question our ‘taken-for-granted’ view of the world. The one thing most of us are sure of is that we at least exist in ‘the real world’ but even this basic assumption is not beyond doubt in films such as the Matrix. The main characters swap between human and cyborg identities: “When out of the Matrix, they are undoubtedly human; but while they are in the Matrix, there can be no question that they are no longer human, but rather are Cyborgs” (Warwick, K).  Inside the Matrix the world that appears to be reality is in fact just an elaborate illusion.  Disturbingly, the notion that we are all living inside a computer simulation is considered by some theorists as being not just a possibility but actually the most probable scenario! (Bostrum, 2003).

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