Podcast for Social Research, Episode 79: CYBORG — A Conversation on Technology, Feminism, and the Future of a Concept
May 17, 2024
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Rebecca Ariel Porte, Danya Glabau, and Laura Forlano discuss cyborg theory, hidden human labor, feminist scholarship, and the political and aesthetic aspects of cyborgs. They explore critical cyborg literacy, failure, glitch, and the collaborative nature of feminist perspectives on technology. The podcast delves into techno utopianism, labor automation, and posthumanism versus transhumanism, challenging traditional norms and highlighting the social, political, and artistic dimensions of the cyborg concept.
Cyborg theory emphasizes fluidity of categories like gender and race, challenging essentialist views.
Feminist cyborg perspective envisions a future where social categories can be reconfigured beyond divisive power.
Cyborg theory exposes hidden human labor in seemingly automated systems, highlighting the deceptive seamlessness of technology.
Deep dives
Cyborgs and the Diverse Insights on Disciplinary Borders
Cyborg theory challenges disciplinary boundaries by exploring the intersections of nature and culture, gender and sex, and man and woman. It emphasizes the fluidity of categories such as gender and race, offering a way to think beyond essentialist views. The feminist cyborg perspective seeks to create a world open to freedom and connection across differences, situated in a high tension zone between human and machine.
Technological Interventions and the Complex Interplay with Social Norms
Cyborg theory critiques the adoption of gender and sexuality norms in technological design, particularly in the context of advanced androids. It envisions a future where social categories like gender and sex can be reconfigured and lose their divisive power. Cyborg theory extends to understanding disability, race, bodies, economics, and human-technology relationships, advocating for collaboration and careful consideration of social contexts to avoid reinforcing oppressive structures.
Challenging Misconceptions and Embracing Cyborg Fluidity
Cyborg perspectives dismantle the binary view of technology as either completely automated or solely human-driven, revealing hidden labor in seemingly automated systems. Examples such as Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform and warehouse operations showcase the erasure of human labor behind an illusion of automation. By exposing this magic trick, cyborg theory highlights the importance of recognizing and valuing human labor within technological systems, offering insights into the deceptive seamlessness of automated processes.
Exploring Labor Automation and Invisibility
The podcast delves into the concept of labor automation and invisibility, drawing parallels between birthing and Amazon labor organizers. It highlights the invisible labor embedded in everyday technologies like automated dishwashers and Roomba vacuum cleaners. The discussion expands to include self-checkout systems and AI interactions, emphasizing how individuals constantly engage in unseen labor to support technological functionalities.
Critiques of Cyborg Figure and Aesthetic Considerations
The episode discusses critiques of the cyborg figure from critical race theory and disability studies perspectives. It explores how traditional representations of the cyborg neglect issues of race and disability, prompting a reevaluation of technological optimism. Additionally, the podcast touches on the aesthetic aspects of cyborg theory, balancing glitch aesthetics as both critique and creative potential. The conversation navigates through feminist, post-human, and trans-feminist perspectives, showcasing a nuanced approach to embodying technology and challenging rigid binaries.
Have 21st century technologies—from smartphones to medical devices to the commonplace use of artificial intelligence—made cyborgs of us all? In this episode of the Podcast for Social Research, recorded live at BISR Central, BISR faculty Rebecca Ariel Porte sits down with fellow faculty Danya Glabau and co-author Laura Forlano to parse what the latter, in their recent book Cyborg (MIT Press), have termed “critical cyborg literacy”: a lens through which to critically examine the constitutive role technology plays in the ways we think, behave, know, and interact. Glabau and Forlano begin with a synthetic overview of the history and affordances of thinking with the figure of the cyborg, after which the three discuss, among other things, the hidden human labor behind apparently automated systems, failure and the glitch, feminist scholarship as collaborative process, and the cyborg as, beyond its technicity, a social, political, and aesthetic project.
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