ENGL 385-01, A History of the Cybord, Fall 2001

Abstract

Although we think of the phenomenon as particular to contemporary society (when we think of it at all) the cyborg has been a visible concern in literature at least since the eighteenth century, the period when human beings began to rely routinely on machines to get through their days. The word "cyborg," short for cybernetic organism, enters English around 1960 and signifies a "human-machine system," a human which has been altered or created by artificial technology. But the blending of machines into human consciousness or human activity has a much longer history. By 1800, for example, many thoughts and actions were measured by the clock; the clock had already been miniaturized and mass-produced, and the watch was functioning as an extension of the human hand. In this course we will examine the contemporary cyborg by replacing it in its long history.