TECH, NO LOGIC: Cyborg and Simulacra

In Jean Baudrillard's The Precession of Simulacra, the aforementioned concept can be easily described as a representational tool in which themes and/or objects can be understood in a broader sense. Take for example in Action Action's "Let's Never Go To Sleep", where a few repetitive nights seem to irritate the character yet at the same time, validate his existence. In the line, "A photocopy of a copy of a copy just leaked," the process of production is a literal translation of simulacra, a duplicate of the original that either enhances the original's meaning or depletes it. As a society, we are constantly being shown or participating in the distribution of simulacra from one place to the other. Photographs and still life paintings are some of the most popular simulacra for they are less tangible symbols of the actual objects in front of us, (ex. an image of a bowl of fruit hung above the truly existing bowl of fruit).

Juxtaposing this with the internet is an interesting feat. To Baudrillard, the world is rapidly becoming one of innuendo, not necessarily in a derogatory manner, where signs and symbols replace the norm for human experience as the actual human experience. The stimulation of a virtual reality becomes more crucial to one's being than one's physical reality in the place of avatars and a whole new arena. This otherworldliness can become the framework for one's home inside of a home that is not home and therefore, the artificial is more present than the authentic. An individual can better themselves, (i.e. appearance, literacy, social activity), to their liking over the internet and eagerly invite others to enjoy this hyped version that could or should not ever be attained in real life.

The theory of being able to attain a better self is present in feminist piece, "The Cyborg Manifesto." Here a frustrated Donna Haraway chooses to remove herself from previous misconceptions on women and tries to eliminate the boundaries between the organic and the mechanical identities. The "Manifesto" believes that societal labels should be disregarded and we should instead embrace a collective being where the differences between animal, human and machine are null and void. In regards to the internet, it states that technology is merely an extension of one's body, soul and thought process. If we were to continue on as cyborgs, we could become almost omnipresent and there would be no division between an objective observation and a subjective feeling and an ultimate unity would culminate. By today's standards, this notion seems none the too far-fetched as the planet is more connected and is "getting smaller" everyday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDUFpPibuMs