Diamonds and Machines and Being Human~

We've talked alot in class about Cyborgs and what is and is not a Cyborg. We talked about where we as a species is going, and pondered whether or not that place is a good one or not.

I find myself thinking of Nell and the Primer as a lesson to humanity. Her journey through the Primer leads he to become more human. More everything really- including subversive. In order for the status quo of the Phyles to remain the same, the Primer must not fall into the hands of "the common people" It must remain a tool of the Thetes and the "Upper Crust." In the hands of a girl like Nell it becomes a tool of destruction for the current hierarchies. It teaches the least of people (girls) to think, teaches them how to survive with out the MC in a way as well. The Cyborg life most people live is not enviable. It is sad and lonely and stagnant-learning to be more human, to think, to be subversive in this world, is to truly live and grow.

When I think about our own world, I have to wonder if we will have the "middle ground" we spoke of in class. Or if like Neo we will one day wake up to find the machines have taken over. We keep talking about living in The Matrix. I think Dr. Hager is correct in many ways. We already do live in The Matrix. Our lives are so interconnected to technology, to the instant way we can do almost anything anymore-without ever leaving home. Shop, buy groceries, movies, music, and so research- communicate from here to Beijing in an instant if we wish it. It is up to us, as it was up to Nell to decide how we use our knowledge. How we are Cyborg-because the question to me is not if we are Cyborgs, but how we are, and what we do with that.