Cyborgs and Language

Discussing cyborgs and language leads to the on going question of what is cyborg-rhetoric? From an essentialist point of view, a cyborg is a human incorporated with technology, rhetoric is language; hence, cyborg-rhetoric is the language of humans ingrained with technology. Intriguingly, when flesh is blended with technology, then the essence of human begins to change. Kenneth Burke says that rhetoric is a human agents use of words to achieve certain attitudes, or actions in other human agents (bradley.edu). Ironically, if this is to hold true then the cyborg is human.

The transformation of what is considered human then changes the definition of what is cyborg-rhetoric. It cannot be looked at as an A to Z conversation, but A to Z, as well as Z to A. This means cyborg-rhetoric not only addresses language with humans interacting with technology, but also when technology uses language to pass its embodiment off as human.

The Bicentennial Man is an example of the Z to A discussion. The advance kitchen appliance learns to use language to pass itself off as human. Through time the appliance takes measures to appear physically more human, embracing Burke’s concept that rhetoric emerges from identity. Identity derives from the social context, which labels our being based upon physical appearance. Before the machine can be considered human it must obtain an identity, which is accepted as human, before it can use Aristotelian persuasion to make the argument that it is human.

Henceforth, when Hayles addresses the end of human nature by technology, it is not the A to Z evolutionary pattern, which will be the end of our demise, for this is a pattern of replication and made in the present. Technology’s conquest of human nature will occur in the Z to A evolutionary pattern, which is a mutation of randomness within the present, meaning disruption of societal norms, and destructive Armageddon as portrayed in the Terminator series.