Cyborg

 Topic: Cyborg

Student name: Chan Yik Fei

Student number: 60169927


The idea of cyborg has been with us for a while, but the term “Cyborg” was first coined by Manfred E. Clynes and Nathan S. Kline in 1960. “Cyborg” is a combination of “cybernetic” and “organism”, it refers to a being with artificial and biological body parts. In real life, there are already those who can be considered a cyborg by this definition, such as people with pace makers, prosthetics and microchips. However, in pop culture it is taken to an extreme and exaggerated, with fictional technology, serums, chips and superpowers. One such example is a character by the same name in DC Comics Teen Titans.




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Evidently, Cyborg (Vic Stone) is part human and machine, now able to interface with computers. He gained power through machinery and is the most direct example of a cyborg in pop culture. He represents the most basic understanding of a cyborg in pop culture. What’s different with Vic and a human with a bunch of prosthetics is the power he gained. These superhuman powers are a common theme among science fiction, such as DC and Marvel and other popular media. They often have stronger capabilities, either physically or mentally, due to being reinforced with metal plating and can control electronics with their minds or bodies.


Different pop culture often play around with various degree of technology and human in a cyborg. Some only has a prosthetic limb or chip or injected with some technologically advanced serum that makes them a cyborg, others like Vic are half-and-half, while some extreme ones are almost entirely robotic with only a human mind or conscious.


The latter most makes me think of the ship of theses, it makes me question just how much of one need to be biological to be a human, or none at all? This idea of humanity is also common in character developments in fiction. The character struggling with their identity and role in the story, are they human? Are they machine? Do they have any rights? Or are they just robots with big data simulating human thoughts?


The idea of cyborg has much potential, especially with more technological advances nowadays, with various artists and scientists experimenting on themselves, such as Kevin Warwick and Neil Harbisson. I doubt the excitement and creativity around this idea will die down anytime soon, and I seek to read about newfound ideas in pop culture about cyborgs as time goes on.  

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