- Nature and Technology
- Portrayal as Opposing Forces from the 1950s-1980s
- Rethinking the Relationship at the Close of the 20th
Century: Cyborgs
- Organic Technologies
- "The Guyver"
- "Evangelion"
- "Ghost in the Shell"
- "Battle Angel Alita"
Technology and Nature from the 1950s-1980s
Cyborgs
- Origin stories...
- 1948 Norbert Weiner offers definition of new field of
cybernetics (comparative study of information/control
systems)
- 1960s NASA research to develop enhanced organisms for space
travel and military purposes
- Manfred Clynes & Nathan Kline coin term "cyborg"
- Definitions
- Abbreviation of "cybernetic organisms"
- "A person whose physiological functioning is aided by, or
dependent on, a mechanical or electronic device"
- "Discourse on the integration of organism & machine"
Donna Harraway
- Primate Visions: Gender, Race and Nature in the World of
Modern Science
- "Like any important technology, a cyborg is simultaneously a
myth and a tool, a representation and an instrument.... A cyborg
exists when two kinds of boundaries are simultaneously
problematic: 1) that between animals (or other organisms) and
humans, and 2) that between self-controlled, self-governing
machines (automatons) and organisms, especially humans (models of
autonomy). The cyborg is the figure born of the interface of
automation and autonomy."
Mental Adjustments
- Viewing both machines and biological organisms as
subjects/results of engineering processes
- Central problem: connecting the two types of systems
- Question: who should be in charge of running the resulting
system?
- Visions of the Future:
- Utopias: will technology set humans free?
- Dystopias: will technology enslave humans? Will humans be
replaced? Will technology allow more complete achievement of
human injustice and inequality?
- Cyborgs:
- Ideal? Monstrous? Inevitable? Already Real?
- Implications of increased dependence on technology
- Changing definition of humanity
- What does it mean to be "alive"?
- What does it mean to be an individual?
- Relationship between gender and technology?
Organic Technologies: The Guyver
- Created by Takaya Yoshiki
- Heavily influenced by live-action superhero shows like
"Ultraman"
- Admired dark, complicated visions, direct dealing with
human weaknesses
- Manga started in 1985
- OAV series 1989-90
- Story originally built around armor design
- Request for "grotesque"
- Response: organic
- Relationship between the armor and wearer portrayed in the
clip?
- Consumption or absorption of the wearer
- Not just a protective devise, but potentially deadly alien
entity
Organic Technologies: Evangelion
- TV anime 1995-96
- Director: Anno Hideaki
- Themes
- Contemporary alienation and dysfunctional families
- Spiritual
- Angels/Apostles: Evil?
- Agents of a series of attacks on post-apocalyptic human
society
- Evangelion units: Good?
- Battle armor/robots based on angel "technology"
- EVA units have "souls"
- EVA/pilot "harmonization"
- Who is in control?
- Which generation?
- Humans or machines?
- Humans or god?
Ghost in the Shell
- Manga: Shirow Masamune, 1989-90
- School teacher as well as prolific artist
- Known for detailed mecha artwork
- Animated feature: Oshii Mamoru, director, 1995
- Also directed "Urusei yatsura," "Patlabor"
- Also manga artist
- Shirow: For humanity to be perfect, it can no longer be
human
- Oshii: How will humanity change in light of technological
advances?
- Cyborgs: mostly machine with a "ghost" of human soul
- Issues of "life," identity, memory, individuality
Battle Angel Alita
- Manga : Kishiro Yukito
- Animation: Yuki Nobuteru
- Serialized in Business Jump from 1991-95
- Name changes
- Japanese title: "Gunnm" (Gun Dream)
- Original Alita: "Gally"
- Kishiro: "In some ways I'm an anarchist--I hate a managed
world"
Boundary Crossing
- Cyborgs: "Born of the interface of automation and autonomy"
- Hybridity
- Opposed to purity?
- Issue of legitimacy?
- Changing definitions of: identity, individual, community,
life, gender, humanity
- The Future: Utopia? Dystopia?