Paul Weissfellner

The Cyborg Manifesto

According to Donna Haraway, human society is in the midst of a huge shift that wil redefine traditional relationships and reshape how humans view the world. The boundaries that once served to divide up the natural world so neatly are slowly shifting and dissolving, leaving a more confusing, holistic view of the world and everything in it; no longer are humans considered separate from animals or from machines. Indeed, in many capacities, humans often work so closely with one or both so as to be indistinguishable from each other. Another shift that Haraway talks about is from identity to affinity; that is, from groups that form simply because of who people are, to groups that form because people choose to be a part of them.

Haraway brings up interesting points, especially with regard to my rock. If there is no meaningful difference between humans and nature, then that does that mean for the rock? It sits at an intersection, but, according to her, that intersection does not even exist.

Logan Steffens

In Donna Haraway’s “The Cyborg Manifesto” she states that we should remove all boundaries between us and become more like a cyborg. The cyborg is not a machine; it is “a hybrid of machine and organism.” She states that in today’s society we are all cyborgs, and that the cyborg is an image of imagination and reality, it shapes everything we do and have done including the traditions of racism and male dominance in our society today. Specifically she states, “The cyborg is a creature in a post-gender world.” Meaning that she wants everyone to be equal. Nobody should be subject to a title that they may not want to have. It is easy to see that Haraway is a feminist in how she defends it so often. Also she mentions the difference between socialist feminism and radical feminism in that socialist feminism has to do with class structure and alienation while radical feminism deals with gender structure and sexual objectification.

Alec Toufexis

agt9@geneseo.edu

INTD-105-Scientific Writing

Donna Haraway makes it clear in her essay, “The Cyborg Manifesto”, that we are transitioning from an organic, industrial society to a networked, artificial society ruled by technology. She believes this new reality will be detrimental because it is a movement that is a result of patriarchal dominance and the capitalist system. The “Cyborg” that will result from this societal change will blur the distinction between humans and nature and will cause the end of innocence, privacy, and natural purity that characterize feminism. Also the fundamental human interactions needed to promote the feminist ideals will cease to exist.

I find that her views on the subject do not match with my own and that her ideas are largely speculation as of now.  Through my analysis on The Greek Tree, I found that humans and nature could thrive even when the boundary between the two dissolves.

Daniel Biskup                                                               156 words

djb29@geneseo.edu

INTD 105-19: Science Writing

This piece contrasts with the opinion I formed from my object, that Haraway believes that organism and machine are converging, while I found that man, similar to machine in my context, was diverging from nature, similar to organism. Haraway’s begins with explaining the piece is praising feminism by ironically blaspheming against it. She then introduces the cyborg, a cybernetic organism, that is organism and machine. She introduces how medicine and wars are “cyborg orgies” because man and technology both create life or destruction. The cyborg is a post-gender creature that transcends the boundaries of man and woman. It rejects its creator because it is considered illegitimate. She demonstrates how it blurs three seemingly distinct boundaries: human and animal, organism and machine, and physical and nonphysical. She then goes on to talk about fractured identities and how each identity is independent. Finally, she introduces dichotomies that compare human to cyborg views and show how similar they are.

Patrick Jones                                                              Approximately 150 Words

pwj2@geneseo.edu

INTD 105-19: Science Writing

“The Cyborg Manifesto” Summary
By Patrick Jones

In Donna Haraway’s “The Cyborg Manifesto”, she uses a cyborg as a symbol of the broken boundaries between the natural and artificial worlds and then discusses the use of gender and race as an identifier.
In her piece, Haraway uses the cyborg to discuss three different broken boundaries. Firstly she describes the boundary between animals and humans, that has been broken as animals rights activism has increased over the last few decades. The second and third boundaries are between organisms and technology and the physical and non-physical worlds, which have both been broken by the increase in technological use in everyday life. Haraway then precedes to discuss how humans use gender and race to divide society instead of working to create unity.
It appears Haraway and I have different views on the division between worlds. When I saw the concrete curb behind Milne library I saw a clear division between the artificial and natural worlds while Haraway sees a more faded division that is continuing to disappear.

Erik Buckingham                                                         approximately 150 words

ekb7@geneseo.edu

Student, INTD 105-19: Science Writing

“A Cyborg Manifesto” Summary

By: Erik Buckingham

Many people feel that the boundary between humans and nature is becoming blurrier. Feminist writer Donna Haraway states in “A Cyborg Manifesto” that “Biology and Evolutionary theory over the last two centuries has… reduced the line between humans and animals to a faint trace.” We as a Geneseo community have personified the Suess Spruce by recognizing it as a symbol of perseverance. Through this interaction, we are eliminating boundaries between humans and nature.

Despite her view on animals and nature, Haraway feels that humans continue to recognize our differences in regards to gender, race and sexuality. She feels that our coexistence with other organisms is getting better, however, we are placing social barriers between our own species. By eliminating barriers between social differences, Haraway feels that a “cyborg” is formed. Eliminating our differences altogether leaves no room for cultural celebration.

Sarah Lambert                                                                                 about 150 words
sel15@geneseo.edu

Student, INTD 105-19: Scientific Writing

“The Cyborg Manifesto” Response
By Sarah Lambert

In her piece, “A Cyborg Manifesto,” Haraway asserts her opinion that society should dissolve the boundaries between race, gender, class, etc. and embrace the image of cyborgs. Though Haraway explains the cyborg’s inherent irreverence, her assertion strengthens through the illustration of how cyborgs break down the boundaries between three aspects of society.  Haraway describes the way that the boundaries between animals and humans, organisms and machines, and the physical and non-physical can all be broken down by the acceptance of this cyborg image.

Haraway dissects society and other feminist views to assert the idea that one must be all inclusive rather than exclusive to advance our “politics rooted in…changes.” However, how does Haraway plan on unifying a world so divided “by [its] terrible historical experience?”

This idea of breaking down barriers ties directly into my mini-essay focused on the truly non-existent barrier between man and nature.

Robert Romano

rjr12@geneseo.edu

Humans Are Not Cyborgs

“Late twentieth-century machines have made thoroughly ambiguous the difference between natural and artificial, mind and body, self- developing and externally designed, and many other distinctions that used to apply to organisms and machines” is a statement stated by Donna Haraway that is extremely controversial and opinionated.

The main idea in this writing is the belief that people (specifically women) must be liberated from a patriarchal society and from a culture being taken over by technology. Donna Haraway’s piece is extremely ironic because she emphasizes the point that no human being should express individuality and that we must all be labeled under the same group. In reality, we should embrace our differences and cherish our uniqueness because if human beings are not different from each other, then we are indeed all cyborgs.

I found the author’s ideas to be very opinionated and I do not see her ideas connecting in anyway way to my object in my mini-essay.

Alexis Baer                                                                                        about 150 words
anb8@geneseo.edu

Student, INTD: Writing Science

“The Cyborg Manifesto” Reflection
by Alexis Baer

Writer, Donna Haraway, is a woman who strongly supports, promotes, and defends feminism against numerous inequalities. When the “The Cyborg Manifesto” was created, her main concepts included boundaries between human and animals, the use of technology increasing artificiality, and the physical and non-physical. Haraway explains the “cyborg” to the audience as a political myth that human fault has essentially created due to advances in modern technology. This creature is constantly being used as a metaphor; besides the humankind population and technology, it also incorporates different cultures, emotions, nature, race, gender, and science modification. One of Haraway’s points in the essay involves today’s generation slowly becoming more similar to “chimeras”, this allowed me to realize that humans are becoming conditioned and trained to certain traditions where nothing is or seems to be natural anymore. A few of her arguments can be applied to the objects we have chosen because they represent the boundary between the natural and artificial.

Rachael Natoli                                                             Approximately 250 words

rln5@geneseo.edu

INTD 105-19: Scientific Writing

A Cyborg Manifesto by Donna Haraway brings up the idea of boundaries and relates them to feminism. Specifically the boundaries between human and animal and between organism and machine. She first brings up the metaphor that the rest of the article revolves around, this metaphor is the cyborg.

The cyborg in her metaphor is a boundary between machine and human or between fiction and lived experience. “The cyborg is a creature in a post-gender world…” meaning that cyborgs have no specific gender. Haraway explains that society should promote unity of genders rather than enforcing the labels of female and male. When she spoke about the boundaries between human and machine being broken it related to my text because it gave many examples of the way humans have created machines or man made objects that help humans in some way just like the gazebo does.