A review by journalette
A Cyborg Manifesto by Donna J. Haraway

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.25

What does it mean to be a cyborg? According to Haraway, it is acknowledging that our first element is hybridity, that there are no fixed identities in this world we live in. A cyborg is a compound of organic and technological elements, blurring the frontiers between the organism and the machine. That means it is no longer approved to subordinate one to the other. Technology is not to be demonized or idolized but explored with cheerfulness. The other side of the coin is responsibility. While technophilic philosophies encourage us to be proactive with tech development, Haraway asks us to consider the consequences of such development for the world and its inhabitants. Feminism and theories of embodiment are influential on cyborg theory, meaning the cyborg subject is not an abstract reality but a localized one. Cyborg knowledge is not absolute or relative but perspective. Although humans can't stop thinking from a human point of view, we can stop thinking only for the benefit of humans. Therefore, the cyborg is a vehicle to draw alliances and symbiotic relations between species instead of hierarchical and dominative ones.