During the 10th week lecture, we were introduced to the topic of cyberculture and the virtual world. Cyberculture is a very interesting topic as it introduces us into the virtual world that some of us have never encountered before. In this week’s journal, I would like to explore about human beings becoming a cyborg in today’s world and at the same time i would like to explore as to why people nowadays would prefer living in the virtual world whereas a real world where we can see the fact of reality exist. The reason why I want to explore this subject is because I have a friend who is always attached to the virtual world where he spends almost three-quarter of the day in the game called Tibia-Me which is similar to WarCraft except that it is a smaller version of it.
Gibson terms cyberspace as ‘consensual hallucination’ (p.78, n.d), where it shares a common vision with virtual reality which is the ‘tunnel vision’. “Tunnel vision” here refers to where the members of the virtual community only pays attention to what they see in the visual world and ignore the real world.
In today’s world, innovations such as latest gadgets and technologies being invented at a fast pace. Here, technology plays a major role in the lives of every human being. Nowadays, the use of internet is very popular among people of all ages. Internet games, Chatrooms, Social Networking Sites are among the applications that have been created online. Because of this innovations, human beings tend to nowadays be called cyborgs because they cannot detach themselves from what we call the ‘cyberworld.”
Cyborg is defined as a “cybernetic organism where it has both artificial and biological systems which is a hybrid of human and machine” ( Pyle, p.124). In today’s world, there are arguments among some scholars that human beings are becoming cyborgs. Humans are indeed cyborgian in nature, this is because humans cannot detach from the everyday use of machineries and technologies. But this does not mean all human beings are cyborgian because there are certain technological conditions that must be met to be considered a cyborg. Technology and machineries has become a part of human beings. If a body can be recreated , then it would mean that a body is a machine. I will demonstrate this example from the movie, ROBOCOP, where the police officer Murphy was shot in the head and was declared dead. Because he was dead technology used his body to create a bionic police thus a cyborg was created. Robocop’s brain is human and he is still able to think for himself. Although his physical body is made of steel and his action is programmed by computer, he still has his memories and a human touch in him. This shows that Robocop is half human and half machine thus is a cyborg. Springer ( p.82, n1991) claims that cyborg involves “transforming the self into something entirely new, combining technological with human identity”.
Video Clip of Robocop
It is unavoidable in today’s world that we are living in because technology is getting higher and human beings are unconsciously forced into using technologies which will create them into a cyborg. For example in today’s world, it is unavoidable for students to live without their laptops for assignments, and handphone is a very essential tool for communication in today’s world. Obviously our daily lives are dependant on technology because of globalization and it is almost impossible to survive in this world without the use of technology. According to Rheingold (1994, p.147) , the use of computer-mediated communications is driven by ‘ the hunger for community that grows in the breasts of people around the world as more and more informal public spaces disappear from our real lives.’ The need of high technologies such as computers in our everyday lives is the consequences of virtual community living in the virtual world.
A virtual world is where the cyberworld enables human beings to create another of their own identity in the fantasy world through the use of games and internet. For example the famous Tibia-Me is part of a cyber culture which enables the virtual community to create their own identity online into whoever they want to be. The game is played by people of all ages from all over the world. This game is a similar version of War of Witchcraft where it enables the virtual community to own characters, fight, gain weapons etc. However, this game of virtual reality can be played on the handphone thus people don’t have to stay in their rooms to play the game but they can go almost anywhere and play the online game anywhere they want.
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| Graphic from a Virtual World |
Virtual reality according to Sherman and Judkins (1992, p.78 ) “is the hope for the next century. It may indeed afford a glimpse of heaven.” In virtual reality, almost everything that you dream of can come true. Sherman and Judkins further states that virtual reality allows us “to play God”. You are able to change your life and make life go according to what you want in virtual reality. Identities can be changed and discarded anytime you want. In contrast to the real world, as Lanier (1991, p.81) argues that we have to submit to the dictates of this frustrating reality and that “not only are we forced to live in the physical world.......but we are almost powerless in it.” Lanier describes the real world as “really something like a prison”. Here, we can see that the reasons that Lanier stated out has perhaps contributed to people participating in the virtual community.
The fact that many people are involved in a virtual world is indeed creating a social problem as many people tend to detach themselves to the real world and participate in anything that goes on in the virtual world. They have lost touch with the physical surroundings .Christopher Lasch argued that “it registers a significant transformation in the relationship between the self and the social world outside.” Furthermore, Mongardini (1992, p.61 ) claims that because of the existence of virtual reality, there is now ‘ a greater sense of alienation that makes it increasingly difficult to have relationships that demand more of the personality such as love, friendship, generosity, forms of identification....”.
Another problem that can be identified is the loss of identity in the real world. People seem to be living in the illusionary world creating a new identity which they dream of. Here, Mongardini (1992, p. 61) argues that “it leads individuals to give up the unity and coherence of their own identity, both on the psychological and sociological level”. As an outsider and a community of the real world, we see this as pathetic because we can see that there is a loss of identity.
Nevertheless, there should be a solution to the problem in order for people not to lose touch with the real world and not to lose identities. However, the fantasies and illusion of life in the virtual world is way too perfect for the virtual community to even give it up and face life in the real world. Here, we can see how strong visual communication is in relation to virtual world as the people in the virtual world is only able to see the images and graphics in the screen of the computer. It has caused hallucination to the online community. This shows how strong and powerful visual images can influence a life of any human being. Thus, human being a part of the virtual world can be indeed defined as a cyborg because without the computer and without online communication, their life will not be as what they have fantasized in the virtual world.
REFERENCES :-
Sherman B, Judkins.P (1992), Glimpses of Heaven, Vision of Hell : Virtual Reality and its Implication, London : Hodder & Stoughton.
Rheingold H., (1994), The Virtual Community ; Finding Connection in a Computerised World, London ; Secker & Warburg.
Springer C.,, (1991), The pleasure of the interface,
Mogardini C., (1992), The ideology of postmodernity, Theory, Culture and Society.
Robins K, ( 2000), The cyberculture readers,
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