|
The growing synergy of humans and technology -- from dialysis
to genetically altered foods to PET scans -- is transforming how we view our minds
and our bodies. But how has it changed the body politic? How can we forge a society
that protects the rights of human and cyborg alike? The
creator of the cult classic The Cyborg Handbook, Chris Hables Gray now
offers the first guide to "posthuman" politics, framing the key issues
that could threaten or brighten our technological future. For good or ill, politics
has already been cyborged in ways that touch us all. Cyberdemocracy is changing
mainstream politics. Wars are being fought with cyborg soldiers and illusions
of virtuality. Biotechnological advances -- cloning, sexual prostheses, gene patents
-- are redefining life and the family in ways that strain the social contract.
Even death itself is being reconfigured. Only with a
broad, historically rich, and ethically grounded understanding of these issues,
Gray argues, can we combat the threats to our freedom and even our survival. A
work of vision and imagination, Cyborg Citizen lays the groundwork for
the participatory evolution of our society. Chris
Hables Gray is a cyberculture expert and social activist who is editor of The
Cyborg Handbook and author of Postmodern War. He has worked for NASA,
the Smithsonian Institutions, and the computer industry, an is currently Associate
Professor of Cultural Studies of Science and Technology at the University of Great
Falls in Montana and Core Faculty for the Union Institute. |
