Body and Technology in Postmodern Perspective

Abstract

The body is a historical and social construct understood as a commercial symbol in the postmodern perspective. From the spiritual-physical dichotomy, through progressive technological influences, comes the collision between natural and technical, which produces a new dualism between the human body and mechanical organism. Th rough interaction with technology, the body is drastically modified, while the human and the technological reveal a new paradigm of corporeality. The cyborg, a hybrid between a human being and mechanical mechanism, is a manifestation of technological transformations of the human body. According to cybernetic teachings, the human body is an information system which can be transferred into the state of immateriality. Cybernetics therefore creates specific techno-bodies which are not limited by the body itself. Much to the contrary, the body is seen as an outdated concept which is being updated by technology in order to upgrade it, and possibly overcome. The body is transformed with the assistance of technology: implants upgrade, body parts removal, consummation of pills-robots, sewing on of “the third arm”, transfer into virtual space where the body is a coded impulse free of “flesh and blood”, etc. Th is approach to the body takes us into the post-humanity era where the connection between technological and humanlike blurs explicit categorical borders between the human body, natural environment and their virtual simulations.