New Media as a Cyborgian Encounter

"Technology should not be considered adjunct to the body or in opposition to it but as a determinant of its ontology" (Shaw, 2008, pg 81) Shaw is stating here that we have not came to see technology as a seprate part of our lives but rather an extension of ourselves, he is stating that the two are melding together to the point where we become almost cyborg like. "Technology continually produces the body" (Shaw, 2008, pg 82) Here is another reference to Shaw examining the point that we are overly dependent on machines to the point where we would not be able to function without their existence.

Shaw states that "Sterlarc's work deorganizes the body by drawing attention to the way that technology extends, amplifies, invades and shapes contemporary bodies" (Shaw, 2008, pg81). Again Shaw makes reference to  New Media as a cyborgian encounter, he states that these everyday commodities are slowly coming to replace other aspects of our everyday life. For example nowadays most people are inseparable from devices such as their smartphones or tablets, often using them to preform a multitude of functions and in some cases replacing socializing altogether.

Comparisons are made suggesting that from a cultural standpoint we have been training to be almost "machine-like" for longer than we may expect. Shaw states that "The body of the soldier is manipulated, shaped, trained, so that it obeys, responds, becomes skillful and increases its forces" (Shaw, 2008, pg 82). Shaw is stating the soldiers have been exhibiting machine-like qualities before the advent of New Media, suggesting that maybe we have been brought into a cyborgian state of mind gradually.

Shaw states that the human body has been classified under such extreme social conditions in the past that it has become over-coded in terms of gender, sexuality race etc, these types of bodies lend themselves to classification (Shaw, 2008, pg 93). Shaw states that "We have been cyborged by our own machines" (Shaw, 2008, pg 95). We are fighting a losing battle in an attempt to define the "perfect" body which previously fit into different social categories (Shaw, 2008, pg 95) instead we have become like the cyperpunk characters Shaw talks about in the fact that we take for granted the direct integration of the machine into our thought process, this is not a representation of the future, but a representation of the here and now.