Keep Calm and Remain Human: How We Have Always Been Cyborgs and Theories on the Technological Present of Anthropology

Abstract

The cybernetic organism, or cyborg, is a recognized but often misunderstood concept in anthropology. However, the cyborg concept has the capacity to holistically cross-cut a wide swath of anthropological investigations and effectively problematize many anthropologically interesting characteristics of human subjects who, in all times and places, are dependent upon technology. The complex relationships between human beings and their technologies can be obscured with incompletely understood evolutionary forces, biased histories, mythologies, and ambiguous tensions (biological, cultural, economic, sexual, social, etc.). These can be illuminated by understanding the systems of tool use and feedback that cybernetically inform people and help guide their existence.