I really liked our speaker on Thursday, Randall Honold. I had him in a class previous to this one, so I've heard a little bit on what cyborgs previous to our discussion in class. When I heard he was doing a presentation on cyborgs in our class I thought that he was going to focus on how humans are interlocked with technology, such as cell phones. I found it far more interesting when he started talking about nature as cyborg. I think this also fits into the point of our class, environmental design in that we are designing nature, even though we may not think we are, just as much as we are designing buildings. Green roofs, national parks and city parks are in a way completely integrated with technology.
The idea of cyborgs as a framework is also interesting to me. I think that the ideas in Randall’s lecture on cyborgs have all been stated in other ways, but I think the cyborgs is a way of framing it so that we see how everything is interconnected. I liked how he set the guidelines for thinking in this way, but these ideas to me didn’t have as much to do with cyborgs as I thought they would. “Be intentional as you seek to form alliances, no matter how contingent they may be”. This to me is true, and should be a rule in going forward, but I don’t necessarily see how it relates to cyborgs. Though I like what Randy says about how humans, nature, and technology are interconnected, and have always been, is insightful into how we should go about fighting environmental problems, I think that the guidelines he set out are more universal.
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I also really enjoyed our speaker last week. He was one of the best we've had, in my opinion. I think you bring up a great point in noting that cyborgs simply do not involve humans and technology, but nature and technology, as well as humans and nature. I think this is a much more open, and probably more received, approach than simply stating the obvious (as I did in my post) regarding humans and technology. I like the way you take the interpretation another level.
ReplyDeleteWhile Dr. Honold's guidelines were really controversial in class, I feel like they really are basic philosophies that could be applied to pretty much anything. I couldn't open the PP file with his presentation in it, but I remember feeling vaguely like if they were taken out of a cyborgian context, that they reminded me of "The Secret", you know that new-agey way to live your life. Maybe I am way off base here though. I have absolutely no issue with the ideas he outlined, I just feel like they maybe were not as fresh when applied to daily life instead of cyborg philosophies...
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