Good day minions. I know it's been a while but the pressures of school and everyday life do indeed take their toll on occasions. In this particular instance, it's been a few weeks. However, thanks to my experiences doing the learning, I have much to talk about. One very such thing is something that was fairly recently discussed in my Pop Culture Communications class; The concept of anthropomorphosis - The giving of human qualities to non human objects, particularly technology. We have seen it happen a lot over the years. Movies such as the Herbie series, or TV shows like Knight Rider, or the very fact that we seem to have to name every seafaring vessel and refer to it as a "he" or a "she." Yes, anthropomorphosis is rampant within our culture. It is particularly prevalent within the realms of fantasy and science fiction (obviously). If you look at this list closely, you will see anthropomorphic qualities in practically every one of these films. Yes, the concept of anthropomorphosis has been talked about for quite sometime, but nowadays, within the lifetime of our generation, it may end up that we take this concept to a whole new level.
As seen here, the concept of the cyborg is becoming more and more of a reality. With more and more advanced technologies helping this fusion of robot and human fit right in without appearing any different to any other member of society. There are also cyborg technologies like this one that can be hugely beneficial to people. The question that has been asked for a long time is this; As the line between human and machine becomes increasingly blurry, how far do we go before we start to lose the qualities of being human? It's all well and good using technology to help us overcome physical ailments, but at the rate that we are seeing technology expand, how long before this technology becomes like unnecessary plastic surgery? Used simply to beautify, as an accessory. It would seem that in our willingness to give these human traits to our technological marvels, we are gradually associating them with ourselves. You see it every day on a small scale. People who say and believe that "I simply can't live without/I love my phone/computer/game console/whatever else," give their accessories names, cuddle them, etc. are experiencing this tech addiction which may well be the foundation of what SciFi crackpots have for so long warned about.
Our generation, as usual, is going to have to be the one to face this issue head on. I don't want to sound like a prophet of doom but I really would rather not encounter some sort of Stepford Wives, Uncanny Valley situation where I can't tell the difference between robot and human. I'm all for people like Neil Harbisson getting help from technology because it has helped him to experience color where he couldn't before. However, I do think that there is a danger, as there is with most technological advancements, of this stuff becoming Hollywoodified, which is not a word yet, but it soon will be and I have the patent on it. All I'm saying is, let the cyborgs be cyborgs because they need it, not because they, on a whim, decide that they want an extra arm so they can text during sex or something ridiculous like that.
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