Week 6 Lecture Questions

Chris Diaz-Mihell

March 10, 2011

DAI227, David Cox

QUESTIONS FOR DAI227 WEEK 6 LECTURE

1) Steve Mann describes his wearable computer invention as a form of clothing or surveillance (cyborg blogging) for one person (fill in the blank)

(see youtube link to Mann interview in web resource page)

2) Steve Mann's concept of opposing camera surveillance with "Sousveillance" is described as a form of “reflectionism”. What is meant by this?

(in ReadingsF)

            “Reflectionism” is a term invented by Mann in 1988 for a philosophy and procedures of using technology to mirror and confront bureaucratic organizations. Reflectionism holds up the mirror and asks the question: “Do you like what you see?”

3) In the section of "Sousveillance" called "Performance Two" Steve Mann describes how wearing his concealed device becomes more complex when used in what type of spaces?

            In spaces that are more highly surveilled such as shopping malls that are semi-public rather than fully public.

4) The final paragraph sums up what Mann considers the benefits of "sousveillance" and "coveillance". What are they?

(ReadingsF)

            “People are more likely to want sousveillance and coveillance, for they lack the protection of the village/community or hierarchical organization. Newly developed technology allows them to surveil the surveillers.”

5) In William J Mitchell's 1995 book "City of Bits" in the chapter "Cyborg Citizens", he puts forth the idea that electronic organs as they shrink and become more part of the body will eventually resemble what types of familiar items?

(ReadingsF)

            “They will become more like items of clothing- soft wearable that conform to the contours of your body; you will have them fitted like shoes, gloves, contact lenses, or hearing aids.”

6) From the same book/chapter, list two of the things that a vehicle that 'knows where it is' might afford the driver & passengers.

(ReadingsF)

            For example, “directing you to the nearest gas station or to the closest inexpensive Chinese restaurant,” or assist in locating a bed for the night. A vehicle that knows where it is could even “tell you what’s on and what open in your immediate neighborhood.”

7) Mitchell tells the story of Samuel Morse's first Washington-to-Baltimore telegraph message. What was it?

(ReadingsF)

            Samuel Morse’s first Washington to Baltimore telegraph message read, “What hath God wrought.”

8) Donna Harroway in "A Cyborg Manifesto" argues that women should take the "battle to the border". What does she say are the stakes in this border war?

(in ReadingsF)

            In “A Cyborg Manifesto”, Donna Harroway says the stakes in this border war are, “the territiories of production, reproduction, and imagination.”

9) Harroway posits the notion that:

"We require regeneration, not rebirth, and the possibilities for our reconstitution include the utopian dream"

What is this dream?

(in ReadingsF)

            Horroway’s utopian dream is of a, “world without gender, which is perhaps a world without genesis, but maybe also a world without end”.

10) Many have argued that 'we are already cyborgs' as we use devices such as glasses to improve our vision, bikes to extend the mobility function of our legs/bodies etc, computers and networks to extend the nervous system etc. What do you think? Are we cyborgs?

(one paragraph)

           

            I find it fairly easy to come up with a legitimate argument when determining whether or not a human being can be classified as a cyborg. Today we define cyborgs as a being with both biological and artificial parts. In that case I like to think that people who have lost limbs and use mechanical parts to live a better life could be considered cyborgs. Even more qualified, as pertaining to the definition would be those beings that operate with mechanical valves or any other artificial part that helps one live or survive.