The Book “Natural- Born Cyborgs” by Andy Clark Explicatory Essay

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In the book, Natural- Born Cyborgs, Clark (1) argues that human beings are natural-beings cyborgs. Although we may not be wired, nonetheless, our reasoning and thinking systems, aided by our biological circuitry and biological brain make us human-technology symbionts.

The author further argues that the idea that human being may in fact be cyborgs first dawned on the author five years ago. Oddly enough, the realization was reassuring, as opposed to painful. This is because the realization answered such questions as why we differ significantly from other animals, even as our bodily and neural resources may not be different.

The cyborg, a potent late twentieth century icon, elicits images of physical merging of electronic circuitry and flesh, and human machine hybrids. By writing the article, the author intended to hijack and reshape that image so that it can portray our hidden biological nature. As human beings, we are open to information processing mergers, a trait that enables us to complex and deep relationships props, constructs, and aids.

The author further argues that because our brains have been primed to lookout for and process intimate relationships with nonbiological resources, this portrays us as intelligent creatures capable of processing abstract thoughts. This is because as natural born cryborgs, we are constantly ready to integrate the operations of paper, pen, and electronics with our mental activities.

Consequently, this allows us to better understand the world.

As human beings, we have a special character to co-opt, exploit scaffoldings and nonbiological propos, and are forever driven to create. Mother Nature has designed us in such as to unite with the best and most reliable tools at our disposal. Clark (4) argues that the line between the technological world and biological self has never been very firm.

There is a unique characteristic of natural-born cyborgs, in that they are always ready to merge their activities with the increasingly intricate technological envelops where they evolve, grow, and operate. There are various technologies that appear to shape every action of our waking lives.

They include the electronic alarm clock, the Automatic Braking System, and the laptop. We tend to assume that these technologies help our biological brains to accomplish the task at hand. We carry with us Ancient Western prejudice and these often distracts us from realizing our increasingly cyborg nature. In this case, we are more inclined to view the mind as very special to the extent that it stands out of the natural order.

As human beings, we harbor an illusion that the complex mechanism of self and mind can only be solved using the strategies supported by the old school of thought. In writing this article, the authors intends to water down this illusion, and demonstrate that the problem-solving mechanism may in fact be made up of a complex-matrix consisting of the body, brain, and technology.

There are various technologies that appear to shape nearly every action of our waking lives. They include the electronic alarm clock, the Automatic Braking System, and the laptop. We tend to assume that these technologies help our brains to accomplish the tasks at hand. The one invention that appears to control our daily lives is the cell phone to an extent that we feel disoriented and lost without it.

Could it be then, that we are so metabolically obsessed with our old style of thinking that we now imagine the cyborg as a dramatically transformed and electronically penetrated human body by neural implants, prostheses and enhanced perceptual systems? Our mistake could be that we envision the most profound intimacies and mergers as always encompassing “literal penetrations of the skin-bags” (Clark 8).

Works Cited

Clark, Andy. Introduction and Chapter 1: Cyborgs Unplugged. In Natural-born Cyborgs:

Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2003. Print.

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