Cyborgs

I don't have anything to talk about re: professional sports aside from what I said last month. So, I'm going to write about cyborgs instead.

To you readers who woefully did not have a nerdy childhood, teenhood, or adulthood, a cyborg is a conglomerate of a human and a machine. Robocop is a pretty classical treatment of a cyborg.

The classical definition of a cyborg is typically a machine fused to a human. I think a more contemporary definition of a cyborg might allow this human to detach their machine parts. This definition, when treated loosy-goosily, might imply that the use of any tool would cyborgacize oneself.

Perhaps it comes down to the individual's perception of the machine or tool that they're using regarding whether they're a person using a tool or whether they're a cyborg and the tool is a part of them. For the sake of argument, let's assume that if an individual feels closer to their identity when they're using their tool than when they're not that they are exhibiting cyborgly behaviour.

Here are a few tools that I feel more like myself when using:

1) Glasses
My prescription is -6,000,000 ± 5,999,995, which, in layhuman terms, means that I'm more likely to end up at a Robin's Donuts than work if I left the house in the morning without them. The world feels more normal when it's in focus. Thanks glasses.

2) Bike
I was recently biking with someone who I had known fairly well for a very long time. They commented that they were surprised with the grace with which I handled myself while on a bike. I'll be the first (or, second I guess) to say that I'm not the most graceful human alive while walking. I definitely feel more comfortable on a bike while transporting myself as opposed to walking. And, as it turns out, apparently I'm much better and more graceful when transporting myself via bike. Thanks bike!

3) Cell Phone
It feels weird when I'm out and about, think about something I want to ask / tell someone, and not have the ability to send a thought to someone else via text/email. Similarly, I feel disconnected when I know others don't have this link to me. I'm not sure whether the cyborg component in this example is the phone or whether its the connectivity to the internet that causes this sensation.

4) Computer
A majority of my job is on my laptop. I use this same laptop at home. In other words, I interact with this computer a lot. Recently, I decided to use a second monitor for one particular task. When I was interacting with my laptop on the other monitor, I felt really weird. I felt exactly like when you clasp your hands together, then invert them, have someone touch them, and then your fingers feel as if they're on the wrong arm. If you don't know what I'm talking about, too bad, I actually couldn't find any pix or vidz to illustrate what I mean. Anyway, it was totally cray. I felt a different sensation (or rather, a sensation I was accustomed to was absent) when using the second monitor. I've developed a sensation to using a (my?) laptop. Super weird.

It's weird to think that I feel like I'm living closer to my identity when using this machines as compared to when I'm not. I'm not too worried about this -- I think it's pretty an interesting observation about the sensations that I'm accustomed to and makes me who I am.

I'm a cyborg, guys. PS: Sorry sports fans.