A dissertation for cyborgs: The birth of a technoscientific monster, 1948--1985 (Norbert Wiener, Donna Haraway)

This dissertation traces the early development of the cyborg---the cybernetic organism---as a rhetorical figure appearing in a number of genres, including fiction, popularizations of science, journalism, pamphlets, and the manifesto. From the 1948 text Cybernetics by Norbert Wiener, to Donna Haraway's 1985 "A Manifesto for Cyborgs," the cyborg as a figure for human-machine theorizing reveals some important patterns: machines are coded as alive and capable of learning, while humans are seen as abject and machinic; the cyborg as restored human is a beneficial use of technology, while often notions of augmented humans is portrayed as monstrous; shadow discourses of lobotomy and mind control haunt many of the texts; cyborg discourse consistently refers to participant evolution as a key concept of modern technology; boundary transgressions of all kinds, affecting gender identity and political bodies, inhabit cyborg rhetoric; war and the state are often at the center of cyborg discourse, later augmented by medical and corporate discourses. Attention is also paid to the history and linguistic technology of the manifesto in the development of the cyborg figure. Finally, the rhetorics of a particular cyborg technology---in vitro fertilization---are analyzed, reaffirming key patterns of earlier cyborg texts, and allowing a richer reading of a "technology" as simultaneously material and semiotic practice. It will take new cyborg competencies to counter the destructive history of technoscience and construct sustainable identities, technological practices, and social systems.