| The relationship between humans and technology is one of the profound questions of contemporary culture. This question is frequently explored through the media, particularly through the story telling forms of literature and film. Among the most revealing of these explorations are works of science fiction and those works especially which focus on the fictive figure of the cyborg. As defined in this study, as well as most works of science fiction, the cyborg is part human and part mechanical, who as such, works as a symbolic amalgamation of biology with technology. In short, the cyborg most poignantly brings together the human-machine interface.;This dissertation examines this figure as it appears in both twentieth-century American popular literature and film. Fifty-five works from 1932 through 1995 have been studied, with the investigation organized and divided into three categories. First, the distinguishing physical and technological characteristics of the cyborg were considered; next, the relations between the cyborg and other figures were addressed; thirdly, issues relating to aspects of cyborg consciousness were explored (i.e., the cyborg's sensory perceptions of the external world, the cyborg's emotional responses to both its external and internal worlds, and the cyborg's capacity for reflection regarding its past experiences and the implications of its actions in the present and future).;The study's findings included: that the figure is generally regarded as admirable, heroic, and moral; that with the notable exception of computer technology, few significant technological advances of the period under study are reflected in these narratives; and that the central issue addressed in cyborg fiction is the question "what does it mean to be human?" The answer given is surprisingly conventional: a cyborg's humanness consists in its moral behavior, its volitional performance of good deeds.;The study also concluded that, since the cyborg seems to be increasingly prominent in science fiction, further study of the figure is warranted. |
