Cyborgs? That’s So Y2K Posthuman… Or Is It?

In an interview, when asked about her stance on techno-utopianism, Haraway responds that there should be more emphasis on “technological innovation [that] [...] [doesn’t] depend on species destroying solar farms and wind farms that require giant land grabs in the desert.” She envisions the cyborgs as transcending the limitations of human and machine alone, as the two combined achieve greater possibility than singular ones. Nevertheless, Haraway is critically aware of the environmental costs associated with technological advancement. An example is Microsoft wanting to “imagine an AI-assisted tool that helps reduce food waste” while consuming “1.1 trillion to 1.7 trillion gallons of fresh water” to power electricity for A.I. technology. Today, the strive for sustainability seems increasingly ironic with the gap between environmental exploitation of technology and sustainable goals, especially as sustainability cuts into profit margins.

Haraway writes, “Pre-cybernetic machines could be haunted; there was always the spectre of the ghost in the machine. [...] Our machines are disturbingly lively, and we ourselves frighteningly inert” (459-460). Haraway’s “A Cyborg Manifesto” can be seen as proto-posthumanism, as she theorizes beyond the human and challenges the entrenched anthropocentrism that has long egotistically positioned humanity at the center of existence. With the advent of machines assuming labor once performed by humans, the role of human labor is increasingly displaced, raising critical questions about the extent to which machines can replace, complement, or even redefine human labor and agency. While machines are not human in themselves, they carry human intent, design, and consciousness through their creation, training, and function. In machines, the human traits remain.