Some of the theory we will read in this course contains very technical, specific terminology that must be defined in order to understand the content. To develop a base for our reading and discussion, we will define terms used in How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics by Katherine Hayles in order to create a crowdsourced index to reference through the semester. Each of you will be assigned one of the following terms. For this assignment you should define this term based on your reading of Hayles and outside information you gather and determine to be relevant in this context. Do not just provide a dictionary definition. Please include hyperlinked citations to any outside information you quote, paraphrase, or summarize.
Write your definition separately in your journal. Then, edit this post and add your definition in the designated area before class time on 10/24. Remember to click publish.
***Please do not edit any entry but the one you were assigned!
| Autopoietic | Autopoietic means self-making (Hayles, 1999). Hayles (199) says, “In a sense, autopoiesis turns the cybernetic paradigm inside out. Its central premise-that systems are informationally closed-radically alters the idea of the informational feedback loop, for the loop no longer functions to connect a system to its environment. In the autopoietic view, no information crosses the boundary separating the system from its environment. We do not see a world “out there” that exists apart from us. Rather, we see only what our systemic organization allows us to see.” Essentially, we create the world we see.
Autopoietic (autopoiesis) is “the property of a living system (such as a bacterial cell or a multicellular organism) that allows it to maintain and renew itself by regulating its composition and conserving its boundaries” (Merriam Webster). They have definite boundaries, but can connect to the outside world. |
| Celluar Automata | In the journal, How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics by Katherine Hayles, Hayles defines Cellular automata as, “elementary units [of matter, energy, and spacetime] that can occupy two states: on or off” (Hayles, 11). By defining cellular automata in such a way, Halyes suggests that all things in the universe either is or is not; a strict binary look at the Universe.
Though the definition Hayles provides gives the reader a short sense of what Cellular Automata or Cellular Automaton are, Discrete Mathematics can use Cellular Automata to further describe how the Universe came to be and will cease to be. Cellular Automata is a model for the Universe that gives rules and attempts to explain not only what is on or off, but why it is specifically on or off, how it got turned on or off, and what will happen to it in the future. |
| Cybernetics | Cybernetics describes how humanity deals with and communicates with the electronic technology destined to replace us. |
| Cyborg | A cyborg is a machine that can achieve human consciousness or be the repository or storage space of human consciousness. Or a humanoid being that is partially organic and partially technological. Cyborgs are often seen as a new and improved form of the human race. |
| Embodiment | |
| Epistemology | In this article, epistemology has to do with knowledge and especially humans knowledge about ourselves when it comes to post human view of life. |
| Feedback Loop | The path by which some of the output originating from a circuit, device of software that than leads back to the input. An example of this is success feeds success. |
| Homeostasis | This is a gesture or an allusion used to authenticate any new element in the emerging constellation of reflexivity. It can also be defined as the inertial pull on new elements, which limits how radically they potentially could transform a constellation (Hayles, 1999).
In science, this is known as when a cell (or organism) regulates itself to stabilize its health, regardless of the changing outside conditions (Biology Online, 2016). |
| Ontology | Ontology is the study of being in general terms and is a subcategory for metaphysics. It is closely associated with philosophy.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/ontology-metaphysics |
| Posthumanism | Posthumanism is beyond or after humanism. It is the idea that humanity can be altered or eliminated by technology. Posthumanism is unnatural and occurs from humans and technology becoming physically/mentally connected.
Merriam Webster defines humanism as an attitude or way of life centered on a human interests or values. This philosophy rejects supernaturalism and stresses an individual’s dignity and worth and capacity for self-realization through reason. |
| Reflexivity | Reflexivity is the idea that a person’s thoughts and values are represented in their work. A person’s thoughts and ideas tend to be inherently biased. |
| Seriation | https://archaeologywordsmith.com/lookup.php?terms=seriation
Artifacts that are organized into a sequence according to changes over time. ” Within archaeological anthropology, changes in artifacts are customarily mapped through seriation charts”. (In-Text) |
| Skeuomorphs | |
| Teleology | It is the explanation of a phenomena, in this case robots, using the purpose served. It is the analysis and reasoning of a robot’s function, their end goal, etc. A purpose inflicted by humans is extrinsic. A natural purpose is deemed intrinsic.
“In the posthuman, there are no essential differences or absolute demarcations between bodily existence and computer simulation, cybernetic mechanism and biological organism, robot teleology and human goals” (Hayles 3). |
| Virtuality |