A cybernetic organism, also known as a cyborg, is a being with organic and mechanical body parts. Most of the modern day cyborgs are created from humans with a disability. Their disability is then corrected with a mechanical addition. However, author Karel Čapek, director Bryan Forbes, and director Owen Harris all have another prediction about the development of cybernetic organisms. In his play Rossum’s Universal Robots Čapek discusses the fight for survival. In Bryan Forbes’ movie Stepford Wives the men form a private organization dedicated to the replacement of their wives. They take samples over a four-month period and carefully craft an android of their wife that eventually kills and replaces her. In Owen Harris’ T.V. show Black Mirror the purpose of an android is to replace the dearly departed. They are either meant to further the grieving process or bypass it altogether. According to Hayles, the separation of body and mind is impossible therefore making the development of Androids difficult. The creation of androids stems from the creation of cyborgs; the total dismemberment of the human consciousness transplanted into an inorganic body.
Although none of these works truly delves into the art of cyborgs, they do provide a representation of the end goal of total mechanics. A cyborg is truly an intermediary step between human and android. In his movie Stepford Wives Bryan Forbes portrays the process of human replacement. The men within this movie wish to have the “perfect wife”; a woman, who cooks, cleans, cares for the children, and dotes on them without a complaint. The main character Joanna and her friend Bobbi investigate why all the women in Stepford are perfect examples of a housewife. The androids are incredibly lifelike and the only true distinguishing factor is their lack of individuality that can be passed off as a demographic. Also there are point within the movie when these robots glitch and repeat themselves. When Joanna stabs android Bobbi to see if she bleeds, the robot states, “Joanna! How could you do a thing like that? When I was just going to give you coffee! When I was just going to give you coffee! How could you do a thing like that? I thought we were friends! I thought we were friends,” indicating damage to her wiring (Forbes 1975). The voices and looks of these women have been transplanted into inorganic beings. The men in the secret organization have succeeded in replication the physicality of their wives but failed in the replication of their personalities; Hayles argument hold true for this work, because they had failed at separating the mind from the body. The women had their personalities and human nature stolen from them by egotistical and selfish men. Perhaps the further development and analysis of androids and their consciousness will lead to the development of a more advanced being.
The most physically advanced androids seen are the ones developed in the television series Black Mirror. Owen Harris examines the physical replication of the human body focusing on details. These androids were created to aid in the process of grieving the loss of a loved one. The program implemented a three level system. The first level created a textual Artificial intelligence based on online posts and emails, and it would reply using the deceased’s mannerisms. The next step is using audio and video recordings to recreate the deceased’s voice, and through that as well as the textual data, the A.I. was able to speak as the person would. The last step is the total physical and mental recreation of the deceased. The A.I. would be transplanted into an inorganic body that must then be taught to behave physically and mentally like the deceased. The main character Martha purchases this android to replace her dead husband Ash only to discover that his true personality is not present. The A.I. attempts to capture Ash’s physicality and mentality exactly and in that obsession loses the illusion. It is too compliant in her demands and has no true identity. There is no true emphasis on gender roles within this work. It also does not support Hayles skepticism. Although the A.I. eventually joins with an inorganic body, it was developed beforehand. The consciousness was separately developed using information provided by Martha and Ash’s social media. However, this consciousness lacks the true nature of a human.
The closest the androids came to being human was in the play R.U.R. These beings are fully functioning intelligent androids. Some of these android’s had their temperaments been altered by lead developer Dr. Gall. His soul purpose was to give them a bit of independence. Dr. Gall states, “I transformed them into people… In some ways they’re already superior to us,” indicating that the addition of consciousness and desire are what makes us human (Čapek 57). By changing the robot’s temperament, Dr. Gall gave the robots a personality, and the freedom to develop an identity of their own. It was hard to distinguish these robots from humans because their bodies were made identically to that of an organic human, and thus with the addition of consciousness they were fundamentally human. Both male and female robots were created for the sole purpose of filling gender roles: The women as secretaries and supporters and the men as leaders. The androids desires to be human overshadowed their superior intellect and lead them to cause the extinction of the human race; the robot men revolted with the support of their female counterparts. The mind and body was not separated within this text. The development of a personality requires time and experience, and in order to experience things one must have a body.
Hayles argument for the total dismemberment of the human consciousness holds true for these three works. Although the A.I. in Black Mirror was created separately from the body, it failed at the basic task of authentic humanness. The androids in Stepford Wives were all programed the same and had no identity; there was barely even a consciousness involved in their programing. R.U.R was the work that came the closest to the development of a cybernetic organism. These androids had the behavior, personalities, and desires of a human but a mechanical makeup. Both R.U.R. and Stepford Wives placed an emphasis on gender roles and stereotyping. The women were expected to be housewives or secretaries while the men did everything else. According to Hayles the consciousness cannot be removed from the body without alteration, and the emphasis on gender is a part of the cybernetic development of the human race. The robots withheld the understanding that humans kill and conquer the lesser beings, and like humans imitated that behavior. They also understand the societal placement of gender roles and heterosexual behavior. The men and women robots create couples. The androids’ identity and temperaments are one with their bodies’, men and women alike. Similarly to humans, their consciousness cannot be removed without killing them. Hayles states, “machines can maintain homeostasis using feedback loops. Feedback loops had long been exploited to increase the stability of mechanical systems,” suggesting that all the androids need to be human is stability (Hayles 8). Rossum’s androids are the representatives of human kind. The total dismemberment of the human consciousness and transplantation into an inorganic body is still impossible. The human consciousness is one with the body and removing that would be to remove an extension of that which makes us people.
With additional analysis of the human consciousness, perhaps the eventual separation of mind and body is possible. The electrochemical connections in the brain can be imitated by technology; however the authenticity of these connections must be enhanced. Artificial intelligence is a major step in developing the human consciousness without a body. These A.I.s still have glitches that need to be fixed and once they are perfected, they may surpass the awareness and human intelligence similarly to that of Rossum’s robots. The day the human mind can be separated from the body is the day the human race will stop dying. This development will allow those who die early a second chance at life with a synthetic body, similarly to the purpose of the android in Black Mirror. The addition of a human consciousness to an inorganic vessel will create the first true cybernetic organism. Gender has no real effect on these developments. The biological makeup of the human mind is not significantly different between genders.