Thursday, October 7, 2010

Getting a leg up, Thanks to Robotic Limbs

Hi Guys,
As its week ten and we are reflecting on newspaper articles that are relevant to the unit. I was researching and came accross this one in the new your times. I read this article called, 'Getting a leg up. thanks to Robotic limbs' which explored the case of Cameron Clapp who lost both his legs and his right arm in an accident a few years back. The article explores how Clapp has found "motivation and self esteem" that he wouldnt have today had technology not given him the advantages it has. The article describes Clapp as an "object of wonderment: a young man walking tall on shiny, robotic legs".
I found this reading correlated well with what we have studied in the unit because it is a true example of many of Harraway's ideals that have been the focus of this unit, particularly her thoughts on why our bodies should end at the skin. The article gives us a case of how Cameron Clapp and others have embraced technology and their dependance on it has blurred the lines that once separated human and machine, just as Harraway states, "the boundary between science fiction and social reality is an optical illusion" and that the cyborg is very much a "creature of social reality". Harraway's ideals are highlighted in the cases of these people who have exemplified that our bodies do not have to end at the skin and that they are comfortable with notions of machines being a part of them.


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