In Class on Science Writing

Stephen Hawking has said that if humans don’t begin to use genetic engineering to modify themselves—including incorporating computer technology—computers will evolve past us and possibly cause our extinction.


Indeed, we have already seen the introduction of the cyborg into our lives. If you wear contacts. If you have a pacemaker, if you have a steel plate in your head, or a hearing aid in your ear, you have embarked upon the course cyborgery. Even more extremes are becoming common. We have a number of people walking around with artificial hearts—well, at least being wheeled around, still alive. Jerry Lewis has a tiny electric chair embedded near his spine. When he so desires, he can shock himself to alleviate pain. Or think of the tv show The Swan, where perfectly normal people undergo severe plastic surgery to alter their looks. And come out looking worse.

Arguably, we are our databases. Socrates claimed that writing was a terrible invention. It would kill memory. Now memory is the ultimate barometer of power. How much can you store. My laptop could hold the entire cultural production of Athens and still probably have room for another Britany Spears album. It also contains my vita, my schedule, all my written works (since the acquisition of one in college) my planner, all the phone numbers and addresses – snail and other wise—of my friends and relatives. This one piece of machinery probably contains more information that all of Boswell’s Life of Johnson, the most meticulously inscribed human ever.

To dump this data into the living web of the internet, would that give it life? Is it alive? It’s certainly a more coherent representation of myself than any given presentation on any given day. Many times during the day, I shock myself with the stupidity that is commonplace. But my digital self is predictable, manageable and better looking thanks to Photoshop.