The Cyborg Subject: An Introduction

Abstract

This chapter sets forward the context, conceptual framework and cultural application of a new mode of viewing the contemporary subject as a cyborg. Emphasising the engaged role of consciousness, the cyborg is defined as the expansion of the human mind by digital technology. The split between physical and digital worlds that constitutes the hybrid nature of the cyborg is outlined as a parallax shift between two modes of thought and two realities. The nature of this shift is constructed by the relative alignments of four functions of consciousness: Existence, Meaning, Real and Virtual. This functional framework is applied to cultural depictions of the parallax split between physical and digital worlds as modes of thought, as a means of expressing the technologically mediated experience of the contemporary subject.